Britain has refused to face up to the problems associated with its imperial past

Jun 9, 2020, 7:02 PM

“The more a person needs to be right, the less certain he is...”

Title couldn’t say it all.

Britain has refused to face up to the problems associated with its imperial past because doing so would be traumatic. Without empire there is no British identity.

Britain's empire was established, and maintained for more than two centuries, through bloodshed, violence, brutality, conquest and war.

Not a year went by without large numbers of its inhabitants being obliged to suffer for their involuntary participation in the colonial experience.

Slavery, famine, prison, battle, murder, extermination – these were their various fates.

comments (5)

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Player115 years ago

It’s imperial past makes for a lot of good tv shows And movies great moneymaker for entertainment industry. Yea profits! I have some gold Britannia coins / Britannia ruling the waves stopped Hitlers navy.

Dave_Anderson5 years ago

They should be proud of their nation's successes not ashamed.

Imagine a tiny little island being able to rule about a quarter of the planet. Its an almost mind boggling accomplishment. Britain was also the cradle of democracy and individual rights in the modern world (though sadly its moved away from individual liberty significantly in recent decades). It was the first modern nation to ban slavery and one of the few empires in history to voluntarily dismantle its empire not because of military defeat but because it thought it was the right thing to do.

And what does this have to do with strip clubs? 🤔

Player115 years ago

I don’t think Britain needs to “face up” to it’s past whatsoever lol. They are an important cradle of western circulation. They should be proud.

Hugh_G_Rection5 years ago

England (notice I did NOT say the United Kingdom) will soon be going it alone, perhaps with Wales, the Island of Mann, the CHannel islands stuck to it. The Brexit Crisis will force Ulster to become part of the Irish Republic because of the End of the Customs Union, and I think there is strong momentum for Scotland (which was highly for REMAIN in the plebacite) to say "Bugger Off" to London for Union with the EU, Good show if they do. I hope should that happen that they nationalize Trump's golf courses for the damage done to the dune ecosystem that was totally against the agreement made to preserve the dunes when he assumed the title to that land--- and they can keep building their windmills as well !!!
The not-so-United-Kingdom?? Stick a fork in it.

bluemonday5 years ago

The key word here is 'past' ... Get over it, it's literally history ... Slavery existed in Africa and elsewhere long before Britain and the USA even existed and continued there long after Britain became one of the first countries in the world to ablolish it ... Maybe Britain should be seeking an apology from Norway too while we are on then, for the Vikings invasion if we are going to be that much ridiculously determined on raking up the past ... Britain stood alone, completely alone for several years against Nazism, the very epitome of fighting racism and much worse ... While people were being taken to USA from Africa, the average white Brit or indeed American didnt have it a whole lot better, they too were either toiling in the fields, or working 70-80hrs per week in a mill or down the mines ... By all means lets move with the times and remove inappropriate statues to those who lorded it over all of us, both black and white, but stop thinking in terms of a nation of people having to apologise for it's own past ... If so others can surely go first on that score ?