Endless Self-Flagellation

[Paigntonian]

Newsnight features a long report on the British record with Palestinians in the early 1940s. We obviously got a lot wrong but will it never end? Perhaps we could pursue compensation from the Normans for 1066, the Danes and Norwegians for their invasions of our islands. All so tedious, predictable and, as always, has the faint whiff of compensation culture.

[sandyRoe]

"Will it never end?"
Within my lifetime, and maybe yours, the same violent tactics were used against innocents on the streets of Derry.
People aren't looking for compensation. They want an acknowledgement that wrong was done.

[ynnafymmi]

Aye,and the British people will never forgive the Irish people for the Omagh massacre either,sandy.The Irish people have blood on their hands,it will never be washed off.

[ynnafymmi]

Two unborn bairns amongst the victims sandy.and the Irish people claim to be the victims?

[sandyRoe]

Did many English people die then? I thought it was locals and some Spanish children.
The difference between what terrorists did in Omagh and what the British did in Palestine isn't so wide. Both thought it was OK to use violence to advance their aims.

[jno]

the "Irish people" carried out the Omagh bombing?

[Mozz71]

Ymma, there were victims and attrocities carried out on both sides during the troubles. Neither side came out particularly smelling of roses.

[FatticusInch]

Saw the OP Headline and reasoned it might just be about the Tory Party Conference?
Can’t win ‘em all! Lol

[ichkeria]

“the British people will never forgive the Irish people for the Omagh massacre ”

That was Irish people in Omagh I believe …
Why would Britain ask for compensation from the Normans?
Other way round surely :-)

[ichkeria]

Irish people murdered by Irish terrorists. Happened a lot

[naomi24]

‘Will it never end?’

No, it won’t. There’s a lot of history there that goes back much further than the 1940s.

[Untitled]

i don’t think it is self-flagellation…. the British empire was not a good thing for the world.

[naomi24]

^More self-flagellation - quite the thing in vogue these days when we are encouraged to forget the good.

https://listverse.com/2016/08/01/top-10-things-the-british-empire-got-right/

[drmorgans]

Can we sue the Vikings for their land grabs in the 900s. They really weren't very nice. And the Romans. Sticking up their bloody walls. I mean, what did they ever do for us?

[Untitled]

i’m not self-flagellating… i think your listicle is a bit silly as well. The british empire was a violent and exploitative institution.

[naomi24]

What's silly about it? Leading the way to the abolition of slavery, or stopping the appalling practice of wives being burned alive on their husbands' funeral pyres, or standing up to the Nazis? Silly? Really?

[naomi24]

By the way, I posted the 'listicle' for the benefit of anyone with a short attention span. It's not comprehensive but it makes easy reading.

[Untitled]

South rhodesia was an extremely racist state tora which used police state tactics on people who agitated for independence and did so to protect a white minority

[drmorgans]

I wonder, does China feel any guilt for the way it is exploiting Africa? Okay they may be developing infrastructure, not out of generosity, but for raw materials that they get cheaply then process back home. You might be concerned about what Russian is doing with oil and gas, but the control China has over essential rare minerals is frightening.

[Untitled]

yes, silly. The idea that the british empire spread democracy technology only works if you assume the colonised places needed to be taken over for centuries in order for this to happen - a racist assumption which was used to maintain the rule of white minorities or their agents. The empire cracked down on slavery in the atlantic and on wife-burning and at the same time forced huge numbers of indians to harvest opium at gunpoint and forced china to import it with horrifying social consequences. British settlers also wiped out vast numbers of indigenous australians, including hunting them like animals.