Dickens - anti- imperialist?
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helensusanswift · 26-30, F
The horrible British Empire - first empire to ban slavery - to spend millions of pounds and thousands of lives stopping the slave trade - to institute anti-pirate patrols - and anti slavery patrols in Africa - to stop thugee and suttee - to bring hospitals, schools and universities to a third of the world.
And yes, to destroy cultures as well, including the cultures of human sacrifice, cannibalism and other interesting native practices.
Not all good, for sure, but not all bad either.
And yes, to destroy cultures as well, including the cultures of human sacrifice, cannibalism and other interesting native practices.
Not all good, for sure, but not all bad either.
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helensusanswift · 26-30, F
@BigGuy2 Not just west African squadron. The Royal Navy also operated in the Indian ocean to stop Arabic slavery at sea, and had units on land stopping Ethiopian slavers attacking British protected tribes in Kenya. Oh -and defending British protected tribes on land in West Africa as well - like the Fantis. Many of the punitive expeditions in Africa and India were to protect the indigenous peoples from predators or slavers. Not all of course - Britain was not blameless - terrible in Australia and tasmania for example.
BigGuy2 · 26-30, M
@helensusanswift on balance ... 'nothing' is 100% perfect - not even Democracy
helensusanswift · 26-30, F
@BigGuy2 Certainly not perfect - a terrible lot of atrocity and exploitation - but not all bad either. A mixture of both but as well as terrible arrogance and racism there was a desire to improve, advance and help. Not all successful, but a lot was well intentioned.
DearAmbellina2113 · 41-45, F
Well...the British Empire DID destroy a lot of cultures and did a lot of horrible things. Almost every culture has done horrible things, but I think the reason British/European colonialism is still so hated on is because the effects of it are STILL holding marginalized peoples back to this very day.
BigGuy2 · 26-30, M
@DearAmbellina2113 nope ... i've given you a reference for a YouTube to watch that backs up my argument - also watch Thomas Sewells YouTube videos that outline the same concept as the British ending Slavery ...
🤔 what we did do in India was stop 'Sati' - the burning of live Widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands - when the Indians said "you can't stop it, it's one of our traditions" ... the reply was "OK, but we have a tradition that we hang people that kill women" - the practice of 'Sati' stopped IMMEDIATELY
🤔 what we did do in India was stop 'Sati' - the burning of live Widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands - when the Indians said "you can't stop it, it's one of our traditions" ... the reply was "OK, but we have a tradition that we hang people that kill women" - the practice of 'Sati' stopped IMMEDIATELY
BigGuy2 · 26-30, M
alan20 · M
I feel Great Expectations should be recreated as closely as possible to what its author would have understood and approved of. Dickens was an entertaining and imaginative story writer. By Victorian standards he was probably seen as quite progressive or left-wing according to one's point of view. I seem to remember he had an unhappy childhood working in a tanning factory near the present Hungerford Bridge on the Victoria Embankment. Whether he'd have come to see that as exploitation or as proof that the social system he existed in gave him the opportunity to better himself, I'm in no position to know.
wonkywinky · 51-55, M
i lived through the last days of empire and at school it was awesome to see all the red countries representing the empire....we didnt and dont care about any exploitation etc.we just liked to see all the red.i long for those days...then again we now have the empire at home..
Dolimyte · 41-45, M
So you want to see Great Expectations done in a more racist manner?
Human1000 · M
his fiction probably demonstrated its greatest prowess in changing public opinion in regard to class inequalities. He often depicted the exploitation and oppression of the poor and condemned the public officials and institutions that not only allowed such abuses to exist, but flourished as a result. His most strident indictment of this condition is in Hard Times (1854), Dickens's only novel-length treatment of the industrial working class. Wiki
Human1000 · M
. Karl Marx asserted that Dickens "issued to the world more political and social truths than have been uttered by all the professional politicians, publicists and moralists put together".[204] George Bernard Shaw even remarked that Great Expectations was more seditious than Marx's Das Kapital.[204] The exceptional popularity of Dickens's novels, even those with socially oppositional themes (Bleak House, 1853; Little Dorrit, 1857; Our Mutual Friend, 1865), not only underscored his ability to create compelling storylines and unforgettable characters, but also ensured that the Victorian public confronted issues of social justice that had commonly been ignored.
BigGuy2 · 26-30, M
If we were so bad, why are they still in the Commonwealth 🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
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