Re: Jacboties and Dale

["labehotierre" <labehotierre@wanadoo.fr>]

Dear Dale

Please keep talking you have a lot to bring to the table.  I want to hear
more of your views an ideas.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dale Hinchey <dhinchey@together.net>
To: sinclair@matrix.net <sinclair@matrix.net>
Date: 02 October 2000 05:50
Subject: Re: Jacboties


>
>Dear Rory,
>
>
>Unlike you Rory, the general population of the British Commowealth does not
>have
>an accurate history of the Clearances, or the context in which they were to
>be later seen as the first Imperialist movements which began the later
Empire.
>
>You understand the enormity of the clearances, as do all scholars who
examine
>Scottish History. However they are not well known as one of the significant
>turning points in history wherein England thenceforth considered itself the
>leading civilization of the world in both moral and spiritual terms, and
>was later to commit further human atrocities around the globe, in fact,
>beleiving themselves to be somewhat devinely and racially mandated to do
>just that. There were many Cullodens , all around the world, they just had
>different names, and the native kaffirs just were a different color and
>didn't wear plaid.
>
>If you want to oversimplify what I say and put words in my mouth, please be
>accurate about it. I do not expect you to agree with me particularly but I
>will not allow you to redefine what I say without comment. Its actually a
>very "British" trait , should you wish to examine the sociopathology, based
>upon a false sense of superiority.
>
>As you say:
>
><He(meaning me, Dale Hinchey) appears to wish that those who might
apologize:
>>1: prove somehow that they really understand the enormity of the
clearances.
>
>No, what I said was that apology without responsibility is meaningless and
>inflamatory in the long run. An official institutional history of the
>clearances,endorsed by Parliament and a subsequent apology, as inheritors
>of the duties of the then government that failed the people, makes the
>apology genuine. I also noted that the "oriental" face saving apology has
>very much caught on in the West, apology without responsibility, as a
>saving of face. Lets see someone try it on a cuckhold and see if it works !
>
>>2: promise that no money will ever be made because of such apology
>
>No, what I said was if money is to be made, then let it be money made from
>truth
>rather than from a "Disneyesque" marketing ploy designed to play upon the
>emotions and pockets of the descendants of ex-patriot Scots, with them as
>the fools and native Scots as the fool makers.That would hardly be what one
>would call a functional relationship.
>
>Perhaps you miss the point that such neo-Imperialism will only increase
>militant
>nationalism in Scotland in the long run, and alienate Scottish people from
>their
>brothers and sisters in America in the short run. It seems you do not think
>the hatchet should be buried properly, merely replicated ad infinitum,
>plasticized and coated in gold paint to adorn the mantels of returned
>American tourists, "let them eat cake?" Hardly a worthy sentiment from a
>Sinclair.
>
>Your approach is gentler and kinder because it perpetrates ignorance
>when the opportunity exists to dispel it once and for all.Again, it
>indicates a very paternalistic approach.
>
>There can be no apology for the Highland Clearances without an act of
>institutional contrition. Let the highlands be resettled by those who can
>prove that they are descendants of cleared highlanders and other cleared
>Scots. It would be a simple matter of ammending the laws of immigration and
>citizenship. It surely would bring a lot of investment into the country.
>
>Next thing you know Rory will be telling evry one "what I said again." If I
>need someone to speak for me, I will appoint someone who is much more
>capable of doing so.Thank you, but no thanks, this is my last word on the
>subject,
>
>Yours,
>
>Dale Hinchey
>
>
>
>
>At 09:58 PM 10/1/00 -0400, you wrote:
>>Dear Sinclair:
>>Sorry, but we did participate in the '15. The Fife Sinclairs under the
>>Master of Sinclair whose descendant is Baron St. Clair Bonde of Charlton,
>>were a critical part of that rebellion ("1715 " by A. & H. Taylor 1936) .
I
>>also understand that the Caithness folk rose for the Prince in the '45 but
>>too late to be of any good at Culloden.
>>John Prebble who is hard on the Lairds (especially the Sutherlands) who
>>forcibly removed their tenants  to make place for sheep, is very gentle on
>>Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster. I quoted that passage in an earlier
discussion
>>on this subject and you may have missed it.
>>Whether or not the Sinclairs participated in the Clearances as the
>>Sutherlands does not matter much to the very general question raised by
Dale
>>Hinchey.
>>He appears to wish that those who might  apologize:
>>1: prove somehow that they really understand the enormity of the
clearances.
>>2: promise that no money will ever be made because of such apology
>>
>>I take a "gentler kinder" approach.  If a person wishes to apologize, for
I
>>start from a place that tells me that it is not up to me to frame the
>>apology.  Personally, I am quite amazed that anyone would raise the issue
>>and yes, until I know otherwise, I would tend to give someone the benefit
of
>>making the offer before I judged it.
>>Besides, how does one ensure either of 1 or 2 above.
>>Rory
>>
>>[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
>>[ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
>>
>Personal Web Page: Dale Hinchey <http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/dhinchey>
>Where I teach:Saint Johnsbury Academy Web
>Page:<http://www.state.vt.us/schools/stj/>
>[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
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