Tragedies thirst for narrative, vindication
Today it is clear that the story is inconceivable, outrageous. “This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared it a few days ago. His government is rushing to pass legislation that will overturn the convictions and compensate hundreds of people who were convicted unjustly. And yet, for 20 years, the scandal of baseless accusations of fraud and theft against 3,500 people who owned or managed small post office branches, the conviction of over 900, the jail terms, the bankruptcies, the ostracism, the destroyed relationships, the suicides, did not move many hearts among Britain’s political class or the broader public.
For 20 years, one of the accused, Alan Bates, struggled to bring the issue to the fore. In 2019, he and over 500 others won their case court, but it was only last week, when the commercial channel ITV broadcast the dramatization “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” that the British public was shaken. This galvanized the government – with the support of the opposition – to move swiftly to redress the injustice.
We know the unstoppable power of narration from before the first epics, from the myths which gave color, life and momentum to all aspects of the human adventure
Aside from Bates, perhaps the most fitting person to express his wonder at the speed of the latest developments is the journalist Karl Flinders of Computer Weekly, who, since 2010, has written more than 350 reports revealing the errors of the Horizon software and the machinations of the Post Office which led to the baseless accusations and convictions. “I can’t believe it’s taken a dramatization of a real story to do this. But it really has just done what we had been hoping (for) for 15 years,” The Guardian quoted him saying. Not having seen the four-part series, I asked a friend who lives in England to comment. “It tells a shocking story very well,” he replied. “I actually found myself tearing up a few times at the injustice and the turmoil these people went through. I was aware of the issue and had seen a documentary about it a while back. But the TV series really hit home because it told the human story behind the scandal. I think that’s what shook public opinion.”
We know the unstoppable power of narration from before the first epics, from the myths which gave color, life and momentum to all aspects of the human adventure. The emotions raised by “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” present another dimension of the issue, which ties directly to our story-saturated time. Today, everyone is telling a story but few find a wider audience. Few narratives move so many people at the same time as to force a change of mentality, as to create a new momentum. Trump’s supporters storming the Capitol, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the slaughter of innocents in Israel and Gaza (a story told in the International Court last week) are all shocking stories.
Dramatizing them, however, would not make many people change their minds as to who is in the right, who is a victim and who the perpetrator of the crime. The narrative would widen divisions, not bridge them. The tragedy of the Post Office’s victims was not unknown, it hovered above the public arena for years, without taking specific form. It was waiting for its “poet,” and for its public to be ready to receive the revelation of the incomprehensible forces which determine individuals’ fates.
Let’s consider how many tragic stories in our own country thirst – like Homeric shades – for such a narrative, for vindication.
