The British Empire Shame Thread

[Picaro]

I've been to the UK many times, and found the food excellent. Don't know where the bad rep comes from, but obviously not from anybody who has been there. Many fine restaurants all over, even in the small villages.

Well, except for Scotland, that is.

 

[defcon4]

Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Is that a rocket ship or a huge phallic symbol?

Yes...laugh at it.

Who said I was laughing dear? I asked what symbol of the monument was based on. Lighten up.

 

[Publius1787]

On Australia Day, Google is giving the country a reminder of its dark history

The actions of the British Empire brought shame on Britain.

I am sure that you can find other examples.

Lemme get this straight, The British seize Australia from a bunch of backwards uncivilized warring tribes and they owe an apology? Let me ask you something, if one aboriginal tribe was able to take over and cultivate Australia via destroying all the other aboriginal tribes do you think that Google would have ran an aboriginal doodle in remembrance of those fallen tribes? Of course not. So why do it to spite the British/Australians? Their skin is white? Their culture is different? Listen, it's a Machiavellian world out there and if you aren't improving your falling behind. If one nation/culture doesn't take advantage of an opportunity another will. The aborigines fell into the same trap that so many less advanced peoples of the world did before them and it's a trap they themselves would have set on their lesser tribes had they the opportunity. Moreover, if the roles were reversed, they would have done the same to the Brits. The Brits owe an apology to no one. The victimization idea promoted in the op is simply a leftist scheme to bring up dirt on their country or the countries of others to promote political agenda when there was no dirt to bring up in the first place. "Look look, look how awful they were .... The system is built on oppression, lets change the system." Yeah, its an old playbook indeed.

 

[Steven_R]

Bingo. Colonization was basically a game of "are you going to eat that?" Africa and Australia and the Americas held vast natural resources that the locals did nothing to exploit. While the Europeans were building Rome and Paris and London and Vienna, the Africans and Australians were still living in the Stone Age. The Europeans needed the resources, had the technology to simply take I and try to bring some enlightenment to savages. Sucks for the locals, but it's the same old story of two tribes with vastly differing technological levels and the lesser tribe loses. If anything those African, Australian, and American aborigines should count themselves lucky that they weren't simply wiped out by the victorious Europeans and that's before we even get into local tribes fucking over their neighboring tribes.

I read on a different board once "then they should have fought harder and invested in some post-Neolithic R&D." That about sums up my feelings on the matter.

 

[Tilly]

But, let's not forget, the OP has said outright that Isis is no worse than the US and UK gvmnts, so his hatred for the West is clear. He puts us on a par with heinous savages who are enslaving, raping, decapitating, immolating, and even raping and murdering toddlers RIGHT NOW, not centuries ago. This stooooopid thread of his is just yet another example of his warped mind.

 

[Tilly]

I believe black bird pie is a fine example of British abuses...

Tripe is right up there for me.

You think we eat tripe and blackbirds

My granny sure did. Tripe but not blackbirds.

Ewwwww

 

[Picaro]

Never ate the English version of tripe, but I can't criticize it since I live in the Southwest and I love good menudo.

 

[StLucieBengal]

As a US citizen I am pleased and proud that we were a British colony. They certainly had the recipe for success. The alternative was to be a Spanish or Dutch colony and we have seen how that has turned out in Central America.

To shame the British empire is ridiculous. Without them our world would look much darker and worse off.

 

[StLucieBengal]

Not to mention The fact they put forth the Magna Carta is reason enough that they should be commended.

To speak ill of them is just ridiculous considering of what they have brought to humanity and made today's world a better and much more civilized place.

 

[gtopa1]

Never ate the English version of tripe, but I can't criticize it since I live in the Southwest and I love good menudo.

We LOVED tripe as kids. Can't stomach it now.

Greg

 

[gtopa1]

Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Is that a rocket ship or a huge phallic symbol?

Yes...laugh at it.

Who said I was laughing dear? I asked what symbol of the monument was based on. Lighten up.

Looks like a penis.

Greg

 

[gtopa1]

Not to mention the British doing stuff like stopping Indian widows from becoming kindling on their husband's funeral pyre. Or ending the African slave trade.

Also supressing the Thugee cult, allegedly "the most destructive terrorist group in history". Thuggee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I suspect that for every "evil" act committed by the British Empire, you could find at least one "good" or "beneficial" act to compensate. Ultimately, the Empire was what it was, like all empires, neither glorious nor abominable.

Any beneficial acts were incidental rather than part of any particular strategy. The aim of the Empire was to exploit the resources of the world for the benefit of the British ruling class.
These places would have been better off left alone than subjected to the exploitation of the British Empire.

