I’ve noticed what I’d consider a substantial amount of hatred towards the British empire recently, and I’m not really sure why
The colonies we had were far better treated than most colonies of the era, or ever to be honest.
Almost every country has had empires that have treated their subjects terribly. But I’ve never seen anyone talking about the Roman, Mongolian, Persian, or Aztec empires with anything but being impressed. No one shits on the French, dutch or Spanish (who were notorisly cruel to their colonies).
The British empire was a huge part of ending the trans-atlanric slave trade. One of the first European countries to condemn it.
The British museum was set up to preserve artifacts which would have been looted or destroyed, not to mention it’s completely free to enter. Almost everything in there would have been lost (although I’ll admit the Greek stuff seems like it was probably not given)
Yet it seems we’re despised for by many people online, is it a fad?
I’d just like to reassure Lemmy that there are a lot of us (Brits) who are fully aware of the shitness of our Imperial past and its negative (and still felt) effects on people all over the world.
The only excuse I can offer for this persons stunning lack of tact and knowledge is that the Empire is not really taught in any meaningful way in British schools. It’s not unless one chooses to discover for oneself what our ancestors did that you can find out the true horrors of it all.