Job Discussion Forums

[lajzar]

[guest of Japan]

Destroy the traditional cottage industries

Exaggerate the Muslim Hindu divide so that the Indian subcontinent was divided into two nations which have endured multiple wars and never ending hostilities.

Gun down peaceful protesters with machine guns

Exploit the labor force

Tax the hell out of them

Steal their cultural treasures

I'm not saying they didn't do any good for India. In fact if I had a country and Europeans wanted to colonize, it I'd definitely choose Britain. At least they understood that you have to give a little when you take a lot.

[mjed9]

[steampig]

The British also introduced cricket to India, and before you laugh, consider the positive influence that sport has upon the billion or so people in the sub-continent.

[lajzar]

Dunno about the cricket. If they weren't playing cricket, they'd be playing kabadi instead, which I understand would have much the same positive social influences.

[shmooj]

Forget "the British" if you want examples of what was done in India and just look at one instance... even if an extreme one.

Single-handedly, what William Carey contributed to Bengal in particular is very noteworthy (and I'm not talking solely about religious things). I mean, one example: the guy introduced the daisy to India....

sure, the Brits did bad bad things but they did good things too and the Indians themselves have a remarkable tendency to display exactly the same attitude to their own countrymen in any case which has been proven time and again since independence.

[Boy Wonder]

I am bloody proud to be British.....from my David Beckhamesque shaved head right down to my Union Jack boxers and socks.

If some people have a problem being British I suggest they either change their nationality or shut up!!

Every country has a murky past and I can't think of one place on earth that is absolute Utopia.......

Nationhood is something to be really proud of...the rest of the world manage it....unfortunately the touchy feely liberal guilt trippers drown out the rest of us with their drivel.

Plenty of people are proud of the UK.........too right!!!!

[Magoo]

For a perspective on the evil British Empire, read 'Heart of Darkness', by Joseph Conrad. Conrad, a Polish-born sailor, was describing the rapacity and cruelty of the Belgian Empire. The British, in their favour, didn't impose their culture on others (French), rape the sh1t out of parts of Africa (Belgians) or, weirdly, annex a large tract of desert (Spanish-I had a Moroccan friend in London who thanked Allah he spoke French, as Spanish would have made him a camel driver ). This is not a blanket defence of the Empire, but, as I once said to some German classmates who were calling us racist because of this, you're just extremely peeved at a p1ssy little piece of rock in the North Sea winning-and, for a long time, keeping-so much real estate.
I think that younger Brits are getting over the Post-Colonial Guilt Complex. The more enlightened of us appreciate that we live in a multi-cultural society, despite the racial tensions that arise. I love my country; I also love China. Patriotism doesn't mean you must hate everyone else.

[Stephen Jones]

------" The British, in their favour, didn't impose their culture on others"-------

Not even in India?

----"rape the sh1t out of parts of Africa"------

What about the Solomon Islands which were almost totally destroyed by open caste phosphate mining. And what about the Tasmanian aborigines who became extinct as a result of mass genocide by the British?

----"or, weirdly, annex a large tract of desert"-----

Err, Mesipotamia? Egypt?

[Magoo]

Okay Jonesie, it's late and I'm in one of those moods. However:
In India, we imposed trade, either by force or by playing off local rajahs against each other;
since when were the Solomon Islands and Tasmania in Africa? (I'm being disingenious-point conceded);
who the f u c k wouldn't want Mesopotamia and Egypt? Ask Julius Caesar. It just shows that we have more culture than people give us credit for.
I believe you're British. You weren't one of those Socialist Worker types at uni, were you? Haranguing bright, well-travelled students just because they read The Times. Seriously, though, of course we pulled some really sh1tty stunts. My point is, the French seriously f ucked up countries like Algeria, and grabbing the inland beach in S.E. Morocco was obviously just sour grapes for a few centuries of Islam
That's it. I'm heading for bed before she files for divorce.

[Dr.J]

I think all these "we gave india the railways" really miss the point of why people get so annoyed at the empire.

I mean, if someone came into your house and got your wife pregnant, but promised that the kid would have the best education and be totally provided for...wouldn't you be annoyed...for some small reason?

[Roger]

Joseph Conrad's DARK HEART was NOT about THE Belgians as imperialists; it was about THE WHITE MAN anywhere in the then third world just as Rudyard Kipling thought of "the white mans burden" in terms of any European power's burden with indigenous cultures.
Seriously, what is this fingerpointing all about? Colonialism is not something the European powers invented; it existed before that, and it is still widely done - isn't China an imperialist, colonising, exploiting and invading power? Indonesia? The Philippines?
While the shame really is deserved, colonialism by Europeans was probably inevitable, and not bad.
Imaigne the British had never set foot on African territories; would there be any NIGERIA? WOuld there be a unified India?
One of the legacies of the white man was that these territories finally came to be states rather than tribal homelands in constant war with each other.
I know, of course, that the borderlines are rather arbitrary, and that wars have been, and will be , fought among these nation-states.
But if not the EUropeans, then the Arabs would no doubt have incorporated large parts of Africa, under far more ruthless conditions.

[shmooj]