Date Posted:06:38:53 08/24/07 Fri Author: Paul_G Author Host/IP: c-68-63-84-11.hsd1.de.comcast.net / 68.63.84.11 Subject: Re: Help! Opinions on the British Empire wanted. In reply to:
Peter Jones
's message, "Re: Help! Opinions on the British Empire wanted." on 04:09:50 08/24/07 Fri
Even the bad things... you have to look at them in the context of their time. People can't fairly judge an 18th and 19th century society by the standards of 2007.
Until very recently, it was routine for EVERY powerful nation to oppress weaker nations. In fact it is still done today under the table. And the concept of ethnic supremacy certainly dates back before the British Empire.
I think we take a lot of crap because the world was very different and more brutal 150 years ago, and a lot of people in modern times are angry about their lot and are looking for someone to blame. Because we were the most powerful nation of that time, we are seen as *causing* that state of affairs and not as simply adapting to it better than everyone else.
What if the British had carried themselves like a society of 2007, where we avoid bloodshed and 'being the bad guy' at nearly any cost? We'd have been conquered by Napoleon 200 years ago, because a society couldn't have survived in 1807 with that attitude. Then people would be complaining about the French now.
I think that if you hold Britain up next to Spain, France, the Ottomans, or most of the warlike 'native' populations that we conquered, that we were in fact the most liberal first world society on earth. I would suggest that a lot of the reforms that came about in the 20th century could be traced back to the liberal community in Britain in the 1800's.
For myself, I know that what I was taught in school isn't accurate. The image of smiling Indians working in the tea fields isn't how things went down. But this revisionist crap where whites, and the British in particular, are portrayed as nothing more than well-armed thugs is no more accurate than the other extreme.
I view the Empire overall as being like the Roman Empire. It did many bad things, it did many other good things, but in general it fit within its time and did a great deal to advance and develop the rest of the world.
In 500 years the British Empire will be viewed by the world in a much more favorable light than it is now, when specific injustices have been forgotten and it can be viewed in a better context.
