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Was Colonialism a Positive Force?
The New American ^ | 17 December 2013 | Selwyn Duke

Posted on 12/18/2013 7:30:18 AM PST by Paladins Prayer

It’s hard to forget meeting a man who hated Mahatma Gandhi. I once did, though. No, he wasn’t some erstwhile viceroy lamenting lost glory days, but an Indian born and raised in the land of sati and saris. The reason for his ire? He said that when Gandhi drove the British out, India lost everything: technicians, engineers, expertise, bureaucratic integrity, etc. In the same vein, I have a Zambian friend who has argued that colonialism had a positive impact, in that it brought civilization to the lands — such as his — it touched.

And, in fact, even that Kenyan Obama agrees. The president’s half-brother George Obama, that is. He once told social commentator Dinesh D’Souza that it would have been better “if the whites had stayed longer” in Kenya, as their premature expulsion caused his nation to descend into poverty.

But what of the conventional narrative that colonialism is responsible for Third World poverty? Economist Dr. Walter Williams addressed this in 2011, writing:

(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: british; colonialism; obama; race
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This is a perspective I've never heard before. I love how the author points out that the Western European countries were once colonies too.
1 posted on 12/18/2013 7:30:18 AM PST by Paladins Prayer
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To: Paladins Prayer

I once knew a highly educated Indian man who immigrated to the United States. He strongly maintained that the British Empire was the best thing to ever happen to India, and India’s independence marked the beginning of its decline. I’m certain this is neither an original nor unique perspective of many Indians.


2 posted on 12/18/2013 7:33:55 AM PST by BlueStateRightist (Government is best which governs least.)
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To: Paladins Prayer
Wicked Imperialists:
Roads
Hospitals
Schools
Railroads
Hygiene
Churches
Orphanages
Literacy
Harbors/Ports
Books
Electricity
Technology
3 posted on 12/18/2013 7:35:54 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: Psalm 73

and plumbing, did I say plumbing? It’s all the rage in the West....


4 posted on 12/18/2013 7:37:01 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: BlueStateRightist

Once England made something of India, the Indians wanted it all without repaying the investment

Same with South Africa, Rhodesia, what Saudi Arabia did to us and so on and so forth


5 posted on 12/18/2013 7:37:13 AM PST by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Paladins Prayer

Western civilization > other cultures.

Period.


6 posted on 12/18/2013 7:37:47 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Paladins Prayer

If it had not been for bad colonial practices we would not be what we are.


7 posted on 12/18/2013 7:38:05 AM PST by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Paladins Prayer

You mean tribalism, ritual murder, cannibalism, disease, slavery and superstition weren’t good for the Third World? They were according to the enviro-idiots. Death is good for children. It keeps down “the surplus population” (Thank you, Mr. Dickens).


8 posted on 12/18/2013 7:39:00 AM PST by Dr. Thorne ("How long, O Lord, holy and true?" - Rev. 6:10)
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To: Paladins Prayer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

This spells it out pretty well.


9 posted on 12/18/2013 7:39:40 AM PST by cdcdawg (Be seeing you...)
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To: Paladins Prayer

10 posted on 12/18/2013 7:41:12 AM PST by James C. Bennett (An Australian.)
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To: Paladins Prayer

Thanks for posting this article.


11 posted on 12/18/2013 7:41:14 AM PST by jonno (Having an opinion is not the same as having the answer...)
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To: Psalm 73

I think you forgot sanitation. Or maybe that is implicit in your fine list...


12 posted on 12/18/2013 7:42:08 AM PST by ConservativeDude
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To: mountainlion

Were it not for colonialism, the Americas would be a land of people who are barely out of the stone age.


13 posted on 12/18/2013 7:44:47 AM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: Paladins Prayer

Was Colonialism a Positive Force?

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/Uh_Yeah.mp3


14 posted on 12/18/2013 7:44:56 AM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Psalm 73

I can cite one enormous evil of imperialism. If not for imperialism, there would have been no Barack Obama junior.


15 posted on 12/18/2013 7:46:04 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Doing the same thing and expecting different results is called software engineering.)
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To: Psalm 73

“What have the Romans ever done for us?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ


16 posted on 12/18/2013 7:50:50 AM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Psalm 73

Reminds me of the question in THE LIFE OF BRIAN.

“What have the Romans ever done for us!

Ever time they come up with something good from the Roman invasion the new question becomes ...

“Well, other than that, what have the Romans ever done for us!”


17 posted on 12/18/2013 8:03:39 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Paladins Prayer

A classic example of the perils of anti-colonialism is the Congo. Once a relatively prosperous colony of Belgium (of all countries ...) due to its rubber and copper resources, in the 60s, it began to assert its independence. Inevitably, it descended into anarchy, the mines fell into disrepair as European maintenance technicians fled, and the once-thriving economy collapsed. It has survived despite numerous coups, rebellions, and ongoing disruptions only because lender nations continue to prop up its economy and send troops to defuse the internecine violence.

Savagery is so much preferable to colonialism.


18 posted on 12/18/2013 8:06:37 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Dr. Thorne

But, before the EVIL WHITE MAN colonized America, it was a paradise of happy dancing people who loved nature and all was skittles and unicorns and peace and love, and their version of rock and roll.

http://www.dickshovel.com/scalp.html


19 posted on 12/18/2013 8:08:18 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Psalm 73

I happened to be channel surfing a few years ago and came upon Al Gore’s cable channel. I was stopped and had to watch the program.

It was about a journey throughout India and SE Asia and the sanitary conditions on how the people had no toilets. They just went out and crapped in the fields, or river. The river looked like grey sewage and people drank from it.

They didn’t even have the sense to dig a simple hole or slit trench, do their job, and cover it up.

AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO FEEL SORRY FOR THEM!


20 posted on 12/18/2013 8:13:50 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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