Churchill to Hitler

[Pinkkgaga]

So it’s trending on Twitter that people are comparing Churchill to Hitler and saying he was just as bad.
Absolutely disgusting imo, but I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts on it.

It is disgusting. Worlds gone mad.

@heartsonacake

It is disgusting. Worlds gone mad.

Totally agree

So it's a matter of how racist you are to decide wether it's disgusting or not?

He was known for his views.

I suppose it depends how you interpret “just as bad”.

To me, committing industrial-scale genocide is worse than any thought crime. Maybe I’m old fashioned.

As your friendly neighbourhood historian, perhaps you could read this.

thedisorderofthings.com/2018/05/26/this-house-believes-britain-should-be-ashamed-of-churchill/

Churchill did commit genocide.

They both committed genocide so I can see why similarities are being made now that people are being made aware of Churchill's history (that isn't taught at school)...

I don't think 'just as bad' is helpful, it just leads to these kinds of defensive and distracting debates. Was Stalin as bad as Hitler? Or Mao? You can argue this forever.

I do think that Churchill is responsible for far more deaths and oppression than many people realise, so shining some light on this is a good thing.

Well Churchill is a controversial character. It's well documented that he held racist white supremacist views. He didn't however believe non-white should be treated inhumanly. In mitigation he wasn't alone in his thoughts at this time, however not everyone thought this way 100 years ago.

Churchill was in favour of gasing the Afgans and the Kurds. His views on Gandhi weren't great. Neither his ideas on Judaism and Islam. In fact he was pretty bloody right wing even in his time.

Hitler was an evil mad man. He did manage to convince an awful lot of people to follow him.

I'm not sure what is being said on twitter but I think all humans have the ability to fucking awful. We see that throughout history and still today.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29701767

Agree there's no point arguing who was worse, but imo Churchill really wasn't far behind Hitler so I'm not outraged by the accusations

He let millions of people starve to death to prove some sort of political point.

Hitler is obviously worse in many ways. But I do think people gloss over Churchill’s terrible views and actions. It’s possible to acknowledge his role in WW2 and success as a leader but also understand the awful things he did too.

Look at some of the harrowing photos from the Bengal famine and do some reading about the British impact and the views of Churchill personally.

I will confess I had no idea about this until very recently, but I am shocked by some of the things he said and did

I think the 'just as bad' mostly refers to the Bengal Famine, which killed more than 3 million people.

Also: the Black and Tans, aerial bombing of Iraq (in 1921)

Also: well-publicised racist views

“I will confess I had no idea about this until very recently” this is why it’s so vitally important to teach the truth about colonialism and racist imperialism in schools, this shouldn’t still be coming as a shock to people

Whatever responsibility for the Bengal famine of 1943 rests with the Imeperial govt in London must be born by the whole cabinet and the wartime coalition. Attlee, Bevin, Morrison, Eden, Butker Beaverbrook etc.

He said the concentration camps he created in South Africa that killed around 30,000 people 'produced the minimum of suffering'

The elites use starvation as a method of control. There is evidence Churchill is guilty of this.
www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3005838/churchills-real-darkest-hour-new-evidence-confirms-british

Churchill was a racist genocidal person

I don't see why people can't be recognised for their good and bad, seems very weird but also typical of the frothing polarity that everyone's seems determined to think is normal

@heartsonacake

It is disgusting. Worlds gone mad.

Worlds gone mad! He kinda saved a few Brit arse! I would be interested to see how many of these people would have gone to a VE Day celebration 🤔

Creating the Council of Europe is every bit as bad as perpetrating the Holocaust.

I'm so glad people have finally seen sense.

the concentration camps he created in South Africa

You what?

He was a journalist captured and held prisoner in a Boer POW camp.

Got his own back in 1940 when he made sure that Nazi-lovers like Vorster were safely locked up.

I don’t think it’s helpful to anyone to try and have a world ranking of how awful everyone is, but I think it’s perfectly valid to acknowledge that Churchill was racist and responsible for genocide. He held many abhorrent views and oversaw the deaths of millions of people who he viewed as less valuable and less worthy than white people.

We have to be able to hold on to all aspects of controversial figures. We have to understand the nuances of humanity. But it’s just as unacceptable to suggest that Churchill is absolved of the atrocities he oversaw because of his achievements as it would be to say that Hitler was absolved of his atrocities because of his.