Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 12:55 pm
Maia wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 12:45 pm
Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Nov 03, 2025 12:34 pm
Maia, you wrote " justification" with the definite article which strongly suggests that it's not only valid but the only justification.
Racial guilt, national guilt, and legal guilt, is best dealt with by reparations to the victims of exploitation. Racial guilt, national guilt , and legal guilt should be addressed but not with the simplistic and impetuous Right wing bias that you display.
I also said I'd think about carrying a brick around with me, but I was being ironic then, too.
There are no victims of any exploitation that the British Empire *might* have carried out left alive anywhere in the world today. There are, however, many hundreds of millions of people benefitting from the infrastructure the British Empire left behind in places like Africa and India, even if they haven't updated it much. And that's not to mention the fact that the whole world speaks English, now.
I have no quarrel with the above particular Right wing view, which I believe to be correct in some respects. However it's a huge event with repercussions today that the slave- owning Southern states were once part of the British Empire.
You have neglected to say whether or not it's a good thing that English is lingua franca. It is an interesting topic that deserves a separate thread .
The British Empire enriched itself exploiting slave labor in the Carribean. The notorious sugar plantations in which slaves were mistreated even more horrendously than in the American South fueled the industrial revolution. Along with the wealth from India, they made the UK the richest nation on earth. Britain is no longer quite that rich, but it is still wealthier than most of its former colonies. Yet some Brits -- who continue to benefit from the exploitive activities of their ancestors - want to deny those from former colonies the right to immigrate.
For further insight, read Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park", enriched by slave plantations on Antigua. The estate was named, perhaps, after Judge Mansfield, who made
a famous anti-slavery decision in Somerset v. Stewart. The heroine is named Fanny
Price, and the same Sir Thomas who manages the slave plantation tries to browbeat her into marrying a rich man she dislikes.
Austen's other reference to slavery is when Jane Fairfax, in
Emma, whines that the fate of governesses is almost as unhappy as that of slaves. What a twit!
In any event, Maia and other Brits continue to benefit from colonial exploitation and slavery, albeit indirectly. The "infrastructure" about which Maia boasts was built on the sweat and scars of slave labor. It seems fair that the Brits share the largess with less fortunate denisons of their former empire.