“It Was Bollocks”: A Blackadder-Harrison Meditation on Peace in a Time of Rage By Cicero for Ciceros.org
“You see, Baldrick, there was a tiny flaw in the plan… it was bollocks.”
— Captain Edmund Blackadder, 1917 (fictionally), eternal (spiritually)
In Blackadder Goes Forth, the titular hero delivers perhaps the most succinct summary of human conflict ever committed to screen. What began as alliances of deterrence descended into the mire of trench warfare, all stitched together by pride, paranoia, and diplomatic chest-puffing. The result? Millions dead, empires collapsed — and all because no one had the guts to say, “We’re being stupid. Let’s stop.”
Fast forward to 2025, and we are once again watching the fuse being lit between powers — this time in the deserts of Israel and Iran. Missiles are being primed. Airstrikes are rehearsed like drum solos in the wings of history’s next great cacophony. And behind it all: old rivalries, nationalism, sacred texts, and uranium.
And yet, what if we paused — just for a moment — and asked: What would George Harrison say?
🎸 “With our love, we could save the world.”
George, the quiet Beatle, the mystic with the sitar and the soul of a monk, offered a message so simple that war-makers scoff at it: love is enough. His music was never just sound — it was sermon, sanctuary, and subtle protest.
“Try to realise it’s all within yourself, no one else can make you change,” he wrote in Within You Without You.
It’s a lyric that rings like a spiritual hammer in the ears of warmongers: change comes from within, not from drone strikes, sanctions, or proxy fighters.
🛑 Where Is the Courage to Not Fight?
In today’s geopolitical landscape, pulling the trigger is easy. What’s hard is stepping back — admitting that the other side may have a point, that vengeance is not justice, and that history’s wounds are not healed by reopening them.
From Tehran to Tel Aviv, there are mothers, sons, lovers, and strangers who don’t care who owns what temple or who’s sitting on what oil field. They care about waking up safe. About dancing. About feeding their families and maybe—just maybe—watching the sun rise without sirens.
🤝 Deterrents Don’t Work. Dialogue Might.
Like the doomed logic of WWI alliances, we now have “deterrence” by way of missiles and cyberwarfare. Israel and Iran are being egged on by their respective camps — the West, the Ayatollahs, arms dealers, apocalyptic evangelists. All banking on the same thing: that the other side won’t dare push the button.
History says: they will.
Peace isn’t forged by arms but by art, empathy, and actual bloody conversation. And let’s be clear: diplomacy is not weakness — it’s grown-up politics. The grown-ups in the room need to say:
“Enough. Back down. Sit. Talk. And listen.”
🌈 Let’s Not Die Over Old Scripts
If Harold Steptoe’s wardrobe could spark alarm, imagine what an old holy scroll or a crumbling border map can do when nationalism takes the wheel. But George would remind us that these identities — sacred or state-sanctioned — are not worth annihilation. They’re costumes, and like all costumes, they should be worn lightly.
So, to leaders in the Middle East, to the West, to all who claim divine justification for destruction:
Your plan has a tiny flaw. It’s bollocks.
Instead, be like George. Pick up a guitar. Light a candle. Smoke a joint if you must. But above all, choose peace. Because anything else is just… noise.
🕊️ “Isn’t it a pity, isn’t it a shame… how we break each other’s hearts and cause each other pain?”
— George Harrison, 1970
