10 Comments

There should be! Maybe an image of an elephant wearing an American flag?

Expand full comment

Just grim. The sheer bloody arrogance of not only acting like this, but also recording it as if this is ‘correct’ behaviour. A large part of me hopes that this was actually satirical in nature, and used by sensible folk to argue against this sort of deplorableness, but sadly, I do know better. 😢

Expand full comment

You’re right - no satire intended. Soldier William Whitelock Lloyd was famous for his sketches of the British campaign to subdue Zulu African kingdom in 1879. He was an imperialist through and through. This eravwas the height of Victorian expansion and the source of “pride” back in England.

Expand full comment

I'm glad folks can see this today, so they understand what it was actually like.

Expand full comment

Caroline Elkins’ “Legacy of Violence” addresses the history of British Empire. Great read

Expand full comment

Agreed

Expand full comment

Is it fair to characterize the Raj as colonial vermin poisoning the blood of a country?

Expand full comment

Is there an ironic emoji?

Expand full comment

Uncomfortable but necessary reading. I remember reading of the Amritsar massacre when General Dyer ordered his troops to shoot unarmed and peaceful Indians. Over 350 were killed and the carnage could have been even worse. The alley that led to the site were too narrow for Dyer’s armoured cars, otherwise he would have taken them in and used their machine guns.

Expand full comment

“Colonial officials and security forces wanted their infantilize subjects to see and feel their own suffering. They wanted them to know it was deliberate and purposeful. Britain had a term for this – the ‘moral effect’ of violence.” ~ “Legacy of Violence” by Caroline Elkins.

Expand full comment