You can clearly argue the "good" they did was far outweighed by the "bad" and a more thoughtful leadership would have been far more successful. The assertion is more that DESPITE Stalin and co, the Soviet Union was able to defeat Nazi Germany. Not because of them.
The British Empire: Your opinions on it • Page 7
-
Page
of 7 First / Last -
FWB 39,097 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 11 years ago -
RedSparrows 17,027 posts
Seen 1 hour ago
Registered 6 years agoWell, that assertion is probably more true than not. As I said, we're reading from the same page.
My gripe was more that your post didn't take into account the USSR's own efforts: not the leadership, but the efforts of the people and the Soviet's own industry. Which isn't very fair ;p -
ploder 243 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 7 years agoI think ploder hit the nail on the head, it's a little like feeling pride for the manner in which a rape was carried out by saying that everybody was raping back in those days, and comparatively our rape was relatively kind. And what's more, for a small country, we sure did manage to rape lots of countries.
Indeed, I guess I find it hard to stomach the word 'proud' in the same sentence as colonialism. Maybe it has something to do with having family from a past colony and all the bs and anguish (the media didn't even tell you a small fraction of what was going on) peoples had to go through to become free again. That is what we are talking about here; the freedom of self-determination, being able to choose a representative. It doesn't matter how nice a man is if he has his foot on your neck. I think those on the receiving end of colonialism would have a very different opinion on its effects. It was about money but the effects are not so constrained.
I'm so proud.
What I find especially interesting is the conditioning ordinary people were subject to. Exploitation wrapped up in patriotism and sold to the general public as being for the victims good too. It never ceases to amaze how a bunch of crooks at the top of society make deplorable decisions and then encourage the rest to be morally blind to the outcomes. This didn't end with colonialism. It is still going on today in places such as China and Dubai where exploitative working practices are wrapped up as 'economic success'. The moral blindfold slips off eventually, but not until the crooks have made off with the loot. -
ploder wrote:
Or we stop buying Nike trainers.
What I find especially interesting is the conditioning ordinary people were subject to. Exploitation wrapped up in patriotism and sold to the general public as being for the victims good too. It never ceases to amaze how a bunch of crooks at the top of society make deplorable decisions and then encourage the rest to be morally blind to the outcomes. This didn't end with colonialism. It is still going on today in places such as China and Dubai where exploitative working practices are wrapped up as 'economic success'. The moral blindfold slips off eventually, but not until the crooks have made off with the loot. -
ploder 243 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 7 years agoI don't think boycott is the answer either. That'll just encourage the bugs to crawl under different stones. They'll ditch one factory and go to the next. Unfortunately the best solution is the hardest to implement, encourage them to have fair working practices. It also involves people caring about what happens to their fellow humans. -
mcmonkeyplc 35,883 posts
Seen 1 hour ago
Registered 10 years agoI wonder what the empire would have done with District 9.....Hmmm
Come and get it cumslingers!
-
Telepathic.Geometry 10,279 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 6 years ago -
ploder wrote:
There's another fine word that the British Empire inspired.
I don't think boycott is the answer either. That'll just encourage the bugs to crawl under different stones. They'll ditch one factory and go to the next. Unfortunately the best solution is the hardest to implement, encourage them to have fair working practices. It also involves people caring about what happens to their fellow humans. -
Page
of 7 First / Last
