Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain(2023 Edition) - Sathnam Sanghera
Language: EnglishKeywords:
British empire
British India
Colonialism
Empire
Imperialism
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With a new introduction by the author and a foreword by Booker Prize-winner Marlon James
Empire—whether British or otherwise—informs nearly everything we do. From common thought to our daily routines; from the foundations of social safety nets to the realities of racism; and from the distrust of public intellectuals to the exceptionalism that permeates immigration debates, the Brexit campaign and the global reckonings with controversial memorials, Empireland shows how the pernicious legacy of Western imperialism undergirds our everyday lives, yet remains shockingly obscured from view.
In accessible, witty prose, award-winning journalist and best-selling author Sathnam Sanghera traces this legacy back to its source, exposing how—in both profound and innocuous ways—imperial domination has shaped the United Kingdom we know today. Sanghera connects the historical dots across continents and seas to show how the shadows of a colonial past still linger over modern-day Britain and how the world, in turn, was shaped by Britain’s looming hand. The implications, of course, extend to Britain’s most notorious former colony turned imperial power: the United States of America, which prides itself for its maverick soul and yet seems to have inherited all the ambition, brutality and exceptional thinking of its parent.
Empireland is a revelatory and lucid work of political history that offers a sobering appraisal of the past so we may move toward a more just futu
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This post has 28 comments with rating of 5/5
April 2nd, 2023
Good stuff. British people are done a great disservice by not being taught - or even encouraged to learn - their own history. All they receive is a puerile parody of education: kings, queens & finest hours.
The hour was fine; the eight centuries, however, were brutally appalling.
April 2nd, 2023
And it’s a pity you come out with such lefty drivel. The empire wasn’t black and white, it was grey. It’s unfortunate that most people are also blissfully unaware that people in Africa were busy eating each other, in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific they were decapitating each other and shrinking heads, as well as in Nagaland. In India they were still marrying children, torturing travellers with thuggee and throwing wives on funeral pyres. The Brits brought law, order and peace. The world had never known so much peace and stability until the British empire. Life expectancy increased and hundreds of millions of lives were saved due to the colonial service teaching of basic sanitation. Not to mention stopping slavery on a global scale, defeating Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. Oh yes, let’s blame the Brits. It’s an their fault.
Ever notice that all the documents of liberty are generally written in English or French. Why are they not written in Arabic, Russian or Chinese? Have a ponder on that comrade and educate yourself.
April 2nd, 2023
Britain left a train-wreck of misery and horror in it wake: the birth of imperialist colonialist apartheid Israel, the Atlantic Slave Trade, Indian famine and the Chinese ‘opium wars’, to name but a few of the shameful episodes.
Well worth reading this.
April 2nd, 2023
Ah yes, the old “Africans were busy eating each other” justification for humane genocide & savage exploitation. Never gets old. Sure, what else would those darkie lads be at, all the same? How “grey” it all was. “We’re from brutal ol’ blighty, & we’re here & come especially all this way to help you stop eating each other, wot wot!”
“Brits brought law, order and peace” - Yes, the peace of the grave/eternity; the law of slavery.
“The world had never known so much peace & stability until the British empire” - So peaceful around here now that we’ve slaughtered all those bally natives, wot wot!
“Life expectancy increased & 100s of millions of lives were saved” - Oh, the painful irony. You can’t whack a good famine all the same, eh? Life expectancy on the slave ships?
“Not to mention stopping slavery on a global scale” - Yeah, bad idea to mention that right enough, given Britain’s operation of the Atlantic Slave Trade, & profiting from slavery for centuries, replacement of slaves in West Indies with Indians in conditions of indentured servitude, & massive compensation to former slaveowners. Best not mention it.
“defeating Imperial Japan” = Americans did that, along with others. Then they occupied Japan.
“Nazi Germany” = The Russians defeated the national socialists (as Churchill repeatedly admitted), by drowning Germans in Russian blood.
“and Communist Russia” = When did the British defeat Communist Russia again? Has anyone informed the Russians of this? Or anyone else, ftm?
