Seeing this racist take on the TL a lot first thing Monday morning so let's talk about how it is a) a historical, and b) racist. 
First of all it is totally fine to judge people in history by today's standards because racism and imperial violence have *always* been wrong. Like start there. Saying otherwise means you are fine with it, which these people probably are, but hey.
Second, historically there has *always* been vocal opposition to violence and racism as well. Yes, there has. Well documented. There was never a point in time when every single person was like "Slavery and violent domination? This is definitely good!"Do your reading.
Thirdly even if we pretend for a minute that all *white people* "believed in the British Empire" which they absolutely did not, that doesn't actually forgive them because - stay with me - the millions of people the violently ethnically cleansed and subjugated did not.
Yes, I understand that this is going to force you to value all human lives as equal but *they are*. If you are saying that adjustments have to be made, because, "Britain just really wanted some rice, so oops! Three million people are dead now, oh well." Congrats that is racist.
Yes it is. No this is not a difficult concept. Yes we can judge historical figures by this.
Also, sorry by the twentieth century isn't even history. That happened in living memory. We are still dealing with the fallout, so we are welcome to talk about how racist it is.
Also, sorry by the twentieth century isn't even history. That happened in living memory. We are still dealing with the fallout, so we are welcome to talk about how racist it is.
Anyway all these people clutching pearls saying "But what about *history*!" are actually talking about pre-GCSE textbooks which are massively racist and ignore the cruelty of Empire and need immediate reform.
Have a nice week!
Have a nice week!
