It is interesting looking at Britain and its colonial past and realising that it wasn’t Britain at all who was running those colonies; it was a small elite of extremely wealthy ruling class. They ran the colonies for their own profit. They used the army and navy to exploit, ransack and extract wealth for their own good. The British people were as much exploited as anybody abroad. The working people lived in slums on meagre wages while that elite swanned around in coaches and lived in mansion. The Public Schools, like Eton and Harrow, turned out a constant stream of wealthy rulers to keep everyone in place.
I’m woke.
The Tory Party, who represent those exploiting rulers, don’t want people to realise that. They are still exploiting working people. They want them docile, ignorant and compliant. They feed them propaganda and lies and working for peanuts.
That is why they have a war on woke!
Well Opher, I agree with the thrust of your argument, but not with all the details.
Yes, the elites ran the colonies for their own profit.
But I’m not sure that the British people were exploited quite as badly as you think. If only because, if they wanted, there were opportunities in the colonies! I put this as: “Empires shit hardest, not on the people in the heartland, but on the people on the periphery.” That was true in Britain, as it was long ago in Rome.
And yes, you are “woke,” in the original meaning of the word, meaning “having woken up.” I too am “woke” in that sense. “Wokism,” in the sense of promoting or supporting the latest fad that has been spawned to favour one group of people over another, is another thing entirely.
Can’t disagree with what you say about the Tory party, but they aren’t the only culprits. They are only one of several criminal gangs vying for power in a political system that positively encourages them to commit crimes, and enables them to get away with them.
Do you not think the Victorian slums and factory conditions were not as exploitative and ugly as anything imposed on our Empire?
I believe that the elite preyed on our own population every bit as severely as those abroad. Opportunities in the colonies were many as cannon fodder. The jobs were retained for public school types.
Woke is being used by the elite as a culture war. They do not want a woke population questioning their assumed superiority and right to exploit.
Yes all political parties are guilty to an extent but none openly support the elite like the Tories do! Formed from them to look after their interests.
I went to public school and it was clear to me then at the age of 14, that public school was a Tory breeding ground. Hated every minute of it!
Yes. You were lucky to survive.