“Ever notice all documents of liberty are gen writ in English or French” - With the foundational documents & human rights instruments written in Ancient Greek and Latin, hmmm?
QED time: precisely what I referred to - alarming evidence of an education system that’s not fit for purpose there.
You go have a ponder on that, comrade, & finally educate yourself. Start with this bk, p’haps, although there are a myriad others
April 3rd, 2023
Anyway, people being “busy eating each other” is perfectly fine, within the confines of a loving marriage…
April 3rd, 2023
Every “third world” country would have been made part of one empire or another once armies and navies and gunpowder made it possible. If not the British, the French, Dutch, Spanish, German, or later Russian, Japanese. Currently China is making a run for domination.
Simply declining to be colonised was not an option for a country outclassed militarily.
If the Brits had stayed home, I doubt many would be better off. Many would be much worse off.
April 3rd, 2023
The defence of - if Britain had not murdered, starved, tortured, enslaved, robbed & dispossessed so many populations, then some other entity would have - is not one that any lawyer could coherently run in a criminal law or human rights case.
They created an enormous market for the Atlantic Slave Trade; they managed avoidable multi-year famines in order to clear land (”rationalise estates”); they left a trail of misery & exploitation by invading & exploiting over 90% of the world’s countries & territories (betw 16th-20th c, Brit profited from all but 22 countries in the world); they sent terror forces into countries in order to “pacify” them; & being WW2’s “good guys,” they deployed concentration camps before the Soviets & Nazis - and after the Nazis, for bad measure.
Much of this is historically recent - within living memory.
The civilising mission garbage is truly sickening to hear, but each to their own. This issue of British historical ignorance & parodic education remains ludicrously live. I mention it, & almost like a Pythonesque parody of bullheaded ignorance, it’s immediately confirmed.
April 3rd, 2023
It pains me to say it buy Zio-bot963 is correct here: Gweilo’s argument ‘if not the British then someone else’ is a particularly weak argument, not to mention ahistorical. There is no moral defence for what the British did to the worlds peoples: colonialism is never acceptable and neither is Empire.
The only irony here is that Zio-bgot963 doesn’t extend his anti-colonialism argument far enough to cover the expropriation of the Palestinian lands and peoples - Israel is a 20th Century colonial project, nothing more, nothing less: White Europeans stealing land in the service of great power politics - I mean, it’s not hard to grasp lol
April 3rd, 2023
Remember, to consistently oppose imperialism, you must condemn it all. Whether the imperialists be British, Russian, Arab, Chinese, Jewish, French, Socialist, Nat Socialist, Communist, Fascist, or whatever. All are capable.
However, you support Putin’s criminal actions & imperialist terror against Russia’s neighbours. You fail to condemn (or even admit) ideological imperialism & the genocides of the last century (as you said: “What genocides - do tell”). You do not condemn the ongoing genocide committed by the Chinese regime, or ideological state slavery & oppression.
All you can see are the “Jeeewz!” You reserve your most hateful bile & bigotry always for Jewish human beings.
Specifically on Israel, Judah, Eretz Yisrael, the “Land of Israel,” the ancient homeland of the Jewish people, where Jews have lived continuously for over 3,000 yrs. How many times were they invaded & slaughtered? Such invaders included the Romans, who renamed Judea “Syria-Palestina.”
“Palestine” had been in use prior to this, by Greeks, in order to refer to the entirety of Israel & the Jews who populated it. So people of the region were referred to by others as “Palestinian Jews.”
In that case, do you also approve of the subsequent waves of Arab (& Ottoman Turk) invasions, down the centuries? Because that was all imperialism as well. Why weren’t the Jews (or Palestinian Jews, as they were called) allowed to live in their homeland, without being subject to such barbaric, imperialist invasions?
Because, with those appalling, brutal invasions in view, “colonialism is never acceptable & neither is Empire.” Consequently, you must finally extend your anti-colonialism argument far enough to cover the expropriation of the ancient Jewish lands and people.
