So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it • Hacker News Board

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#121

Post by Untitled » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 2:49 PM UTC

whyleyc wrote: post #117

Untitled wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I dunno, I normally have a thick skin and a good sense of humor, but having been raised jewish its hard for me to look at cuddly hitler and not cringe a little Maybe you should grow a thicker skin? The British Empire was arguably more evil than the German Reich (and did evil for quite a few centuries). Yet the Union Jack is displayed everywhere (even on shirts) and the same hateful institutions are still there (e.g…

That's a pretty big claim to throw out there. What evidence do you have to support it ?

Read up about the British Empire and its history (it really is no secret).

Examples include favouring certain classes in Sri Lanka (creating strife that lasted to this day in Sri Lanka and Malaysia). Overseeing immense famine (while British landowners exported food) in India and Ireland. Putting (and killing) people in concentration camps (e.g. South Africa and Kenia). Letting certain businessmen (e.g. Cecil John Rhodes) basically own countries (with all the abuse and rape that this entails).

Did you learn in history books that the British Empire was a divine and enlightened entity that existed for the benefit of mankind?

(Because it basically enslaved 400 million people for the benefit of an Island of less than 40 million).

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#122

Post by whyleyc » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 3:06 PM UTC

Untitled wrote: post #121

whyleyc wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty big claim to throw out there. What evidence do you have to support it ?

Read up about the British Empire and its history (it really is no secret). Examples include favouring certain classes in Sri Lanka (creating strife that lasted to this day in Sri Lanka and Malaysia). Overseeing immense famine (while British landowners exported food) in India and Ireland. Putting (and killing) people in concentration camps (e.g. South Africa and Kenia). Letting certain businessmen (e.g. Cecil John Rho…

I agree that the examples you give are terrible and inexcusable, however they don't support your assertion that the British Empire was more evil than the Third Reich, given what we know about the sheer scale of systematic extermination during the Holocaust. It just doesn't compare I'm afraid.

Also, the British Empire, whilst causing harm, did bring benefits to some countries (something it would be hard to argue the Third Reich did). For instance:

  * Infrastructure improvements (railways, roads, canals, industrialisation)
  * Improvements in education
  * Parliamentary democracy
  * A professional civil service
  * Free trade
  * Medicine (hospitals, vaccinations)

.. and of course cricket :)

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#123

Post by aw3c2 » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 3:34 PM UTC

mahmud wrote: post #107

aw3c2 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I am a young german. Apparently yes, jewish associations and/or Israel remind us all the time about it. The only other thing about Jews I know are the terrible crimes they do in Palestine. But obviously that's not what they shout from the rooftops.

Holding all Jews accountable for the actions of Israel is almost as conscionable as holding you responsible for Hitler's actions, or holding me responsible for Bin Laden's. I.e. it's utter bullshit.

Misunderstanding: I simply meant that every time I hear the word "jew" (for example in the news) it is either about the holocaust or Israel.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#124

Post by jakerocheleau » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 3:39 PM UTC

rwhitman wrote: post #85

Ok, I get it. But I'm not amped by it. 2 reasons: 1) Hitler is associated with way too many entries, I mean for 10 years he controlled most of europe, there isn't a topic in 20th century history he doesn't touch at some point. Its too easy to get to hitler through wikipedia. I'd like to see it with someone less obvious (and funnier) - like Ted Nugent 2) I'm kind of disturbed by the cutesy drawings of Hitler. I dunno,…

Not to be rude but on your #2 point that's not really a bash at his application or programming talents. If you have a problem with Hitler being displayed as a cartoon then don't use the application

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#125

Post by jacquesm » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 3:51 PM UTC

rwhitman wrote: post #85

Ok, I get it. But I'm not amped by it. 2 reasons: 1) Hitler is associated with way too many entries, I mean for 10 years he controlled most of europe, there isn't a topic in 20th century history he doesn't touch at some point. Its too easy to get to hitler through wikipedia. I'd like to see it with someone less obvious (and funnier) - like Ted Nugent 2) I'm kind of disturbed by the cutesy drawings of Hitler. I dunno,…

> I mean for 10 years he controlled most of europe

It wasn't nearly 10 years. The Anschluss was in 38, by May 45 Hitler was dead, and Europe was for the most part free again (except for those parts that happened to find themselves under the Soviet boot).

The German expansion in Europe was at it's peak by August 1942, when the Russians fought off the Germans in and around Stalingrad, one month later allied forces successfully established a beach-head in Italy, from then onwards it was down all the way, even if the situation was more or less stagnant until D-Day.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#126

Post by android2 » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 4:11 PM UTC

Fun. But the page is really hateful in the Android browser. The text box is jumping around all over the place.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#127

Post by Jach » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 4:39 PM UTC

aw3c2 wrote: post #123

mahmud wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holding all Jews accountable for the actions of Israel is almost as conscionable as holding you responsible for Hitler's actions, or holding me responsible for Bin Laden's. I.e. it's utter bullshit.

