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| Subject: I never said he was a nice kinda guy | |
Author: Owain (UK) | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 16:28:00 11/26/04 Fri In reply to: Paddy (Scotland) 's message, "Owain, I am sorry if I have offended you and will attempt not to patronise you again..." on 12:11:08 11/26/04 Fri Now I think your missunderstanding what I am trying to say. I know Britain was in the words of a politician whose name I cannot remember "the greatest empire of good the world had ever known". I am only questioning the meaning of the word Imperialism and defending my admiration for Leopold. Timur was a very nasty chap. He liked to build mountains of heads for one thing. But he never lost a battle in his life and for that I admire him. Thats not to say I am applauding mountain building with heads. My History teacher said "Hitler was a political genious" to say so does not mean my teacher is a nazi. Napoleon is admired for his military skill by many people, these people dont neccesarily like the idea pof europe being united under a an upstart despot. And with Leopold I merely admire his political skill, its not like I wish to use him as a role model for how I shall live my life. I am aware of what he did in the congo (Thomas Pakenhams book, monstous in size, is very detailed) and I am also aware of the British Empires good deeds, including the abolition of slavery (something made even more noble when you consider how much money we were making out of it and how much we would have made when Empire was even larger later in the century). "Yes, he got into the Congo and established a Belgian presence there thus preventing a more civilised power fron establishing its rule over the Congo - but in what way was that a good thing?" Didnt say it was a good thing, nothing he did was good as such. But I dont admire him as a philanthropist (as people at first believed him to be), but as a very clever man. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |