21–30 of 119 posts
I didn't see any techniques that I would borrow, but maybe I need to look into Angampora some more.
throwmaway99: According to Dr. Thomas Sowell, colonized countries gained a large advantage in learning the colonial language, so I suppose that's the bright side.
One sad thing about these ancient martial arts is, they were great for the battle conditions of the ancient era, but they were not sufficiently improved for modern situations. I don't know much about angampora in particular, but Kalaripayattu (which is a related martial art from Kerala) has sadly become more of a performing art than martial art these days.
While all the damages of the British occupation of Sri Lanka and elsewhere is terrible, I believe banning martial has been common the world over, especially before the modern era. I think various Chinese rulers as well as the Maoist banned some martial arts, Russia banned everything but Sambo in the Soviet era, Capoeira was developed in Brazil as a "secret martial art", martial arts were banned in Okinawan at one poi…
Makes me wonder how many we’ve already lost that aren’t documented
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How the British and other colonizers go unpunished for all what they have done It’s rare for such large scale oppressors to be punished in their times. Do you see parallels with what the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka has done to the minority Tamil population for decades?
Yes and no. The civil war that waged in Sri Lanka was something really complicated, where at one point it was hard to choose who was right or wrong in the conflict. As far as I know the Sinhalese started the whole civil war but the LTTE escalated the situation where they were committing atrocities I cannon't write on a forum like this. And mind you, both sides committed some pretty messed up atrocities. https://en.wi…
The Sri Lankan Government burned down the Jaffna Library in an attempt to erase Tamil history. They wiped out entire villages with bombs and forced generations to leave Sri Lanka forever.
The British were horrific but let's not ignore what the Sri Lankan Government did to its Tamil people.
LTTE committed war crimes. But, the Tamil people are not the LTTE. Sri Lankan government committed genocide. They bombed UN medical camps and safe zones setup by the Government.
As a Sri Lankan it breaks my heart whenever this type of topic is brought up, the amount of damage colonizers including the British did to my country, my culture is just heart wrenching. How the British and other colonizers go unpunished for all what they have done not just to my country, but to so many other countries in the past is just unbelievable. But on a more positive side, more and more Sri Lankans are starti…
While all the damages of the British occupation of Sri Lanka and elsewhere is terrible, I believe banning martial has been common the world over, especially before the modern era. I think various Chinese rulers as well as the Maoist banned some martial arts, Russia banned everything but Sambo in the Soviet era, Capoeira was developed in Brazil as a "secret martial art", martial arts were banned in Okinawan at one poi…
> martial arts tend to be always fracturing and in danger of dying out. Makes me wonder how many we’ve already lost that aren’t documented
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How the British and other colonizers go unpunished for all what they have done It’s rare for such large scale oppressors to be punished in their times. Do you see parallels with what the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka has done to the minority Tamil population for decades?
Yes and no. The civil war that waged in Sri Lanka was something really complicated, where at one point it was hard to choose who was right or wrong in the conflict. As far as I know the Sinhalese started the whole civil war but the LTTE escalated the situation where they were committing atrocities I cannon't write on a forum like this. And mind you, both sides committed some pretty messed up atrocities. https://en.wi…
Angampora is a fascinating martial art, but while British colonialism is/was a scourge across the world there's little evidence that they actually banned the martial art. While I generally don't like to use reddit posts as sources, this one[0] is well researched enough and includes its (long list of) sources that I figured it counts. [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/kh9gfb/the_brit...
Gillian Russell wrote a nice essay about the nature of received wisdom among many martial arts practitioners: Epistemic Viciousness in the Martial Arts.
https://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wordpress.com/2008/10...
As a Sri Lankan it breaks my heart whenever this type of topic is brought up, the amount of damage colonizers including the British did to my country, my culture is just heart wrenching. How the British and other colonizers go unpunished for all what they have done not just to my country, but to so many other countries in the past is just unbelievable. But on a more positive side, more and more Sri Lankans are starti…
I have to wonder how it's possible to decide whom to punish when the vast majority of those involved are dead, if any are left, and what you would punish them with?
Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm cutting down the population of "colonizers", you did point at "the British" so it should be up to you to clarify the bounds.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes and no. The civil war that waged in Sri Lanka was something really complicated, where at one point it was hard to choose who was right or wrong in the conflict. As far as I know the Sinhalese started the whole civil war but the LTTE escalated the situation where they were committing atrocities I cannon't write on a forum like this. And mind you, both sides committed some pretty messed up atrocities. https://en.wi…
I've heard many horrific stories and first-hand accounts where Tamil people were tortured, raped and had their entire families wiped out. The Sri Lankan Government burned down the Jaffna Library in an attempt to erase Tamil history. They wiped out entire villages with bombs and forced generations to leave Sri Lanka forever. The British were horrific but let's not ignore what the Sri Lankan Government did to its Tamil…
In some cases, the local rulers (Aztecs or Incans) destroyed existing libraries to cement their hold on power, before the Conquistadors arrived.
In other cases (Mayans), the Spanish clergy burned most of the books, with a few "codices" saved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices
And in the US, we have the 1619 Project, statue toppling, etc. in an effort to revise history.
Fall of Civilizations (very addictive Youtube channel)