Bagehot 白芝浩
The atonement moment
赎罪时刻
May 14th 2009
From The Economist print edition
There is a mood of penance in Britain. Gordon Brown can make use of it
英国举国沉浸在悔过的氛围之中，戈登•布朗 （Gordon Brown）大可利用这个机会。
Illustration by Steve O’Brien
ON YOM KIPPUR[1] , the Day of Atonement and holiest festival in Judaism, worshippers beseech God’s pardon. Striking their breasts, they repent of the sin of slander, the sin of arrogance, the sins of stubbornness and of bearing false witness. They atone for any wrongs that would have incurred the four fearsome death penalties imposed in the age of the old Temple: stoning, burning, beheading and strangulation. They plead to be inscribed in the book of life, as the gates of heaven close.
“赎罪日”（Yom Kippur）是犹太人最神圣的节日，他们在这天恳求上帝赦罪。他们捶胸顿足，为自己的诽谤、傲慢、顽固、做伪证等罪行而忏悔，为一切可能在古老的神殿[2]时期招致掷石、火烧、斩首、勒喉等四种恐怖极刑[3]的过错而忏悔。他们祈求，在天堂大门关闭之际[4]，自己的名字能够镌刻在生命册（book of life）[5]之上。
Britain is living through a sort of Yom Kippur moment. Atonement and repentance are in the air. It isn’t only MPs and their expenses scams (see article and article). Some were already seeking absolution for screwing up the economy. Then there are the faux-contrite bankers, the remorseful policeman who exposed top-secret counter-terrorist plans and still more improbable penitents.
英国正在经历这样一种“赎罪日”，空气中弥漫着赎罪和忏悔的气息。国会议员正在为他们的“骗补”罪和其它罪行积极忏悔，但忏悔的并不只有国会议员，某些人正为搞砸国家经济的罪行寻求赦免，银行家假装忏悔，泄露了国家最高机密——反恐计划的警官[6]正在自责，除了他们以外还有更多“不太有罪的”的人也纷纷加入忏悔者行列。
The London Evening Standard, the capital’s main newspaper, has launched an unusual, self-lacerating advertising campaign. A series of posters say “sorry” for a variety of cardinal editorial shortcomings: for “taking you for granted”, “being complacent”, “being predictable”. Meanwhile Marks & Spencer, Britain’s leading clothing retailer, has beaten its breast for overcharging women with large ones. Customers protested over the £2 ($3) premium added to the price of big bras; M&S at first rebuffed them, but then capitulated. “We boobed”, their adverts concede, announcing that the surcharge would be scrapped (and, naturally, using the backtrack as a pretext for a pectoral close-up).
伦敦的主要报纸《伦敦旗帜晚报》（London Evening Standard）开展了一场非同寻常的广告宣传活动，通过一系列海报自我批评，为各种重大编辑错误道歉——为忽视读者道歉，为固步自封道歉，为墨守成规道歉[7]。而英国最大的服装零售商玛莎百货（Marks & Spencer）也为对胸部丰满的女性加收额外费用而捶胸顿足。早先玛莎公司对大尺码文胸加收2英镑（3美元）的政策惹得消费者纷纷抗议。玛莎百货起初冷漠回绝，但后来还是缴械投降，登广告承认“我们错了”并宣称取消额外收费。（同时，他们利用此次让步良机，不露痕迹地将公众的注意力引向一次胸部特写。）
These are not the first firms to use self-deprecating marketing. “We’re number two,” Avis once proclaimed. “Love it or hate it” is the strap line for Marmite, a pungent breakfast spread. But the recent commercial apologies are especially risky. Some formerly satisfied customers or readers will be retroactively aggrieved. Staff at the Standard may not be altogether happy to see their past labours repudiated. But like the rush to mea a few culpas elsewhere, the strategy is a response to a subtle but palpable shift in the public mood. It is restive, confused, gently millenarian.
这种自贬式营销手段并非前无古人。Avis（安飞士）曾经宣称，“我们排行第二”。Marmite（一种气味浓烈的早餐涂抹酱）则将“不爱即恨”作为紧跟大名之后的副标题。但最近这种致歉又格外冒险，彼时感到满意的顾客或读者此刻会愤愤不平。看到从前的努力被否定，并非所有《旗帜晚报》的员工都会感到欣慰吧。正如“无关紧要的道歉”热潮一样，公众情绪发生了细微但明显的转变，这种策略也是对此的一种反应。这是一种焦躁、懵懂又温和的“千禧年”状态[8] 。
Partly, of course, this is the atmosphere of recession. Many consumers feel pinched, or expect to; they are looking for savings and reassessing their outgoings. Cut-price clothiers threaten M&S; London freesheets are winning readers from the Standard. But it isn’t only the slump and the skint. The credit crunch, the approaching general election and now the cross-party shaming of Parliament (and, perhaps, the advent of Barack Obama) have also contributed. So has a quiet collective guilt over the financial excesses of “the age of irresponsibility”. There is a vague sense of eras ending and beginning.
