• mobyduck648@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    You’re bringing up fucking Kipling of all people, the one poet everyone knows for being mega into colonialism. That’s like me pointing at the Grateful Dead while saying Americans need to lay off the acid.

    • 011011@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      One of England’s favorite poets for a long time until explicit racism (in public) was no longer de rigueur.

      He’s a perfectly valid example of the feelings of the nation at that time.

        • 011011@sopuli.xyz
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          2 days ago

          Amongst the people with influence who set the curriculum in England for a very long time. He wasn’t some fringe artist with unusual views.

      • mobyduck648@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        It’s a cherry-picked example if I ever saw one, I could just as well go and point at Wilberforce to underline early 19th century attitudes to slavery and I’d be making the same error as this.

        • 011011@sopuli.xyz
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          2 days ago

          You cannot use the term “cherry-picked” to refer to a man who was such a prominent cultural icon. His art captured the essence of an era.

          It’s even more valid when taken in light of more recent wars of colonial aggression involving the UK in which the terminology and lies used mirror the justifications of the 19th century and the behavior and attitude of the UK government towards former colonies when it comes to the topic of reparations and the belated return of stolen artifacts.

          • mobyduck648@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Nor can you select the worst examples of someone else’s country to defend America’s conduct on patriotic grounds which is blatantly what’s happening here.

            There’s a massive Americentrism problem in the wider West that both the US left and right wingers absolutely hate being challenged, they are exactly alike on this issue as far as I am concerned.

            • 011011@sopuli.xyz
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              2 days ago

              Who here is defending America?

              Reminding the world that Britain has done a lot of evil and exposing how contemporary Brits justify said evil acts does not equate to defending America.

              Some of us can walk and chew gum simultaneously. Cute deflection though.

              • mobyduck648@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                Come on, this whole thread is basically Americans shitting on Britons because Britons don’t generally put American PoV goggles on when discussing racism.

          • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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            2 days ago

            Kipling has been subject of debate since the height of his career. it would be inaccurate to claim he represented unchallenged universal attitudes.