Or is it that you have never thought about it before? Or read the history? It’s not that hard to grasp.
Or you could just go on hating, & hoping for more of your beloved genocide.
May they all live in peace.
April 3rd, 2023
This is a 7-year old level of comprehension around ‘what is Empire’ that reduces every single ‘invasion’ to ‘colonialism and imperialism’ regardless of the material contexts being discussed. Do you honestly think that the British occupation of India/M.E/North America/South Africa is in any way ‘equivalent’ to a small tribe of Saxons/Moores/Gauls raiding a neighbouring village, even if they did steal women, children and crops? Missing an analyis of Capitalism anywhere? Nothing to say on structural racism and the borth of the Nation State? Thought not.
If this is the level of scholarly energy that you put into your anti-colonial studies then no wonder you appear as an apologist for apartheid. Like I said, you’re one of those white European victims of colonialism that now has decided that it’s ok to enact and justify your petty vengeance on other people – ironically also victims of European colonialism - who have zero culpability in regards to your genuine, legitimate grievance with British Imperialism. No wonder those Northern Irish numpties wave Israeli flags….like the Scotts-Irish before them who wrecked havoc on natives of North America you think we’ve not studied enough to call you out. Well, sunshine, we have. It’s Apartheid Jim, but not as we know it….but it’s my apartheid, so I’m ok with it.
Ask me to show you a man who’s not read Fanon, Cesare, Marx or Andrews and I’ll show you ZioBot963.
April 3rd, 2023
…some of those genuinely aren’t even words. Nevertheless, I’ll try to “analyis (sic)” the obnoxious matter you have discharged…
Imperium, hegemony, Caliphate. Do you these empires were not empires? That the Roman Empire did not have colonies? That these imperial administrations were not vastly successful, regrettably durable, & efficiently exploitative? The Arab Muslim expansion is one of the most successful in history, and grew incredibly successful & profitable - for centuries. It covered the Middle East, North Africa, Persia, Iberia, South Eastern Europe, & extended into India. It also took in Sicily & part of Italy, controlling Southern France, the entire Mediterranean, & dominated trade with the East, ran slave raids across coastal Europe, traded slaves with the Vikings - the route went through Europe, and profited vastly from the African slavery, for a far longer time also. Equally so the Persian Empire. You think the Muslims just got mad drunk (uh…) & went on a weekend bender?
So - “a small tribe of Saxons/Moores/Gauls raiding a neighbour village, even if they did steal women, children & crops” - really? No offence, but with that level of historical ignorance, I’m guessing you’re the product of the British history curriculum. Nothing can really be expected. I did already signpost this level of engagement above.
If you don’t read books, you can at least try to listen to the vast extent of historical, political & economic material available online.
The project was always: exploitation - of resources, land & labour. This didn’t drop out of the sky in the last few years, or even centuries. And the extreme ideologies of the last century engaged in imperialism also. All your genocidal “isms.”
So, you do support the imperialism of the Caliphates, the imperialism of Putin, China, & your other genocidal isms/wasms. Thought as much. You slavishly support all the ones you like, all across the span of recorded history. And I note you didn’t deny it either.
“Northern Irish numpties wave Israeli flags….like the Scotts-Irish (sic)” = all of these are (& were), by origin, identification & law, British people. So you have to own that as well, “sunshine!” That’s why your Brutish Empire essentially ran an apartheid state in the Six Counties. But, as you yourself say, “it’s my apartheid.” Indeed it is.
“not read Fanon, Cesare, Marx or Andrews” - that would undoubtedly be your own category (and no, tracts, diatribes & internet vids don’t count, heinrich). What then did Marx say about revolutionary terror? Or what did Marx & Engels have to say about the Slavs; or “people without a history;” the capacity for markets to reform; what, indeed, did they have to say about genocide?
You’ve read them, so “do tell.”
Why not “Free Hong Kong,” for a change? Give that a go. Or free China, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, - oh, what about Free Ukraine? No?
Well, settle for “Free Palestinian Women, Gay People, People who don’t agree with Hamas terror, brutality & corruption, etc. etc.” Something for you to “think” about, tankie P.
In all seriousness, truly begin to study these areas, to at least level of understanding. Don’t stupidly arrogate a political slogan to yourself, without in the first degree comprehending what it means.
April 3rd, 2023
A typical response from the Marxist school of rhetoric. You’re absolutely frothing at the mouth over any ills or wrongs that our country has committed in the past whilst casually dismissing all the great things it has done. One shouldn’t play the man instead of the ball, but it’s clear that you’re one of those identity politics, remainer liberals who hates anything to do with national identity and instead chooses to attack our country and it’s history. It’s happening all over the Western world and our American friends have the same problem with people like you. I consider myself a rare breed - a traditionally conservative Brit who believes our country has a role to play in the world and that we’ve done far, far more good than bad. It’s convenient, comrade, that you should attack our country’s history but utterly ignore any pre imperial history for Africa, India or the Pacific. Perhaps because it’s not politically correct to mention that many of those countries were, quite literally, still in the stone age. It was the British who dragged them at the point of a bayonet into civilisation. Do you think they would have been better off under the tender mercies of the Einsatzkommando? Perhaps unit 731 of the Japanese army might have been better? They have form for raping nurses and massacring field hospitals you know. Let me know if the British do anything like that. Perhaps we could address the Ottomn Empire instead, or do they get a free pass because, you know, Islam. I hear it’s illegal to mention the Armenian business in Turkey. You also overlook the fact that Saudi Arabia had slaves until the 1960s. That’s all fine and dandy by you though because it’s your mission to stand against Britain at all costs, to embellish the bad and overlook the good. I mean it’s not as if any other nation has abolished slavery at the expense of the tax payer, is it? Imagine if Britain had never been. There would be no black/Asian people in Europe, no access to Western technology for much of the world and most untermench would be in concentration camps. Has it even occurred to you that the freedom you have to hate your country is due to the tradition of English liberty itself? Good luck trying that in China or Russia. Funny old world, isn’t it?
April 3rd, 2023
Again, plenty here to substantiate the accusation that Ziobot963 does indeed apologise for Apartheid and forgive white colonialist when its suits…..and yet the only response is ‘PUTIN!’, which if the dear audience hadn’t realise already isn’t actually a response at all. It’s called ‘avoiding the issue’ and makes you look weak.
And, for the record, it does appear that you are confirming that you’ve not read any of those authors. Thought so - it shows ;)
April 3rd, 2023
…nobody’s listening to you, heinrich, because you’ve demonstrated only incoherent inconsistency & blatant hypocrisy.
As for your ‘avoiding the issue’ - the book is about your Brutish Empire. Your distraction is not. Which is indeed weak.
And you self-refute all the way = you do support the imperialism of the Caliphates, the imperialism of Putin, China, & your other genocidal isms/wasms. Confirmed. The ones you like; yet still you incoherently try to condemn imperialism. Your falsehood is showing again. And of course you failed to deny your support of them - again. A “slave” to imperialism, ignorant of all history, & proved you just drop authors’ names & did not have any supporting substance to offer at all.
Feeble. You failed to answer a single question, heinrich! Questions quite clumsily & transparently avoided. Desperation gambits abound. You googled the names, why not try to find the answers with the same device?
Again: Why not “Free Palestinian Women, LGBT, People who don’t agree with Hamas terror, brutality & corruption?”
April 3rd, 2023
Except they are. They’re reading this book, and others, and understanding that the British Empire created Apartheid Israel…out of kindness? lol
April 3rd, 2023
Everything turns into the hated Jeeewz! for you. Whatever the work. You might think you’re being edgy by parading such bigotry, & by supporting genocidal ideology & despotic regimes, but you’re really not. Do you imagine how people like the Jews were treated under the caliphates represented some kind of kindness? Finally read the history, & not just subliterate emotionally-reinforcing tracts.