某种程度上，这也是经济萧条时期当有的氛围。很多消费者感到手头紧张，或者预见到即将陷入窘境，他们开始琢磨“省财之道”，开支谨慎。服装商纷纷减价，M&S受到威胁，从前《旗帜晚报》的读者也开始转向伦敦的那些免费报纸。眼下市场低迷、消费者捉襟见肘，加上信贷紧缩、即将来临的大选、最近各党派国会议员的丑事（也许还有巴拉克•奥巴马的出现），以及这场无声的集体忏悔——为“不负责任的时代”的挥霍无度，这是处于时代终结和另一个时代开始这种特殊阶段模糊不清的感觉。
So, in a way, this is the worst of times for MPs to be caught in the sin of horse manure, the sins of mole-clearing and of pool-cleaning. Nurses and teachers will be livid about cuts imposed by people who ride lawnmowers their taxes paid for; the “coping classes” will be even crosser about taxes that are dodged by the ministers who devised them. Yet the mood also opens up an opportunity for politicians to recast their relationship with the public—especially, perhaps, the prime minister.
从某种意义上来说，“马粪之罪”“老鼠药之罪”“泳池之罪”[9]在此时被公布于众，对众国会议员来说实在是“最好”的时机。这些人减了护士和教师的薪水，却用纳税人的钱为自己添置剪草机，护士和教师愤怒了；这些人让中产阶级沦为“应付阶级”[10] ，自己却偷税漏税，中产阶级的愤怒更甚于护士和教师。然而这种情绪也为政客创造了机会去改变与公众关系，也许，尤其是与首相的关系。
Gordon’s chance
戈登的机会
Even if every Labour MP were as clean as a Tory swimming pool, the expenses scandal would still hurt their party. Labour is the long-term incumbent; political problems of all kinds are naturally blamed on the government. It is particularly damaging for Gordon Brown: whatever his other failings, nobody has hitherto accused him of being a pocket-lining spiv (like that other fella Blair). The Tories will suffer too, because of the reinforced perception of unearned privilege. Within the party there will be resentment of the wealthy top brass, including David Cameron, the Tory leader, from those who will more sorely miss their inflated allowances. But the backlash looks set to be worse for Labour.
即使每个工党议员都干净如保守党的游泳池[11]，报销丑闻也将使其大伤元气。工党长期执政，各种政治问题自然归咎于政府，尤其是对戈登•布朗（Gordon Brown）的责难迎面而来：他有过其它过失，但迄今为止尚无人指责他是一个衣冠楚楚、中饱私囊的诈骗犯（pocket-lining spiv）（另一名首相布莱尔就曾获此殊荣）。随着公众对非正当特权越来越敏感，保守党也将受重创。就党内来说，虚高薪俸遭削减的党员会更加怀念从前的日子，这也催生了他们对领袖戴维·卡梅伦在内富裕高层的不满。但工党受到的政治冲击似乎更为猛烈。
Mr Cameron has striven to make it so. He is a serial political apologist, saying sorry, sacrificing an aide and obliging his shadow cabinet to pay back their most egregious claims, like medieval Christians buying indulgences. Mr Brown, by contrast, has blathered on about committees, seeming defensive and reactive rather than leaderly. Still, like the banking crisis which gave him a bounce last autumn, the expenses furore and the liminal feeling it has reinforced offer him a shot at redemption. To exploit it, he must be at least as bold as he was in the bank bail-out. Self-flagellating is not sufficient expiation: the price of the bra must be cut, the newspaper redesigned, or, in this case, politics overhauled.
这正是卡梅伦先生想要看到的，他也曾为此而努力。他出演了一部政治致歉连续剧——向公众致歉、“牺牲”一名助理[12]、要求其“影子内阁”成员退还最过分的非分收入，一如中世纪基督徒购买赎罪券，希望获得赦免。而布朗先生顾左右而言他，在委员会问题上喋喋不休，似乎只是一味掩饰加被动回应，并没有担负起领导的职责。尽管如此，去年秋季的银行业危机给了他生机，眼下的骗补风暴愈演愈烈，赎罪情绪已经由“小荷才露尖尖角”演变成如今的举国大潮，这同样也给了他机会。要抓住这个机会，他必须要重现他在银行救助事件上的勇敢，而且要更勇敢。仅仅是自我鞭笞已经不足以赎罪——文胸必须减价，报纸必须改头换面，政治也必须彻底革新。
For a start, Mr Brown could outdo Mr Cameron by dispensing the three fearsome political penalties to Labour’s worst expenses miscreants, including some in the cabinet: ministerial sacking, withdrawal of the whip and deselection by constituencies. After this knowledge, he could insist, no forgiveness. And he shouldn’t stop at parliamentary discipline. Henceforth, Mr Brown could say, I will be franker about the economy. I will answer interviewers’ questions. I will scrap the ID-cards scheme and other costly fixations. I will be less partisan. It isn’t only the expenses, he could declare: I understand the mood; politics must change.
