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Ben Kenobi
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McGregornobi!
Oct 2002
time: 21:36
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You are totally wrong. The British did not treat the natives anywhere as equal. They felt themselves superior to the non-whites. The uncivilized, the godless, the barbarians, and etc. They rationalized that it was the white mans burden to bring order to places were they saw none.
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Really?
Look at India. Many of the Hindus fought with the British, because they would be better treated under the British, than under the Muslims.
And look at the mess when the Brits pulled out. The only thing that kept India together were the British, because they treated both groups better than they would have treated each other.
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1. It's well known that missionaries were used for cultural imperialism, they were used to help pacify the natives and they also used for a scapegoat for the Europeans to send in troops to put down the barbarians who were threatening the good missionaries.
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Many of the Imperialists found the missionaries inconvenient when they stirred up more trouble for the colonies. So I don't see the Imperialists as desiring 'cultural imperialism', especially when all groups had the freedom to worship.
Secondly, is it wrong that the British ended such practices like Suttee in India, where a widow had to throw herself on her husband's funeral pyre when he died? It's all fine to condemn the Brits for 'cultural imperialism', but that's a two-edged sword. There are some things that should have been banned.
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2. I am not admitting that Imperialism benefitted the people in India. They may have gotten a better deal than other people but that does not mean that it was good for them to be subjugated.
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How can they be subjugated if they participate in government?
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3. The British are the ones who forced the sale of opium to the Chinese. They have a long history of subjugation and destroying native cultures. You must be talking about some other British Empire.
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Yeah, the same British Empire where Sitting Bull and the Sioux fled to Canada to seek the haven of the 'Great White Mother.'
They did make mistakes, but they were better than anyone else with respect to how they treated native peoples. This is one of the reasons why they were so successful.
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4. To get a fuller understanding of this I suggest you read Arrow of God by China Achebe or A Grain of wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. The British basically, destroyed the cultures that were already there. Replacing them with a new society with themselves at the top.
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I've read "Things Fall Apart" by Achebe. He's an excellent author. 
The only trouble is that he mourns the passing of the old ways, which always happens in the contact between two different civilisations.
The only way to prevent this is through isolation, to keep change away.
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5. I don't understand how you can be anti-abortion yet condone colonialism. One of the most evil things to ever happen.
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Oh, I don't condone colonialism. I just happen to think that the British did a very good job, and actually saved many people's lives through their intervention.
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Your position on Imperialism is does not take into consideration the destruction of the Incas, The Mayans, The Aztecs, or the situation in Africa to name a few. European Imperialism ****ed up the world so there's no way you can be like "Mission Accomplished" unless that was the plan.
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Aztecs were Spain, Incas, Spain. Mayans, Spain. Africa, Portugal at first, France later, and yes, some Brits as well.
They did not do a very good job in Africa, but remember, the Brits were the first to outlaw both slavery and the slave trade.
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27-05-2004 14:49
ACK! 
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