To wonder why it's so controversial to talk about white behaviour throughout history?

But we do, as I keep saying. But you have to have enough interest in history to want to study it, like any subject. Also there are a tonne of books on the subject. It's hardly hidden from view.

This thread is starting to remind me of the 'repentant german' sketch from, I think, the Fast Show. The one where he constantly goes round apologising for the 2nd WW.

Is this what you'd like white British people to do OP? 😂

But it isn't taught from our point of view and I don't see how you can claim it is when you didn't take history?

I did and I am fully aware that colonialism was bad, genocidal and evil.

It is still taught today i just asked my 14 year old son what is colonialism and he told me perfectly and that it was a bad thing. He also told me all the other countries guilty of colonialism such as France. Tbf he has chosen like me to take history.

This 💯%

You’ve been told many times why people don’t like your thread and the last one. grouping white people as one homogeneous group and in a negative light- that’s called Racism . Anyone who didn’t see the previous thread- it was taken down by mumsnet as it was a lot more overt.

Lastly you have also been told many times on this thread that education in British schools looks at both sides of the argument on Empire and it and many other controversial topics are covered and for many years now. History stops being compulsory at the age of 14 or end of year 9, however that does not mean education on History stops- PSHE, culture days, school trips cover many things. How do I know?- I’m a History teacher. Now stop baiting people- you’ve been given the answer so many times, it’s pretty clear that it wasnt your intention to investigate in the first place. Likely you will ignore this post or reply with an unrelated comment like you normally do : yeh but blah blah….

Has there been a civilization who have not done any of those things?

Well that's a perfectly legitimate question and didn't include the word white anywhere, and pointed directly to where the blame acctually lies, in colonialism.

I don't mind England being given a hard time for it's history, it deserves it but I do mind when we are still labelled as the perpetrators to this very day.... we are not and it's clear we do learn about colonial Britain and the harm its created because I brought the word up in the first place to replace "white people"

OP I'm not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse but your thread title refers to 'white behaviour' which is classing everyone white as one homogeneous mass. That's why you got the backlash.

You want to know why we don't learn more about the very negative aspects of British colonialism. I agree, the legacy of the empire is still evident today. We should learn more about it.

No one is expecting anyone to be ashamed. I would expect people to want to educate themselves. If success means genocide, looting and trafficking human beings then perhaps we should be open to a proper adult conversation about it.

You can't expect current British people to be ashamed that their ancestors were so much more successful than others.

Aha! We got there in the end.

That's just not true.
For starters I took my O Levels at 16 after 2 years of study. And prior to those 2 years of O level curriculum study (which I started at 14) it was compulsory to study history as it still is today until you take your GCSE options.
Are you actually in the UK OP? Do you have any experience of living/studying here because it doesn't sound like it.

@cupcaske123 Yes I agree and both myself and other people who have been following this thread all afternoon know exactly why* *@BeachParty posted this Thread.

For those that have not today MN deleted a very derogatory racist trolling post that went haywire because someone (probably banned now) decided to troll all white british people and it got out of hand and was deleted. the OP then posted this immediately after it was removed as they were enjoying it and wanted to carry it on.

I think the ideal way to say it would have been English colonials though wouldn't you say?

Not "white people" being white has absolutely nothing to do with being colonial

I've patched this together, I think. The OP isn't talking about all white people (because that would be silly), she's talking about rich white English colonisers.

I think she wants to know why the British don't learn more about the negative aspects of our colonial history.

I see your point. I'm in my 40's and believe me when I tell you that colonial England is a shame we will bear forever more, but I'm honestly sick of it being a "white privaliged people issue".

The reality is, colonial Britain took over just about everything it touched! Skin colour didn't matter. Greedy people wanted to use human lives as a commodity to trade and those people gained power. It's happened in numerous places since by people who were not white.

I'm not going to sit back anymore and let "white people" get trashed for the sins of the forefathers, anymore than I would sit back and let people of colour be trashed. Enough is enough, you can already see what direction this is taking with what's happening in UK politics. The rise of Nigel barrage. None of us want that.

Please check your facts before sounding off about school history. They don’t drop it “practically as soon as entering high school” - children have three years of history at high school and have to study it up to the age of 13/14. It’s not a compulsory gcse which I agree is a shame but there are so many other options which also need time. 40% of kids take it for gcse.

https://www.history.org.uk/higher-ed/resource/10557/school-history-faqs

https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/resource/9620/how-diverse-is-your-history-curriculum

There have been lots of steps to increase diversity of the curriculum options and it is always changing. But I remember plenty of nuance and examination back in the early 90’s.

I’m white, I’m British. I know how the empire behaved. But that’s not me, I don’t feel guilty in any sense. I live my life as a good world citizen.

You do know that there is no such generic group as 'the whites' to talk about?

I think that countries who contributed to slavery should face their past, acknowledge it, apologise and learn from it.

It is desperately sad how inhumane the human race has been.

However, it's far from exclusive to white people:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_the_Muslim_world

"The Arab slave trade.... rough estimates place the number of Africans enslaved in the twelve centuries prior to the 20th century at between six million to ten million."

Different groups at different times in history have enslaved others and thought it acceptable, fortunately most groups know better now.

Turning it into a solely black/white issue creates arbitrary division.

The main reason for colonisation was based on white superiority. We are sweeping the reality under the carpet by saying “but the Irish were persecuted too”. Yes they were. However, the main reason for the colonisation of places like India, North America, Australia, parts of Africa, places in the Caribbean was white superiority. The indigenous people were sub-humans to the colonists (the white British) and the land needed to be civilised. This narrative of the British saviour has been taught in schools until the last 5-8 years.

The main reason for colonisation was trade. Europeans traded with other nations and then competed with each other to dominated trade. There were several different East India companies.

The notion of white superiority came along later, mainly as justification for the slave trade.

Africa was colonised much later than India or the Americas. Again, it was partly driven by European countries competing with each other to be powerful.

@BeachParty just maybe not deny "white behaviour" is a thing.

You still have not provided your definition of white behavior, I'm still waiting to find out exactly what white behavior is as a homogeneous group of people with pale skin.