Churchill was definitely a racist and a killer, and that list of his atrocities and would-be atrocities is chilling. I object however, to the inclusion of the firebombing of Dresden in that list. The Germans were an enemy in the second World War they started, and breaking the spirit of an enemy is a valid and viable strategy. In short, if you don’t want to be firebombed, don’t try to exterminate millions of innocent people and take over Europe, twice. Starving Indians because you don’t like them, or proposing to gas people is not the same thing as attacking an aggressor in a war.
Churchill was really evil in the era of rampant racism and ethnic nationalism, but he was just one man.
Churchill could have done much more damage, but was restrained by British institutions because there were some number of people who had different values and institutions that allowed gradual change. The same institutions that horribly exploited the rest of the world, especially India.
If we want to learn from the history, we must look past individuals.
There is very weak and fragile layer recently developed principles, norms, procedures that direct liberal democracies and they are followed very inconsistent manner if at all. Something like 60-70% of the population don't know exactly what they are and are willing to give them away for small temporary convenience.
The author of the article is using words as a tool for propaganda. He connects very complex situations that are entirely dissimilar to paint Churchill as a mass murderer:
"Dealing with unrest in Mesopotamia in 1921, as secretary of state for the colonies, Churchill acted as a war criminal: “I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against the uncivilised tribes; it would spread a lively terror.” He ordered large-scale bombing of Mesopotamia, with an entire village wiped out in 45 minutes."
In Churchill's own words, he approved of gas to prevent deaths. When reading the article it's hard not to connect the words "bombing", "poison", "terror", "wiped out" and come out thinking Churchill was a mass murderer. But the bombing of Dresden was a bit more complicated, no? And including "poison gas," an ambiguous term, in the same paragraph as "an entire village wiped out in 45 minutes," is extremely dishonest.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 19.8 ms ] threadChurchill could have done much more damage, but was restrained by British institutions because there were some number of people who had different values and institutions that allowed gradual change. The same institutions that horribly exploited the rest of the world, especially India.
If we want to learn from the history, we must look past individuals.
There is very weak and fragile layer recently developed principles, norms, procedures that direct liberal democracies and they are followed very inconsistent manner if at all. Something like 60-70% of the population don't know exactly what they are and are willing to give them away for small temporary convenience.
The author of the article is using words as a tool for propaganda. He connects very complex situations that are entirely dissimilar to paint Churchill as a mass murderer:
"Dealing with unrest in Mesopotamia in 1921, as secretary of state for the colonies, Churchill acted as a war criminal: “I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against the uncivilised tribes; it would spread a lively terror.” He ordered large-scale bombing of Mesopotamia, with an entire village wiped out in 45 minutes."
In Churchill's own words, he approved of gas to prevent deaths. When reading the article it's hard not to connect the words "bombing", "poison", "terror", "wiped out" and come out thinking Churchill was a mass murderer. But the bombing of Dresden was a bit more complicated, no? And including "poison gas," an ambiguous term, in the same paragraph as "an entire village wiped out in 45 minutes," is extremely dishonest.