April 3rd, 2023
Paragraphs, iraqois?
“Marxist…clear that you’re one of those identity politics, remainer liberals who hates anything to do with national identity” - You know me so well…
“chooses to attack our country and it’s history” - I choose to learn history & not bury my head. Often, opting to actually learn is not the comforting choice. But it’s more worthwhile.
“people like you” - Isn’t that just a teensy bit racist?
Tradition is good. It largely determines & preserves what’s tried, tested & true. What works.
“country has a role to play in the world” - Hopefully a positive one.
“utterly ignore any pre imperial history for Africa, India” - See above. And elsewhere.
“the British dragged them at the point of a bayonet into civilisation” - See, here we have a problem. What do you think was the motivation here - extreme altruism? Or nothing of the sort? And you push at the point of a bayonet, not drag.
And if your desperation analogues are “Einsatzkommando” & “unit 731,” then you’re already in deep ordure.
The British operated concentration camps before the soviets & national socialists - and after the nazis as well.
Indeed, Ottoman Empire & the Armenian genocide were more example of evil empires & gross crimes against humanity. I’ve mentioned them myself. However, the existence of one evil empire does not excuse or conveniently eclipse another. It doesn’t get another lot off the hook. They’re all in the dock.
“You overlook the fact that Saudi Arabia had slaves” - I certainly do not. slavery still exists across the world, & I’ve mentioned the open-air slave markets in the Islamic world; people-trafficking; the “sportswashing” World Cup in Qatar. None of it is “fine & dandy,” as you assert.
Precisely where have I “embellished?” Less of your garbage now.
“overlook the good” - Whereas you entirely overlook the most reprehensible acts, but are enthusiastically ready to indulge in “Whataboutery” when it comes to others. Like the other guy there, who uses nearly every political book to exercise his Jew-hatred.
“abolished slavery at expense of the tax payer” - And vastly compensated the phcking slaveowners! After centuries of profit from the grizzly Atlantic Slave Trade. Then merely replaced the slaves with indentured servitude (people from India), on massively profitable plantations. Where’s your history?!
“There would be no black/Asian peop in Eur, no access to West tech for much of the world & most untermench would be in concentration camps” - Ludicrously imponderable counterfactual conjecture; & wholly irrelevant, not being remotely factual.
As to the “untermench” part, one of the foremost theorists of fascism was also British - Houston Stewart Chamberlain. And the national socialist racial theory was grounded upon Social Darwinism (eugenics, etc.) If Britain never been, you say…?
“Has it even occurred to you that the freedom you have to hate your country is due to the tradition of English liberty itself?” - Has it occurred to you that not everyone else is actually English? Why are you assuming that at all? There are other countries in the world, & other traditions. Traditions which bizarrely consider history & education to be vitally important.
In any event, all of your attack diversions are not a response to the above. You made points, they were countered, & you have failed to honestly engage, merely moving on to other, discrete distortions of factual historiography (again, like the other one). It gets wearing.
April 4th, 2023
Imperialism was necessary to drag the more backwater places of the world kicking abd screaming into modernity.
April 4th, 2023
ZioBot963: The obsession with shoehorning the word “caliphates” into every conceivable sentence, however inappropriate , is rather a tell-tell racist dog-whistle that you feel substitutes for any seriously scholarly analysis of peoples and places. Again, you’re as transparently ill-read, reactionary and socially conservative as you are racist, so no surprises there. In fact, one rather explains the others….
April 4th, 2023
As explained (clearly to no avail) - hegemony, imperium, caliphate, imperialism. That being the point at issue: structures of acquisition & exploitation - many of which you slavishly & hypocritically support, with no real comprehension.
“racist dog-whistle” - This, coming from a relentless, tireless Jew-hater? You are the one consistently indulging in your pin-headed racism (”ZioBot?!”)
Observing the historical reality of imperial powers or caliphates is not racism. Nor is Islam a race, of course (but what’s the point in explaining these elementary things? Really?)
