mercalia wrote:There are still people in the UK who feel that other countries have messed things up, and the British ought to go in and set things straight as they have done for so long.
Some of these cannot see that a diverse society is a natural outcome of the far-flung empire. You cannot have the empire and get rid of the immigrants. At least not without a return to the oppression of a century gone. Is that what they want?
You should change the range of your statements from
some people to
most people to see the mistake. Of course out of 60M there are some who would think the way you suggest: I think most people dont want to waste money on forereign adventures - the only one I can think of that was popular in recent memory was the Falklands War. It was once said that Britain was a nation of shopkeepers, that was the bottom line not lauding it over other places. Even in the C19 I think Gt Britain didnt like to interfer in other places esp under Gladstone, who was slow to send troops to relieve Khartoum and save Gordon. India was ruled by the East India Company ( Clive of India was an East India Company man?);
I used to sit at a lunch table in a British firm with a diverse work force, and our lunch table talk covered a wide range of subjects. I distinctly recall that over a discussion about more than one country in turmoil, that one colleague said, "We should go in and straighten out that mess, like when my grandfather served abroad." He said exactly that, and furthermore a couple of other people nodded their heads when he said so. On another occasion, when he said something similar, with a citizen of the nation in question sitting at the table (who appeared angry, but didn't say anything), I said, something like, "That's an attitude likely to cause resentment, isn't it?" and he dug himself a bigger hole by saying that they were a bunch of primitives who didn't have any hope of ruling themselves.
I said what I said deliberately, and I don't think it is a mistake. My former colleague may not be in the majority, but I highly doubt he is the only person who feels so. There are a many kind and open-minded people in the UK, but anyone who grew up there, or even some who grew up as British living abroad, have grown up in a culture imbued with the glory of the former empire. Perhaps not many articulate it, but it is there, nonetheless.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
.... 