Nah; I like living in Oz. Much better weather than Wrexham!!

Greg

 

[Drummond]

Deny the British empire's crimes? No, we ignore them | George Monbiot

Spreading the love in Kenya.

Interrogation under torture was widespread. Many of the men were anally raped, using knives, broken bottles, rifle barrels, snakes and scorpions. A favourite technique was to hold a man upside down, his head in a bucket of water, while sand was rammed into his rectum with a stick. Women were gang-raped by the guards. People were mauled by dogs and electrocuted. The British devised a special tool which they used for first crushing and then ripping off testicles. They used pliers to mutilate women's breasts. They cut off inmates' ears and fingers and gouged out their eyes. They dragged people behind Land Rovers until their bodies disintegrated. Men were rolled up in barbed wire and kicked around the compound.

Even Guantanamo isnt quite that bad.

What's your point dude? If it is in the past then how this generation could possibly be responsible for it?

There are several points but I suppose the main one is that people are very quick to condemn one group in society for the actions of a few whilst ignoring the actions of others. Are the awful actions of ISIS any worse than those of the British, or American governments ?
I hate hypocrisy although I accept that much of it is based on ignorance.

OK, Tommy ... what were you hoping for, as a result of your thread ?

'Awful actions' is how you describe what ISIS get up to. Yet ... you wanted this thread, obviously, to reflect an equivalence between the old British Empire and the present-day actions of ISIS.

So ... WHY, Tommy ?

You dig up old history - which you may be painting as darker than it really is - and want people to reflect upon history long-since dead and buried. The obvious point is to claim an equivalence between the old Empire and the likes of ISIS today. Why do this, unless you're trying to foment some sort of 'guilt trip' meant to neutralise our resolve to properly tackle ISIS ?

Are we meant to say that the actions of ancestors from several generations ago, for which current generations hold NO responsibility AT ALL, must stop us from seeing the evil of ISIS and doing something about it in the present-day world ??

Tommy, you could take the line that, now, we are much better than our ancestors, and therefore eminently fitted to deal with ISIS. This, Tommy, would be the proper and useful line to take. Instead ... what ? We must wallow in your self-contrived guilt trip and think ourselves unfit to do anything on the world stage ?

We are not our ancestors, Tommy. Regardless of any rights or wrongs committed in the long-ago past, the REAL world, NOW, has issues requiring solutions.

Would you rather we all ran away from those 'issues' ?

And, if we did ... would a 'Tommy' from a future generation post a thread on a discussion site berating us for the 'shameful chapter in our history' when we failed to act ??

Think on that, Tommy ...

 

[Two Thumbs]

Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Is that a rocket ship or a huge phallic symbol?

Yes

 

[Mindful]

Is this the self flagellating thread? It's the fashion these days.

 

[Mindful]

Not to mention the British doing stuff like stopping Indian widows from becoming kindling on their husband's funeral pyre. Or ending the African slave trade.

Also supressing the Thugee cult, allegedly "the most destructive terrorist group in history". Thuggee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I suspect that for every "evil" act committed by the British Empire, you could find at least one "good" or "beneficial" act to compensate. Ultimately, the Empire was what it was, like all empires, neither glorious nor abominable.

Any beneficial acts were incidental rather than part of any particular strategy. The aim of the Empire was to exploit the resources of the world for the benefit of the British ruling class.
These places would have been better off left alone than subjected to the exploitation of the British Empire.

So the exploitative activities of the Belgians in the Congo, Belgian Congo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the Germans in SW Africa Herero and Namaqua Genocide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia would have been preferable? There was a "Scramble for Africa" If Britain hadn't "exploited" those resources other Europeans would have. We may have to be ashamed of some of the things we did, but I venture to suggest we were more "humane" exploiters than some others. Not sure why you want to single out the British Empire for opprobrium?

Cut out the posh words.

 

[Toro]

Thank God for the British Empire.

Without them, we'd all be speaking fucking French!

 

[Tilly]

Is this the self flagellating thread? It's the fashion these days.

Tammy isn't really self flaggelating at all, he's really just blaming the English - the English who 'oppress' him. Lol.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Any benefits of the empire were incidental. Countries exploited for their assets,people slaughtered, and so on.

The real damage of the empire is in the shit sandwich it has left the world to deal with today. Not least the risible pride that the english blimps take in it.

It is where the racist attitudes of today come from.

Isis has a long way to go to match the curse of the empire, but its not a competition is it ?

 

[Mindful]

English blimps.

Lmao.