Friday, January 06, 2012

Danish Oxymorons

It has taken me a while to get through this but it makes interesting reading in a way. This is the
Programme of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2012

I am highlighting some stuff on pages 58-60 of 62 (I always read these documents from the back, it is often where the juiciest morsels are hidden). It is the Culture section. The battle over the future of our continent is not just one of economies and currencies, but far more one of culture. And look at this muddled thinking,
The primary task of the Council is to supplement and support Member States’ efforts to develop, for example, a high educational level and educational mobility, a common cultural heritage, development in the audio-visual area as well as sport.
A Common Cultural Heritage. Got that, develop a common heritage. How pray? The whole point about heritage is that it is something that pre-exists. It is something inherited, not something that can be developed in that way. Nobody can have the faintest idea what people in the future will value in this way. Anyhow back to the muddled thinking,
The Presidency wishes to continue cooperation on the strategic targets of the European cultural agenda, including the targets of promoting cultural diversity...
So by a Common Heritage they mean promote cultural diversity? Eh?

What is common is what is different? Or am I getting this all very wrong and being very stupid. Surely getting the EU monolith to promote difference is absurd in itself. Difference does not require commonality, nor does it require a centralised bureaucracy for it to flourish, quite the opposite.

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