Misunderstanding: I simply meant that every time I hear the word "jew" (for example in the news) it is either about the holocaust or Israel.

While it could be a subset of Israel, various forms of Zionism also come to my mind. It's interesting how the Israeli PR is so effective in some cases (like in US government) and so ineffective in others. Of course I have to remind myself that P(bad person | jewish) isn't significantly different from P(bad person | not jewish), we're all human.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#128

Post by Someone » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 4:57 PM UTC

TheEzEzz wrote: post #51

gibeson wrote: post #37

I'd like to formally propose the hoplist law, which dictates Hitler is at most 3 degrees of separation from anything.

Every law has its exception: Adolf Hitler --> Anabolic steroid --> Peliosis hepatis --> Fecal enema

This law never will have exceptions that last long. Once its Wikipedia entry lists an exception, it no longer will be an exception, as the listing creates a path of length 2.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#129

Post by Jach » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 5:06 PM UTC

whyleyc wrote: post #122

Untitled wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read up about the British Empire and its history (it really is no secret). Examples include favouring certain classes in Sri Lanka (creating strife that lasted to this day in Sri Lanka and Malaysia). Overseeing immense famine (while British landowners exported food) in India and Ireland. Putting (and killing) people in concentration camps (e.g. South Africa and Kenia). Letting certain businessmen (e.g. Cecil John Rho…

I agree that the examples you give are terrible and inexcusable, however they don't support your assertion that the British Empire was more evil than the Third Reich, given what we know about the sheer scale of systematic extermination during the Holocaust. It just doesn't compare I'm afraid. Also, the British Empire, whilst causing harm, did bring benefits to some countries (something it would be hard to argue the T…

Sounds like you're saying the British Empire was more similar to the Romans than to the Third Reich. I don't necessarily disagree, since I consider myself ignorant on large swathes of history to make a confident judgment, but doing a little searching brings up a couple numbers. The Holocaust killed ~15 million (which includes non-Jews too). In the late 19th century, the British Empire was directly responsible for ~30 million deaths from starving people in India. ( http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&articl... ) The Empire did a lot of good things, but do you think their good outweighs their bad over 250 years? I think it's part of human psychology to say a short, painful event (like the Holocaust) is worse than a prolonged, perhaps even more painful event ( http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_exper... ), especially if the ending is a peak or decay (Nazis were still evil in the end, British Empire hasn't been very "empirical" after WW2).

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#130

Post by Untitled » Sat, Oct 09, 2010, 5:11 PM UTC

whyleyc wrote: post #122

Untitled wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read up about the British Empire and its history (it really is no secret). Examples include favouring certain classes in Sri Lanka (creating strife that lasted to this day in Sri Lanka and Malaysia). Overseeing immense famine (while British landowners exported food) in India and Ireland. Putting (and killing) people in concentration camps (e.g. South Africa and Kenia). Letting certain businessmen (e.g. Cecil John Rho…

I agree that the examples you give are terrible and inexcusable, however they don't support your assertion that the British Empire was more evil than the Third Reich, given what we know about the sheer scale of systematic extermination during the Holocaust. It just doesn't compare I'm afraid. Also, the British Empire, whilst causing harm, did bring benefits to some countries (something it would be hard to argue the T…

> more evil than the Third Reich, given what we know about the sheer scale of systematic extermination during the Holocaust.

Six million people died during the Holocaust. Probably many more died because of the British Empire's policies. The biggest causes of this was probably the policies of the British Empire that caused famines (by letting British landowners export food while the native population starves) and the British stoking of ethnic conflict in a strategy of “divide and conquer”. Two examples of this was the series of Indian famines in the late 19th century and of course the Great Famine in Ireland.

Examples of the latter are probably too many to mention. Should wars basically caused by the British (between native populations) not also be counted?

There are however other cases where the British simply killed people in concentration camps (by destroying the rural areas through a scorched earth policy and imprisoning the civilian population in camps and denying them food, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LizzieVanZyl.jpg).

> Also, the British Empire, whilst causing harm, did bring benefits to some countries (something it would be hard to argue the Third Reich did).

The benefits that you mentioned was simply benefits of an industrial society. The general population in the victim countries did not share in the advantages of it, yet they paid for it (with their natural resources and the sweat of their brow).

In general not all people were allowed the benefits of education. The Catholic Irish were for long prevented from obtaining an education. In countries such as Sri Lanka, a ruling class was imported who received education. The aim of this was simple – to benefit Britain (not the local population). For Britain to develop to a high level at that time, required the work of many people in colonies (out of sight and out of mind) that was screwed in the deal.

---

Probably the worst thing that the British Empire did was large scale ethnocide (destruction of indigeneous cultures and forcing native populations to use English).

But yeah. At least the Germans owned up and agreed that the 15 years of the German Reich was a mistake (and abandoned the symbolism and nationalistic tendencies). People in Britain still live with the mindset that colonialism and their colonial empire was a good thing.