Not that. Most of the Western world has a shocking history that must be used to remind us of what we can be capable of. Some nations however are at different places. The UK is particularly challenging (on average) compared to other places.

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How does the UK factor into this story and how is it relevant?

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not the person you're replying to, but I've lived in both the Netherlands and the UK.

My experience is that the UK is far more in denial about the crimes of empire than the Netherlands.

Most European countries have a shameful colonial history. Many haven't fully come to terms with it.

[–] masquenox@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Many haven’t fully come to terms with it.

No... they haven't. Colonialism is not the past... it's the present. And the Netherlands still benefit from it to this very day.

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I’ve been thinking about this, and I think one of the factors is inter-generational wealth transfer.

If you look, here in the Netherlands, many of the families that made out like bandits in the slave trade and colonial exploitation are still very wealthy and influential. That results in an incentive, baked into the economic tissue of the country, to continue to ignore these topics.

I could be wrong, but my impression is that this is also true for England, but to a (much) higher degree than over here.