首先，布朗先生可以比卡梅伦先生更利落，对工党内最肆无忌惮的骗补官员，包括一些内阁成员实施三项严厉的政治惩罚：解除内阁职务、取消党员资格、取消选举资格。认识到这点之后，他还要坚持，绝不姑息。另外他不应仅停留在议会纪律上，从今以后，布朗先生要宣称：我会对经济情况更加坦白，我会回答记者的问题，我会取消身份证计划以及其它一些我曾推崇的昂贵计划，我将超越党派。他也不应仅停留在骗补门事件上，他还要宣称：我能理解你们的心情，政治必须变革。
“I am sure it is a bad thing,” Churchill said in 1954, “to have the tremendous affairs and responsibilities of the state discharged by men, a large number of whom are themselves seriously embarrassed.” He was talking about the embarrassment of penury—and advocating higher salaries for MPs. Parliament is now woefully embarrassed for the opposite reason. It will be hard for all politicians, including Mr Brown, to shrug this off. He cannot rebrand himself as readily as a company. But things could scarcely get much worse for the prime minister than they are now. The book of political life and death is closing; the electoral gates will soon slam shut. He needs to seize the atonement moment.
“我确信这不是件好事，”丘吉尔在1954年曾说到，“这些人承担着国人赋予他们的巨大责任及繁重事务，而他们中却有很多还处于相当窘迫的境况。”这席话意指当时议员们经济窘迫，并提倡提高议员待遇。而议会目前却处于完全相反的另一种尴尬之中，着实可悲，包括布朗在内的所有政客都不得不正视这一问题，他不能像企业换招牌一样可以快速逃避这个烂摊子。但对首相来说，事态发展不会比现在更糟。政治生死册正徐徐合上，不久选举大门也将砰一声紧闭，抓住赎罪时刻这个机会显得很有必要。
注释：
[1]Cf：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur
[2]第一神殿（所罗门神殿）于公元前587年被巴比伦人摧毁。第二神殿于公元前537年开始重建，公元前561年竣工，次年启用，但在公元70年遭罗马人破坏。Cf：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_in_Jerusalem
[3]这四种极刑于公元30年被古犹太人最高当局——公会（Sanhedrin，三合林）废除。Cf：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment_(Judaism)
[4]犹太新年开始之时，天堂之门是“开着”的，人类可以向上帝坦白自己的罪过。赎罪日的结束部分是Neilah（意为最后一次礼拜），表示“关闭大门”。但是整个礼拜过程中，天堂之门仍向最后的祷告敞开。此时是犹太人请求宽恕的最后时机，祈求上帝将自己的姓名封入“生命册”，为新的一年带来好运。Cf：http://people.bowenwang.com.cn/yom-kippur2.htm
[5]Cf：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Life
[6]Cf：http://news.sohu.com/20090410/n263301398.shtml
[7]Cf：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evening_Standard 1.2 May 2009 relaunch
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124198824181404433.html
http://blogs.reuters.com/uknews/2009/05/05/the-london-evening-standard-says-sorry/
[8]千禧年又称千福年，千禧年论（millennialism）有三种基本的观点，分别是前千禧年论、无千禧年论、后千禧年论。目前最流行的理论是前千禧年论（premillennialism）：这种观点的主要内容就是世界的政治组织在不久的将来就会被敌基督占领，那时教会要击败敌基督，并要在以色列建立政教合一的地上王国，这一王国要统治大地一千年。在这一千禧年国度之后，就要与撒旦的军队进行短暂的争战，导致万物结局和世界最后审判的到来。这种观点号称是“最直接依据圣经字面而作的解释，历史悠久”。因为主张基督在末日前，将会在地上他的圣徒国度中统治一千年，又被称为“千禧年主义”。用在这里，译者猜想一是和本文首尾的宗教概念有所呼应，二是将眼下这种混乱的局面比作与撒旦的争战，采取与赎罪氛围相应的策略，赢得“太平盛世”。鉴于本人对千禧年的概念比较模糊，所以这里可能有些理解上的欠缺，请各位高手不吝赐教。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenarianism
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%83%E7%A6%A7%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%BB%E4%B9%89
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4c9b5e180100d0ek.html~type=v5_one&label=rela_prevarticle
[9]这里意指“报销门”丑闻。英国媒体近日曝光了国会议员的报销明细，报销项目包括葡萄酒架、老鼠药、浴球、披萨饼刀、洗发精、塑胶袋等，还包括处理马粪、泳池清洁、钢琴调音等费用。
[10]意指英国的中产阶级。详见http://www.ftchinese.com/story.php?storyid=001017601
[11]有新闻称保守党多位资深议员报销游泳池清洁费。
[12]英国反对党保守党领袖戴维·卡梅伦的高级政治顾问安德鲁·麦凯14日因申请与住房相关的补贴问题辞职。
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译者：Alaska_me http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=19443