If they were as advanced, then they wouldn’t have been colonized. The railways were introduced by the British colonizers.
Sure, many places would have eventually caught up, maybe, but it would have taken a long, long time.
The anti colonialism narrative that is big these days could use a lot more nuance.
Great reply. Thanks for the thoughtful write up. I think you are onto something here and I love your abilities for why we should adopt and further the fediverse.
Im creating an argument that goes against the apology. I don’t find that it’s a productive use of time. Nor do I believe that colonialism is all bad. There were many positive aspects of colonialism that lead to a more globalized and multicultural world. It has also led to advancements that would not have occurred at this time without the commixture of different peoples and cultures.
The simple narrative is that the super powerful Europeans came over and oppressed everyone native. But that’s not the reality.
If they became a colonizer, then they were not “in need” of technological advancement. And when I say technological advancement, I’m referring to things like communication, healthcare, a court of law, and so much more.
The places that got colonized got colonized because they were not as well developed, both in terms of capacity, infrastructure, and technology, to name a few things.
Colonialism allowed places not like Japan to become as advanced as Japan.
Yuval Harari’s “Sapiens” has some good perspectives on this issue. I recommend you read it. Then check out some of the cited sources.
Yes, it is. There are a lot of academics that have fallen prey to post modern ideologies like anti racism. But there are also academics that haven’t, like myself and John McWhorter.
Yes, I have a Ph.D., you will encounter grievance studies and post modern ideologies when you pursue this path. I have indeed studied the philosophical foundations of these ideologies. I don’t agree with post modern ideologies, nor do I agree that you can state that something is purely constructed by a culture. An individual is defined both by their physiology and their societal structure. It’s physiology and culture. Post modernism denies objective truth. I believe in objective truth. I also believe in intentionality, which post modernism denies. We could go on. Stop using the “have you actually studied this” argument and actually engage in productive debate. An appeal to academic authority is really not useful here.
It seems some forget, for instance, that the native population of America benefitted greatly from their encounters with colonial people from France and Britain. They sold and traded items. They learned knew technologies. Hell, many native tribes fought alongside the Americans during the American revolution. They also fought alongside France. The whole situation of the American colonies is really messy. Anyway, colonialism is not a black and white issue.
But what does this apology actually do? It doesn’t accomplish anything at this point. The people apologizing aren’t the perpetrators. “I’m sorry my great grandpa did horrific shit.” What? You weren’t even around when your great grandpa was. You are apologizing for something for which you have absolute no control or agency. It doesn’t make any sense.
It’s hard to imagine that we would be where we are today, as a technologically advanced and free society in the west, without colonialism.
Would it be possible to have you fediverse username connected to the blockchain so you could use it to associate with an instance? And if that instance closed, say, you could simply connect your blockchain based account identity to another instance?
Apologizing for your forbears actions is strange to me. Colonialism had many bad results and effects, but it also brought about many incredibly positive changes and advancements. It’s not a black and white issue.
Many natives welcomed the colonizers because they could trade with the them and advance their own cultures. It wasn’t purely about oppressors and oppressed. That binary view is simply removed from reality.