The Death of Enlightenment

"We have killed the spirit of 1789."

Josef Goebbels,

after the 1933 Nazi election victory


So, I was in London with my friend who had got back from Hong Kong, Baz. We decided to get some drinks and talk about what we's been up to in recent months.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard on the radio that the Leader of the Opposition would be willing to remove the Humans Rights Act, in order to stop gypsies building on land that wasn't theirs. So, he wanted to go as far as to strip us of all legal rights, to stop some gypsies? I thought nothing more of the lunatic and continued out.


The next day, I woke up. Part of my face was stuck to the floor, with what I don't know. Something horrible and bloated was in my mouth, and it wasn't a relief to find out it was my tongue. I wasn't exactly seeing purple and green spots, it was rather I could see patches of reality and that was the rest.

Sorting myself out, I turned on the TV, hoping to find something mildly entertaining. Flicking through, I came across a popular topical chat show. They mentioned the new policy of the Opposition. Thing was, there was no-one really objecting to the measure being proposed. Nope, it was the best for all to sacrifice human rights in order to deal with a minor problem. Screw the millions of dead who fought to protect those rights.

The Enlightenment Project had failed, was the general realization that was dawning on me. Kant, Hume, the American Founding Fathers, Locke, Paine, it was all for nothing. Nope. Just look around. We had in the last 15 years several attempted genocides, a reversion to infantile outbursts that was publicly approved (Diana death hysteria etc), general bullshittery such as the false economics of the free market and many more I can't be bothered to list.