Work Ethic - wheat vs rice

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sheldrake
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Re: Work Ethic - wheat vs rice

Post by sheldrake » Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:53 pm

cvb wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:44 am
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:06 am
Boustrophedon wrote:
Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:29 pm
History is all "Just So" stories that the winners of wars use to justify their naked aggression. And any history that invokes deities, doubly so.
A lot of mainstream history certainly is that, including a lot of what is taught in schools. I recently read Natives by Akala, which (alongside interesting contemporary social issues about race) redresses a lot of the stories told about the British Empire as a widely-beloved, basically decent civilising force in the wider world.
Only the British themselves think the empire was widely beloved. The rest of the empire knew they were being f.cked over.
It's more complex than that. Yes, the Empire was an evil thing, but some groups felt empowered by the British and miss the passing of empire. Some Indian Parsi's are still very sentimental about the queen, for example. Ethnically chinese people in the Hong Kong protests have been seen waving union jacks. Some people of asian ancestry in the caribbean feel they were treated better under British rule. Generally speaking, Gurkha's still think Britain is superb.

cvb
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Re: Work Ethic - wheat vs rice

Post by cvb » Mon Jan 20, 2020 8:58 am

sheldrake wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:53 pm
cvb wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:44 am
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:06 am


A lot of mainstream history certainly is that, including a lot of what is taught in schools. I recently read Natives by Akala, which (alongside interesting contemporary social issues about race) redresses a lot of the stories told about the British Empire as a widely-beloved, basically decent civilising force in the wider world.
Only the British themselves think the empire was widely beloved. The rest of the empire knew they were being f.cked over.
It's more complex than that. Yes, the Empire was an evil thing, but some groups felt empowered by the British and miss the passing of empire. Some Indian Parsi's are still very sentimental about the queen, for example. Ethnically chinese people in the Hong Kong protests have been seen waving union jacks. Some people of asian ancestry in the caribbean feel they were treated better under British rule. Generally speaking, Gurkha's still think Britain is superb.
Okay not everybody thinks the empire was a bad thing. Just the vast majority who were subjugated and had their wealth stolen. They are probably just being snowflakes about it.

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Woodchopper
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Re: Work Ethic - wheat vs rice

Post by Woodchopper » Mon Jan 20, 2020 9:19 am

sheldrake wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:53 pm
cvb wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:44 am
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:06 am


A lot of mainstream history certainly is that, including a lot of what is taught in schools. I recently read Natives by Akala, which (alongside interesting contemporary social issues about race) redresses a lot of the stories told about the British Empire as a widely-beloved, basically decent civilising force in the wider world.
Only the British themselves think the empire was widely beloved. The rest of the empire knew they were being f.cked over.
It's more complex than that. Yes, the Empire was an evil thing, but some groups felt empowered by the British and miss the passing of empire. Some Indian Parsi's are still very sentimental about the queen, for example. Ethnically chinese people in the Hong Kong protests have been seen waving union jacks. Some people of asian ancestry in the caribbean feel they were treated better under British rule. Generally speaking, Gurkha's still think Britain is superb.
Britain was very effective at using a 'divide and rule' strategy in order to forestall popular opposition. So, yes, some chosen groups had a higher status under colonial rule, and this often created resentment which lasted after independence. But overall, the majority were being f.cked over and knew it.

ETA Here's a contemporary Indian view on the legacy of the Empire: https://youtu.be/jaNotcGak3Y Including the quip 'India missed the bus of the industrial revolution because the British threw us under the wheels'.

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