Well I only have time for one shot right now CB so you are it :O)
Actually I do not disagree that the British spread a civilisation. I do disagree that this was some kind of higher goal. It was a by-product. Example, do you know the main reason why the 49th parallel is our common border for most of the west ? It is mostly because the British still were thinking in terms of the fur trade. Quite short sighted if one is hell bent on bringing the world a greater civilisation... to focus on the mostly empty, barely habitable north.. You know what the by-product of that is.
My problem with M's assertions is that he implies some higher purpose which justifies the means. That is what I disagree with. The actual results are there for all to see and the credits and debits are obvious. It is 2007 and what enduring successes have been brought upon Africa by the British, or French or Germans etc.. there ? South Africa is finally coming around.. What would have happened otherwise in the world we will never know, so there is no point in worrying about that. Hong Kong and Singapore are so tiny compared to the size of China ? An accomplishment ? or small cloisters from which to gather money ? If the British influence was so superlative in China why did we have Mao ? Heck why did we even have Sun ? There was no higher purpose, just business and commerce.. OTOH I'm quite happy with the British legacy in my country :o)
America ? You started to boot the British in 1776... You guys were in the right place at the right time. I would almost completely disagree and offer that under British hegemony and thinking you guys would never have grown as you have.. not even close.. Just look north. That is not a value judgment either by the way. It just depends on your yardstick. I'd say Australia and New Zealand are also much further down the totem pole also compared the US success story... Aw what might have been had we booted the Brits out too :o) ...
Romans ? I agree that British were more efficient. The Romans actually spent too much time spreading their civilisation... as in trying to make everything just like home where they held on to land long enough.. The British took little enclaves/strongholds mostly it appears relative to the areas they controlled. I guess South Africa and Rhodesia would be sort of exceptions as they took large tracts of land not legally owned under British law for themselves.. So far one of those is on the right track now more or less..
Spanish ? That ended well ? They blew all their wealth like drunken sailors and what have they left behind except language (and Catholicism) ? I'd say the Portuguese actually left a far better legacy with Brazil.
we just subvert and assimilate them. We turn them into us, just as we did Canada. Sorry. ROTF.. Yeah a lot of that is true but the cultural differences are still huge.. so no need to apologize.. As an aside to the similarities.. When I was in Beijing this summer the news (a Chinese tv station) had a ten minute spiel on Paris Hilton and jail woes.. It was British feed and reporter being translated into Chinese.. I'm moaning who cares... but here we are thousands of miles away across the Pacific and yet finding the world is riveted on Paris Hilton ? WTF :O) That part of us you have taken over... You are more than welcome to it LOL..
Of course you don't agree, you think you're different and special. Again that is Mq's take, not mine. I clearly stated that the British were no better or worse than anyone. I'm of course part of anyone. Also my take on the US BTW.. Everyone that gets a chance takes their turn at the top..
I get the impression that this is his view of the British...
Reformed English pirate Captain Morgan (Laird Cregar, Blood and Sand) now enjoys respectability and the governorship of Jamaica following a truce between his native country and Spain. Settling into the life of a bureaucrat, Captain Morgan employs some of his former colleagues in crime to rule the island and wipe out the remaining pirates of the Caribbean. For his chief lieutenants he hires buccaneer Jamie Waring (Power) and Tommy Blue (Mitchell), a curmudgeonly pirate who holds lifelong allegiance to Waring.
All's well until the brutish Captain Leech (Sanders) and his first mate Wogan (Anthony Quinn, The Guns of Navarone), refuse to lay down their cutlasses in favor of attacking gold-laden ships. Leech gets his intelligence from Roger Ingram (Edward Ashley), a disgraced Jamaican official who wants to impeach Morgan so he can regain control of the island for corrupt former governor Lord Denby (Zucco). Ingram also has his eye on Lord Denby's gorgeous daughter Lady Margaret (O'Hara). But Buccaneer Jamie Waring has other ideas when he catches a glimpse of Margaret's emerald eyes and fiery hair.
When Waring and his old pal Tommy Blue are double-crossed and have to flee Jamaica, they kidnap Lady Margaret so she can't marry Ingram. The wily pirates hastily assemble a crew and set to sea after the vile Leech, captain of The Black Swan, the fastest ship on the Caribbean.
Romance blooms as Waring and his pirates race to Tortuga where Captain Leech plans to loot the entire fleet of the Spanish Main in an explosive, swashbuckling climax.
It was a great flic when I was a child.. and the line between good and bad was defined by John Wayne and Randolph Scott :O)
The Black Swan :O) |