You were given an opportunity to demonstrate any reading you may have done, only to immediately (& hilariously) dodge it. In fact, you have demonstrated no learning whatsoever, merely referring to authors’ names without any understanding of their work or ideas.
When encountering basic material of historiography - clearly for the first time, as you reveal no recognition - you hysterically react to reject it all, because it fatally undermines your mindless, emotional prejudices.
That is you, heinrich, in a “nut” shell!
April 4th, 2023
And imperialism’s purpose was not to “drag backwater places of the world kicking abd screaming into modernity.”
April 4th, 2023
Indeed, neither Islam nor Judiasm (or their respective followers) is race. Well noted.
But again, you’ve not read any of these books, so you actually can’t comment. You’re full of assertions, mind, but then empty vessels and all that….
April 4th, 2023
Oh dear. Again: Islam is a religion, not a race. Contrastingly, Judaism refers both to the religion of the Jewish people, & to Jewish people collectively. Given that you’re so obsessed with “race” for some reason, people of all “races” may (& do) become Muslims, denominational Jews, Christians, etc. by the process of religious conversion. When people unreasonably hate Islam, religious Judaism or Christianity, they’re not being “racist,” they are specifically being anti-theist. These are entirely discrete categories.
What you asserted is absurd incoherence, upon its face.
And again, you have not not read any of these bks, or the authors that were mentioned - as you yourself have proved, so you actually cannot, & ought not, comment. But you do. And it’s a riot, in fairness. My fair comment was to welcome the upload, accompanied by an observation on the appalling nature of your Brutish Empire. I also pointed out the egregious ignorance & poor education of people on these historical facts - & you some others certainly arrived to QED that! Job done.
You’re certainly “full of” assertions, none of which you can ever support, & are consequently a vacuous vessel to be sure!
April 4th, 2023
I’ve no idea what race you are, I only saw that someone said you lived in the UK. Now you claim not to be English but presumably still live here. Oh the irony! Slagging off British history whilst living under British liberty and freedom which was brought to your by the very country whose history you despise. Tell me, do you know the meaning of hypocrisy?
I mean it’s a bit rich, isn’t it? Having an the benefits of my country and still being able to criticise it. Yet it’s still unclear to you that the very freedom you enjoy to criticise was brought from the blood of my ancestors.
I wonder what would happen if I went to your ancestral homeland and started complaining about their culture? Do you think the locals would like it? So much for when in Rome, eh? Your government would probably imprison me as that’s generally the case for the rest of the non English speaking world, and the world generally does owe a debt to English speaking people.
You come on here with your pseudo intellect and try to impress others as you witter away, but it’s crystal clear to me that you’ve no idea what you’re talking about. You lack historical methodology and try to compare the empire through the rose tinted glasses of the 21 C. tell me, comrade, how exactly are people of the past meant to understand our mindset when there was no such thing as human rights and eugenics were taught as hard fact at universities? Even Gandhi was a racist for crying out loud, so it’s a bit daft , albeit typical of you, trying to play that card.
The British were the only country in the history of the world to abolish slavery on a global scale, so what if the slave owners received money back? That’s how capitalism works, and it was paid for by the British people. No other country in the world has done that and in recent history a fair few (Germany/Japan/Russia) have tried to bring it back. Fortunately the English speaking people played a leading role in preventing it from happening again.
Indentured servitude is still better than slavery, what do you think working class British people were doing at that time? Children down coal mines and up chimneys, so save me your liberal tears.
The empire saved more lives than any other force in history. The colonial service taught natives around the world the basics of sanitation and inoculation. In Pakistan the largest irrigation in the world was built to help prevent famine. The Brits also took a leading role in defeating the most sister regimes known to man - Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the USSR. The world should be singing their praises and thanking God for Britain.
