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It's not absurd, but there is a lot of hypocrisy surrounding the British Raj especially with regards to how concerned they were with the welfare of the Indian s
by sn41 6y ago
It's not absurd, but there is a lot of hypocrisy surrounding the British Raj especially with regards to how concerned they were with the welfare of the Indian subjects. There were a lot of good British administrators who were benevolent, and fond of India. And the legal system is a boon. But there were large patches of plain greed couched in philanthropic terms. A favorite quote of mine is George Orwell quoting E. M. Forster "Again, he [Gandhi] seems to have been quite free from that maniacal suspiciousness which, as E. M. Forster rightly says in A Passage to India, is the besetting Indian vice, as hypocrisy is the British vice." [1]
[1] https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/reflections-on-gandhi/ https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
- twic 6y agoIndeed. I certainly don't mean to defend the British empire. The way i would frame this, though, is that the difference between the UK and India is only in how much the railway-builders and so on could get away with. They would have done the same to British people if they had had the chance.
- sn41 6y agoCouldn't agree more. There's nothing special about this country versus that country when it comes to inhuman behavior. I somehow am very disappointed at humanity. People who argue for peace, forgiveness and solidarity are often victimised - vide Socrates, Jesus, Gandhi and so on - and venomous populists are venerated as heroes.