A Question of Balance.

[#1]

All well and good for the British High Commissioner to express regret  for the Māori killed when James Cook arrived in 1769, and for the 1919 massacre in Amritsa both of which reflect the darkest days of Imperialism, but is it all not just a bit one sided and can we now expect an apology from Hawaii for the killing of Cook in 1799, or one from India for the Black Hole of Calcutta in 1756?

Bad on both sides, so perhaps a bit of balance and leave it in history, or continue to apologise for the world and his wife until kingdom come or hell freezes over. 

As for balance, another take on it here

[#2]

Not more wailing and gnashing of teeth about something done 250 years ago surely?

The world was a very different place back then.

Things were done by every nation back in history which were wrong in modern eyes.

But don't bother apologising on my behalf. I wasn't alive then. 

[#3]

As an Armstrong clan descendent, I'm still waiting for the government to apologise for stealing our land on the scottish borders aswell as returning it to us, won't happen though I'm sure...

[#4]

I'll have a quiet word with Jeremy, I'm sure he'll come up with something.  

[#5]

@RobPN  Who Clarkson? I thought he was a remainer, but otherwise seems sane enough . . . 

Or did you mean the other one. . . Forget his name. . .

Isn't he something to do with politics? 

[#6]

@Minesapint 

No not Clarkson, the other 'C'  

[#7]

@twocvbloke  If you think about it, all the land in this country was nicked from us after 1066.

It still largely belongs to the descendants of those evil land nickers.

So I'm waiting for an apology from 'em for my Saxon ancestors.

They can pay rent on the land. And back rent at todays prices.  

[#8]

@RobPN  I must have a dirty mind. . .

[#9]

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@RobPN wrote:

@Minesapint 

No not Clarkson, the other 'C'  

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Hunt?

[#10]

Thought you were referring to diet....

[#11]

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@twocvbloke wrote:

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@RobPN wrote:

@Minesapint 

No not Clarkson, the other 'C'  

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Hunt?

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Not him, but rhymes with.  

[#12]

My dear old Mum never had an apology from Germany for her five years or so of forced labour.

Forced labour that's a laugh. There were two compensation levels of slavery and forced labour. All those articles of slavery in this country don't come anywhere near to what they regarded as forced labour in Germany. Most victims seemed pushed to the forced labour side probably to reduce any compensation payout. Forced labour just meant you were paid a couple of marks for doing something you had no choice over.

Anyway my dear old Mum never wanted any compensation but I got the forms and filled them out and sent them. She still insisted all she wanted was a proper letter of apology which she never got. She gave the money away, all £1400 of it, to us "kids". They even paid out in two instalments which I thought was ..................

[#13]

All this apologising for historical events is totally meaningless if the people involved no longer here,  it may tick a box in the 'apologised for xxxxxxx -  tick' 

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley

[#14]

The past is also a country that is subject to revision, and while there may be truth in past actions they do need to be placed into context - and not all granted, as some are just beyond apology or forgiveness.

But does history teach us anything.

In the short term maybe, but events always seem to repeat themselves eventually sad to say, and how better or worse would the world have been had the Europeans not gone out and searched for new lands. Should Africa, the Americas and Australasia all been left as some giant indigenous theme park?

Now there's a thought. 

[#15]

Well if the white man ( or 'westerner' for people who find 'white' offensive) had not gone to Africa there would still have been slavery because it was rife between both African tribes and Arabs / Africans long before the white man turned up. Also without the powerful drugs that westerners took there would be no population explosion in Africa,  it seems to be that Africans had 20 kids because 19 of them would probably die before their first birthday anyway,  but with western medicines that changed to 19 living and 1 dying - the result is there for all to see....  White men also meddle in Africa and think they are doing good by supplying endless food,  but are just tinkering around the edges and storing up problems for future years by allowing population expansion without the local means to support it.  There are simply too many people and not enough land suitable for western farming in Africa,  plus the regimes that westerners support out of political expediency turn out to be more corrupt and brutal than anything that went before, and hand over good land that used to be used productively by white farmers to people who think it is a great thing to grow weeds.