The Brits also invented the modern world - Physics,navigation and Geography have all been overwhelmingly influenced by British genius such as Newton, Maxwell, Harrison and Cook. Geology and evolution are almost entirely British inventions. Can you imagine how backward the world would be without them? Most of the modern world has been invented by English speakers and Europeans - banking,the internet, cars, trains, planes, submarines, phones, computers. Almost every other country outside Europe and the English speaking world has contributed nothing. Sub Saharan Africa barely had writing, the Chinese made a few things but lived in an insular, backward state. The Arabs had the benefit of classical Greek translations but still live in backward societies due to their religion. The world owes almost everything to English speakers and Europeans, and particularly the British.
If we are going to bash countries then everyone else should be up for equal measure, otherwise it’s just a sinister and racist attack on British culture. If you hate our history so much you’re always free to go and live elsewhere, Communist China perhaps?
April 5th, 2023
“someone said you lived in UK” - What are you on about now? Someone might have said something that they didn’t say & isn’t true? Is this your solid commitment to fact in evidence?
“you claim not to be English but presumably still live here” - A fact, not a claim; no, I don’t live there. “Oh the irony!” - No, not ironic at all.
“Slagging off British hx whilst living under Br liberty & freedom which was brought to your by” - Again, not true.
“the very country whose history you despise” - No, I choose to learn the history, that’s how critique may occur.
“Tell me, do you know the meaning of hypocrisy?” - Do you? Everything you’ve said in the foregoing is false. And that’s merely the first para - any point in really going on?
And merely because you can see comments from other people does not signify that they all live in the same country. The net is international, y’see.
“I mean it’s a bit rich, isn’t it?” - No, it really isn’t.
“Having an the benefits of my” - You what?
In any event, if British people over there criticise their country, that’s merely free speech. Why are you whining about free expression, isn’t that hypocritical? You just have to learn how to cope.
“the very freedom you enjoy to criticise was brought from the blood of my ancestors” - No, the freedom I enjoy was bought with the blood of my own ancestors, when they had to kick your terrorist, murdering, thieving ancestors out, over a century ago. Good on ‘em!
“I wonder what’d happ if I went to ur ancest homel & started complaining abt their culture?” - Not an equivalent case, because I don’t live in Engl/Brit. (And it’s history specifically, not culture generally.) But you’re free to complain. Also, being on the internet is not the same as being in England.
“Your govt’d prob imprison me as that’s gener the case for rest of non Eng speaking world” - No, it’s generally not the case. Ever heard of - the rest of Europe? No? Other languages, believe it or not. And it’s called rule of law, it guarantees free expression. And Britain also features grotesque miscarriages of justice, remember.
As to free expression: is all this rant of yours merely because you do not think the brutalities of the British Empire - the genocides, slavery, managed famines, theft, dispossession, savage exploitation, terror, racism, wars, cultural destruction, concentration camps, etc. etc. - ought ever be mentioned? Or because you don’t believe they even happened - merely because you’ve never learned about them? Be specific & more focused now - less of the blah, blah.
“world generally does owe a debt to English speaking people.” - A butcher’s bill? Agreed.
“your pseudo intellect” - As compared to your really real intellect?
“you witter away” - Irony alert!
“no idea what you’re talking abt” - Irony at dangerous levels. You fail to offer any examples again.
“try compare empire thru rose tinted glasses 21 C” - No, because the British abuses were actually condemned contemporaneously. This reveals that they were & are objectively wrong & evil, and considered to be so at the time. Or do you imagine that genocide just became objectionable 23 yrs ago, for some weird reason?!
“was no such thing human rights” - Again, more assertions. There was a consciousness of fundamental rights, crime & unjust conduct - primarily informed by Christian principles of compassion, mercy, love, tolerance, forgiveness & mercy. The specific concept & doctrine of human rights was developed approx 900 yrs ago (predating Brutish Empire).
“Eng speaking peop played leading role in prevent it from happening again” - You claimed, erroneously again, that Britain defeated Japan, Germany & Russia(?) - with no mention of others being involved, or the truth, ftm. What role did Britain play in defeating Russia, in this, now watered down, version?
“Indent servit still better than slavery” - The people who held those bonds were conscious of the fixed time factor, so indentured servants could actually be worked harder (to death) & treated more harshly within that prescribed time, as a direct result. Conditions of service were often truly appalling.
