41–50 of 130 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've heard some Brits complain about American misdeeds throughout the Middle East without a hint hypocrisy crossing their face.
These are individual people. If the British government was to complain, then that could be considered hypocritical. But an individual person can't be held to account for actions taken, by others and (quite probably) before they were born.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. However, when anything, such as that video, mentions "zionism", that automatically triggers my anti-Semite radar.
I also used to think that anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism, until I learned more about it. There are plenty of anti-Zionist Jews, both inside and outside Israel. This short clip explains the difference pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7dJLP3L0Xw
Yes, Zionism was originally a minority nationalist movement within the Orthodox and Conservative Jewish communities. Only more recently did they become larger, empowered in part for political reasons by other political powers.
There are still large sects of Orthodox Judaism that believe that the existence of Israel actually prevents the Messiah from coming, because the true Israeli state will be founded by the Messiah.
In short: it's complicated. Not all Jews are Xionists, and not a Zionists are Jewish (anti-Semitic white nationalists are actually big supporters of Israel for reasons that aren't too surprising if you think about their motivations and the implications). And the reverse is true in both directions for people who oppose Zionism or the current Israeli state.
It is actually amazing how little British folks today know about their own historical misdeeds, they may accept the issues towards USA and other countries but tend to downplay atrocities magnitudes higher in India and other countries India is important because it was the crown jewel of the British empire and was completely destroyed of its soul by the colonialists with very clever mixture of politics, military and ot…
AFAICT, the British Empire gets much more criticism for its various evils than other historical empires do. Very few people in the West, for example, even know about the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks under the Ottoman Empire ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_genocide ), and that was less than a century ago. Probably the worst European colonialists were the Belgians, of all people, under King Leopold II ( https:/…
I fondly hope for a reverse wealth drain from UK to India at the same scale or more.
It is actually amazing how little British folks today know about their own historical misdeeds, they may accept the issues towards USA and other countries but tend to downplay atrocities magnitudes higher in India and other countries India is important because it was the crown jewel of the British empire and was completely destroyed of its soul by the colonialists with very clever mixture of politics, military and ot…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAICT, the British Empire gets much more criticism for its various evils than other historical empires do. Very few people in the West, for example, even know about the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks under the Ottoman Empire ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_genocide ), and that was less than a century ago. Probably the worst European colonialists were the Belgians, of all people, under King Leopold II ( https:/…
I think on balance a better response to sordid histories is acknowledgement and solemn remembrance. It is important to recognize, as enlightened folks, just how terrible our ancestors misdeeds often were. That many groups often perpetrated such atrocities ought not be a reason to say "well we were just as bad as everyone else". Each person should draw a line from their own group's history to themselves and feel empat…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAICT, the British Empire gets much more criticism for its various evils than other historical empires do. Very few people in the West, for example, even know about the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks under the Ottoman Empire ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_genocide ), and that was less than a century ago. Probably the worst European colonialists were the Belgians, of all people, under King Leopold II ( https:/…
The Mughal's did bad things too, but some of their kings like Akbar at least tried to integrate society and not cause religious strife. The Mughal Empire did a lot of bad things in India, especially nutcases like Aurangzeb, and Indian people recognize those bad things. The problem, as I understand, is that a lot of British people don't know all the bad things the Empire did, or don't learn about it the way German peo…
It is actually amazing how little British folks today know about their own historical misdeeds, they may accept the issues towards USA and other countries but tend to downplay atrocities magnitudes higher in India and other countries India is important because it was the crown jewel of the British empire and was completely destroyed of its soul by the colonialists with very clever mixture of politics, military and ot…
IF you ever meet a Englishman from nobility, know that he is culpable to blame for all of this.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAICT, the British Empire gets much more criticism for its various evils than other historical empires do. Very few people in the West, for example, even know about the ethnic cleansing of the Greeks under the Ottoman Empire ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_genocide ), and that was less than a century ago. Probably the worst European colonialists were the Belgians, of all people, under King Leopold II ( https:/…
I'm not sure why you are bringing this point. OP is not saying British are worse than Ottoman or other empires.(Two Wrongs Make A Right Fallacy)
The reason has more to do with the fact that victors write history, and the Empire co-opted and exploited local institutions. So while Britain’s Empire was lost, its language and cultural impact reigns supreme in many ways to this day.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure why you are bringing this point. OP is not saying British are worse than Ottoman or other empires.(Two Wrongs Make A Right Fallacy)
The claim seemed to be that historical British crimes were disproportionately ignored, compared to historical crimes committed by other countries. I am arguing against this by pointing to other crimes that (I'm guessing) most Westerners don't even know about.