The British Empire

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Nope.

It always surprises me how, despite all this, British culture is seemingly still so revered in India - cricket being on example, music and films, and Premier League football being so popular there. Is the history also repressed there?

 

[2cents]

It always surprises me how, despite all this, British culture is seemingly still so revered in India - cricket being on example, music and films, and Premier League football being so popular there. Is the history also repressed there?

Cricket is certainly an obsession in India. Football much less so (although its popularity is growing). But British music and films? I really don't think many Indians are interested, relatively speaking.

I do agree that Indians generally exhibit less bitter sentiments regarding the colonial past than some others in my experience. Here's one explanation given by Nehru himself (around 1:50):

 

[Ramshock]

Don't forget the most insidious claim - that the British Empire, compared to its European counterparts, was exemplary.

This doesnt get talked about often enough. The First World War was a pissing match between cousins...all grandchildren of Victoria. A whole generation of men slaughtered for a fecking royal spat.

 

[The Corinthian]

Don't forget the most insidious claim - that the British Empire, compared to its European counterparts, was exemplary.

We had a poster here not long ago saying the Indian subcontinent should be grateful to the British for giving them railroads and democracy.

 

[Vapor trail]

Was reading a Hitler speech transcript and found it fascinating that Hitler refers to the Boers:


http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/reading/hitler speeches/Hitler Speech 1940.01.30.htm

I remember stumbling into a similar revelation a few weeks ago. It's amazing isn't it, the only thing that really ended the focus for the British empire was the world war. It's also the government that are intentionally remaining silent about this clearly understood by the British curriculum for education. They don't want people knowledgeable of the countries real history. That's why it's fascinating when the UK is used as a metric to bash other counties against. Totally paradoxical and ridiculous.

 

[Frosty]

We had a poster here not long ago saying the Indian subcontinent should be grateful to the British for giving them railroads and democracy.

That's what I was taught at primary school. The Empire was to be celebrated, not understood for what it was. Worst I ever had was someone who argued that if Britain had not enslaved all those Africans, another country would have done so and they would have been treated worse.

 

[2cents]

Came across this quote from Churchill today in his book The Story of the Malakand Field Force, an account of an anti-insurgency campaign waged by the British on the North-West Frontier in the 1890s:

“Morally, it is unfortunate for the tribesmen that our spheres of influence clash with their spheres of existence.”