“what you think work class Brit peop doing at that time?” - So, stay in your own lane. (Many working class British people were in uniform killing, stealing, enslaving, & exploiting victim populations.)
Britain shouldn’t have been enslaving, or imposing conditions of indentured servitude on other people at all.
The empire saved more lives than any oth force in history” - By slaughter, genocide, terror, managed famines, wars, brutal slave transport, concentration camps, forced migration, giving smallpox-infected blankets to natives (biological warfare), massive theft of resources? Oh, right you are…
“Brits also invented modern world” - You keep making risible ass-ertions. It’s like a Python sketch, a parody of the jingoistic harlequin.
“navigation and Geography” - Yes, travelling around murdering people & stealing resources. Onwards & upwards. Or do you really “think” it was all about altruism?
“Geology & evolution almost entirely Brit inventions.” - That’s one of the most bolloxed & backward instances of syntax yet seen. Anyway: study of geology goes back to Ancient Greece (i.e. a different country altogether), & China. Foundational figures include, Nicolas Steno (Danish Catholic bishop) & Alfred Wegener (German scientist). On evolution: proposed theoretical formulations of possible human/animal evolution were conceived as far back as the great St. Augustine of Hippo (Africa) in the 4th century AD no less, & there were numerous developments by many biologists in the ensuing centuries.
Equally physics (& geography!), Aristotle wrote the first work pertaining to the study as physics. Also key breakthroughs in ancient India & China. Additional pioneers: Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Christiaan Huygens, Gottfried Leibniz, etc. etc. You, er, get the point. Even Newton admitted to standing upon the shoulders of giants (never mind…).
And banking was Florence.
“Almost every oth country outside Eur & English speaking world has contrib nothing” - I’m fascinated by the history & achievements of European civilisation - but what you say here is arrant, ignorant, racist nonsense. The contributions of Indian & East Asian cultures to global civilisation & the common inheritance of humankind is truly staggering. To say nothing of the genius of Jewish people. Everyone is a dignified human being, you know.
“The world owes almost everything to English speakers & Euros, & partic British” - Please read or listen to some of the works of history, available on site; watch lectures; just…something. Have you actually read any factual works?
“a sinister & racist attack on British culture” - The obvious context here is: THE BOOK IS ABOUT THE BRITISH EMPIRE. This might be why the actual subject is…the British Empire.
“If you hate our history so much” - No, again, the difference is, by contrast, I just know the history, that’s all. Not that complicated.
“you’re always free to go & live elsewhere” - Again, don’t live there. Never said that I did.
April 5th, 2023
Oh my, ZioBot963, you need hobby! Oh wait, this IS your hobby. lol. Bet your other half is over the moon that you spend your time emitting your verbal effluent on here and not in the domestic arena - how she copes is beyond me, if indeed she still does/ever did.
Zionist Hasbara hit gold when they thought of conjuring up an opportunistic fantasy about a ‘Jewish People’ to support their theft of Palestinian lands are precisely that - they ignore the non-European Jews with a zealotry that puts Jehovah Witnesses to shame. It’s intellectually embarrassing and historically illiterate.
And you’ve swallowed it all.
April 5th, 2023
Self-awareness much, heinrich? Calpurnia’s grand now they’ve increased the meds. “how she copes is beyond me” - what’s beyond you is an extremely broad category, me ol’ china pot. Correcting such error as yours seems an interminable task, esp given the more ineducable types (ahem).
So, Jewish people don’t exist now, eh? Is this the outer edge of your ideological solipsism on display? Actually writing off your “hated races?” Denying them their right to even exist? Typical ideological insanity. “Jehovah Witnesses” - Yeah, the national socialists hated them too. Fits the profile.
“intellectually embarrassing & historically illiterate” - A preview of your epitaph.
May 4th, 2023
Thanks for this!
Obviously both empires, the British and the American don’t teach their people ugly side of their history.
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