Thread: Colonialism

Should we be proud of the UK's policy of colonialism during the age of the British Empire?

The policy of encouraging UK citizens to become economic migrants who foisted their different cultures and beliefs onto unwilling hosts, milking them for all their assets which they then proceeded to send home, seems to me to be nothing short of scandalous.

Originally Posted by Charlemagne

Should we be proud of the UK's policy of colonialism during the age of the British Empire?

The policy of encouraging UK citizens to become economic migrants who foisted their different cultures and beliefs onto unwilling hosts, milking them for all their assets which they then proceeded to send home, seems to me to be nothing short of scandalous.

And yet you advocate the colonization of Britain and other Western nations?

The British people should be deeply ashamed of their Imperial past. Although it was a criminal enterprise largely conducted by the same British elite now inflicting similar crimes on the British people rather than the nation itself. The British people have the mitigation of their heroic and noble victories over slavery, fascism and Imperialism to set against their own crimes.

If we’d been alone as colonists then there may be an argument, not a good one but an argument, to the effect that we should now feel at least uneasy in what took place, but we were NOT alone.

Secondly what was done by the other European colonising powers to the people that were colonised was for the most part far less beneficial for the people of the countries involved and what was left was far more by the Brits than by the others.

Thirdly the things done must be seen not in the context of today but in the context of the times. That doesn’t mean that then was better or worse than now, just different. Because of that to go into a state of angst about what our grandparents and great grandparents and so on did is pointless unless what they did was outrageous for that time.

So no, on balance we should NOT see what WE did as being scandalous. It was just a part of history.

To quote L.P.Hartley “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.”

Originally Posted by British-Conservatism

Why should be ashamed of such a worth exercise in defence and self preservation that was the Empire?

That is not an acceptable moral argument, it can not be justified to enslave another nation and dispossess another people of what is rightfully theirs merely out of expediency.

Moreover it is not a pragmatic argument either, had the nations of the Empire been independent then we could still have summoned them to the fights against Imperialism and Fascism in the full confidence they would have answered that call as brother nations, as Britain did for Poland and Belgium. It's a grievous and unfounded insult to suggest proud nations such as Canada, New Zealand, India, Australia and South Africa needed to be compelled by force to fulfill their duty and represent in a fight against pure evil. They're not Americans FFS.

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP

And yet you advocate the colonization of Britain and other Western nations?

I belivethe policy of colonialism is scandolous if you're a true believer in the nation state and anti immigration.

I believe colonialism had its good and bad points.

What I find ridiculous is white English folk going around saying we should have never given up India and pointing out that things worked much better in India when the Brits were in charge, and none of the natives really wanted them to leave.

Originally Posted by The Bear

If we’d been alone as colonists then there may be an argument, not a good one but an argument, to the effect that we should now feel at least uneasy in what took place, but we were NOT alone.

Secondly what was done by the other European colonising powers to the people that were colonised was for the most part far less beneficial for the people of the countries involved and what was left was far more by the Brits than by the others.

Thirdly the things done must be seen not in the context of today but in the context of the times. That doesn’t mean that then was better or worse than now, just different. Because of that to go into a state of angst about what our grandparents and great grandparents and so on did is pointless unless what they did was outrageous for that time.

So no, on balance we should NOT see what WE did as being scandalous. It was just a part of history.

To quote L.P.Hartley “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.”

I can never understand why people think we should smile at outrageous and monstrous acts simply because they happened in the past. History, it has been universally acknowledged down the ages, is entitled to judge our behavior as it sees fit.

I don't give a damn for the idiot cop-out relativism of people like Hartley.

That Britain was not unique in its evil criminality is no defense, anymore than if a gang of thugs batter a group innocent people they can offer the defense that they were a gang and not an individual. That Britain was the least despicably behaved of a despicable gang is small consolation and no defense at all. And that assessment fails to account for the considerable role the British played in the genocide of the indigenous American people, easily the most heinous crime in the history of mankind by a considerable margin.

We rightly claim the achievement's of ancestors as evidence of our quality and celebrate them as our own, but the corollary of that is that we must accept the opprobrium generated by their misdeeds in equal measure.

Originally Posted by Charlemagne

I belivethe policy of colonialism is scandolous if you're a true believer in the nation state and anti immigration.

I believe colonialism had its good and bad points.

What I find ridiculous is white English folk going around saying we should have never given up India and pointing out that things worked much better in India when the Brits were in charge, and none of the natives really wanted them to leave.

I can agree with that at least, such people are idiot reprobates and worthy of nothing but contempt.