Mea Culpa is my middle name
How I love to play the blame game.
I've no need to roam
It's all here at home
Where I wallow in self-defined shame.
There's a saying we've all heard before,
I beg you: Don't mention the war!
Don't offend the offender
Or abuse they may render
For the facts they prefer to ignore..
So - join me and the Muse Terpsichore,
Dance along to the guilt-ridden score...
We're guilty as sin
For the world we live in
But the guilt stops beyond our own shore.
John
maybe thy weren't 'after being prosperous - maybe they would have preferred just being left alone.
MC -it's amazing how often you cast the line hoping to get a bite - I'm sure you really do believe that colonialism was good for 'johnny native' and I'm equally sure you complain vociferously at 'johnny rumanian' coming over here and imposing his culture and language on us 'British whitey's' - keep casting and you shall reap old tyres :-)
Hey Newberry- take the ingredients of an an issue- sprinkle in misinformation, set it to boil on the hob of reaction- add a good dollop of sentimental bigotry, leave it to cool on a cracked window-sill, let the flies inspect it and 'voila' another broken 'thought-pie' to hurl at the whorled wary world.
I must say, MC, so many of us seem attracted to the concept of self-flagellation.
The colonies were poor when we colonised; they were poor when we left. It does seem rather implausible that they'd have become prosperous if we'd never shown up.
You have a point. Revised to make it more
accessible. Thanks for the useful comment.
in an effort to be smart - I think you've screwed your rhyme pattern on the last line - how very avant-garde
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M.C. Newberry
Sat 17th Aug 2013 13:56
Thanks for all the comments, gents. I think that colonialism per se has been a global fact of life throughout recorded history. To the victor, the spoils!But it has hardly been restricted to "whitey" as so much trendy thinking these days would have us believe.
and I resent the huge disparity that this creates. Countries throughout time practised it but, with hindsight, it is now only the more recent invariably British variety that is roundly vilified for various reasons. It is this self-inflicted self-limiting narrowness of vision that I take exception to. JC refers to it as "self-flagellation" and I see why. History remains to tell us hard, often unpalatable, facts about the human condition. Sometimes, though, there are good things that come out of the "bad old days" to offer some balance to what has occurred. These should be recognised and even celebrated...not continually ignored or put down in an effort to be seen as liberal in a "multi-racial" world. The wheel turns and we are now seeing a more acceptable form of colonialism as millions from many of our former colonies choose to come here, legally or illegally, to live and work and influence our own way of life. Nobody asked me or my countrymen/women if we preferred to be left alone. Rulers do what rulers do and the world moves on, for better or worse - as it has always done. You may see this as good, bad or indifferent, depending on a POV.
"The liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them" - Lenny Bruce
Right - That's it from me...
Cheers.