Propaganda
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batowich — 17 years ago(May 09, 2008 06:37 PM)
And even if the Britis empire were brutal (which they generally weren't), it doesn't follow that British soldiers, officers and christian missionaries were anything but brave and honorable on a personal/individual level unlike how they're portrayed in this simple-minded cartoon of a movie. But I guess that's a bit too much subtlety and nuance for your average Hollywood liberal to grasp.
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jubilee200749 — 17 years ago(May 22, 2008 12:35 PM)
lets get a grasp on this movie and see it for what it really is and that is a film about passion to bring justice and peace to a region split because of the root of the belief system. Throughout this film you can observe all sides and their beliefs and passion. Of course you see those who had lost their values in the war and constantly warring to make place for themselves in the world. This movie is about nations and the culture of those nations. Propaganda is posts like this that declare it to be so with out the facts.
As for Britian being civil compared to other nationsI would ask which history class did you take? Britian learn their war tactics from the Romans and were not very civil. Did you forget about the Revelutionary War and the horror storiesCome on get the facts straight and back it up with citations. Otherwise, your words will not have any power or credibility -
ContinentalOp — 12 years ago(February 25, 2014 10:29 AM)
'' Did you forget about the Revelutionary War and the horror storiesCome on get the facts straight and back it up with citations.''
What do you mean? It would be a lie to pretend that the British dealt with the American Revolution with particularly horrific brutality.
And I am a hard leftist and anti-imperialist but the British Empire was not even as strict or brutal as most other empires of the time. The Portuguese were more brutal, the Belgium Empire was (and the privately owned by Leopold I Belgian Congo was a hellhole) and the French were too. But the British Empire was the most powerful, the biggest and the most iconic so people tend to think it was one of the worst. The worst empire of them all was probably that of the Japanese but luckily it was short-lived compared to the British Empire.
Formerly KingAngantyr -
Royalcourtier — 10 years ago(June 28, 2015 09:35 PM)
"Britian" did not "learn their war tactics from the Romans and were not very civil". The British Army had its own traditions and tactics. In any event we are talking about ruling empires, not army tactics. And whatever do you mean by "Did you forget about the Revelutionary War and the horror stories"?
There is a racist and anti-European view about, meaning that the European and British colonial powers must be pilloried and abused. But what about non-European colonial powers? Virtually every nation on earth has expanded its territory by means that were either violent or without the consent of the occupied. The British empire was not only the most civil and beneficial for the occupied, but its expansion was very largely with the consent of the colonials.
However do not forget that Four Feathers is not about the British empire at all, but the Egyptian empire - specifically Sudan. -
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dtechba — 11 years ago(May 23, 2014 06:37 AM)
Lord man the Boer Wars predated the Phillipines by 10 to 20 years. Even Churchill condemned some British conduct during the Boer Wars. I hold the British military in very high esteem but your ignorance of the historic facts as woefully naive. As for the American Indians, reservations are not concentration camps. Not that the conduct there by US forces was something to write home about.
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ContinentalOp — 11 years ago(May 30, 2014 07:58 PM)
''I hold the British military in very high esteem but your ignorance of the historic facts as woefully naive. As for the American Indians, reservations are not concentration camps.''
They are pretty damn similar though. As were the POW camps in the Civil War, which predated the Boer War.
''Lord man the Boer Wars predated the Phillipines by 10 to 20 years.''
For someone saying that someone's ''your ignorance of the historic facts as woefully naive'', the claim can be made for you. The Philippine-American War was from 18991902 and the Second Anglo-Boer War (in which concentration camps were first used by the British Empire) was from 1899-1901. However, the Spanish used them in the Cuban War of Independence (18951898) before the US and the UK. And contrary to popular belief the Tsarist regime in Russia had the katorga camps, though you could argue that penal camps and concentration camps are different.
Formerly KingAngantyr -
dtechba — 11 years ago(June 03, 2014 12:12 PM)
The Phillipine Insurrection did not end until just prior to WW1. It should be noted that the famed .45 cal semi auto pistol came from that conflict. It is known as the M1911 the 1911 the year it was approved for purchase.
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ocoileain1890 — 17 years ago(May 27, 2008 05:19 AM)
"The British were the most humane and least brutal, and in the end, they gave most of their empire back to the native peoples simply because they were asked"
Centuries of State sanctioned brutality, religious and civic persecution, culpability through sheer neglect in in the artificial holocaust that was the 1845-47 famine, rapine, avaricious resettlement of the natives from their ancestral lands, god I could go on at risk of sounding like a broken record but what would be the point? 13 miles down the road from where I live British soliders indulged in the delightful little sport of Pitch capping that is pouring hot pitch, or tar (mainly used at the time for lighting purposes), into a conical shaped paper "cap", which was forced onto a bound persons head and then allowed to cool. Less elaborate versions included smearing a cloth or paper with pitch and pressing onto the head of the intended victim. The "pitchcap" was then torn off taking lumps of skin and flesh with it which usually left the victim disfigured for life. Wonderful! How to win over the natives! Instead such treatment goaded the peasant population into open rebellion as ill-educated (Because of a prickly little series of discriminatory edicts called the "Penal Laws".) farm hands took on canon and cavalry with little more than pikes. Slaughter ensuing.
Selective historical amnesia seems to prevail in the British educational system in relation to the history of Ireland. We'd been "asking" for our country "back" since the medieval period but quickly realised ones point of argument to be augmented no end with the fixing of a bayonet when dealing with the British. One thing you taught us well, might is right! But sure thats all in the past since we're "civilised" now. Well done. We're still dealing with the socio-political and physic poison of the occupation well into the 21st century. This country will never be right. Please do continue to live in your insular cotton wool feel-good bubble with wax in your ears or maybe I could recommend you some
books? Theres no excuse for remaining blind or indeed delusional in this information age. -
ikinmoore — 17 years ago(May 27, 2008 12:02 PM)
Do I detect some anti British feeling here. I am British and I have always believed that there are good and bad in all. I don't care for politics or religion and what our Ancestors did is not my fault. I enjoyed the film and never occured to me that people here would get so upset about british history.
Just rememeber this:
The white Americans did to the Native Americans
The White Australians did to the Native Australians
Black Africans tribes did to each other.
Germans did to most of Europe.
Russians did to Germans when they tried to wipe out Europe.
Americans did to Japan.
The World trade Centre
The list is endless and yes the British were brutal and cruel.
Humans are basically very cruel but as I said each one has a good side and a bad side. So don't be so bigoted or narrowminded.
The best films are made in an intelligent format.
