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I think it is very hard for us to estate these days how good/bad it was living under colonial rule, without experiencing it or even having contemporary reportin

I think it is very hard for us to estate these days how good/bad it was living under colonial rule, without experiencing it or even having contemporary reporting about it. We do know it was apparently bad enough for people to rise up against it, and were willing to sacrifice their lives, in many places over an extended period of time. That suggests to me that it wasn't all that great either. It's impossible to know what the counterfactual would have been of course, but I have no trouble imagining even worse outcomes under colonial rule.

rramadass 5y ago
>I think it is very hard for us to estate these days how good/bad it was living under colonial rule, without experiencing it or even having contemporary reporting about it. What? Colonialism is recent History, there is enough documented evidence of all its downsides and with still living Survivors from that era. And of course its after effects which we are all living through. No need to "Whitewash" it.
lostlogin 5y ago
> I think it is very hard for us to estate these days how good/bad it was living under colonial rule Can it be inferred that you’re not living somewhere that it working though it’s colonial scars? There are a lot of civil wars and low level conflicts right now that are directly related to a colonial past. We also have plenty of records of atrocities, so “it could have been worse” is a strange argument. The Belgian Congo comes to mind immediately, but there are unlimited terrible examples.
- phreeza 5y ago
  I think you misunderstood my comment, I'm saying things could have easily been worse if colonialism had continued, in response to the parents claim that bad things happened after the end of colonialism. The opening line was just my attempt to read the parent as charitably as possible, as is the custom on HN. Edit: I can't edit the original post any more, but if I could I would change the last line to "but I have no trouble imagining even worse outcomes had colonial rule continued." For clarity.
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    I completely misunderstood your comment. Thanks for the correcting me.

rramadass 5y ago

>I think it is very hard for us to estate these days how good/bad it was living under colonial rule, without experiencing it or even having contemporary reporting about it. What? Colonialism is recent History, there is enough documented evidence of all its downsides and with still living Survivors from that era. And of course its after effects which we are all living through. No need to "Whitewash" it.

lostlogin 5y ago

> I think it is very hard for us to estate these days how good/bad it was living under colonial rule Can it be inferred that you’re not living somewhere that it working though it’s colonial scars? There are a lot of civil wars and low level conflicts right now that are directly related to a colonial past. We also have plenty of records of atrocities, so “it could have been worse” is a strange argument. The Belgian Congo comes to mind immediately, but there are unlimited terrible examples.

phreeza 5y ago
I think you misunderstood my comment, I'm saying things could have easily been worse if colonialism had continued, in response to the parents claim that bad things happened after the end of colonialism. The opening line was just my attempt to read the parent as charitably as possible, as is the custom on HN. Edit: I can't edit the original post any more, but if I could I would change the last line to "but I have no trouble imagining even worse outcomes had colonial rule continued." For clarity.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  I completely misunderstood your comment. Thanks for the correcting me.