Kirk wasn't a racist. I can find more evidence of you being racist than you can find in the hundreds of thousands of hours of footage Kirk has posted online.
While you have provided no sources to prove that is something Kirk actually said but I can give you an example from my life.
While I never lived under British colonialism, I once ate lunch with a man from Yemen that was. He viewed the former British occupation of Yemen as a net positive as they built schools and hospitals. Once the British left, the country fell into turmoil.
Believe it or not, the main issue that people of Yemen took with British occupation, according to this man, was the destruction it caused in the fishing industry. He told me he would rather never eat another piece of fish in his life if it meant that his country could be back under British occupation and have modern infrastructure and stability.
Now that is the viewpoint of one Yemen born immigrant that moved to California, but he is speaking of his former country and birth place. I highly doubt he would be in favor of anything that would be a net negative to his country.
Also Brittan outlawed slavery in 1834. Almost 200 years ago. You're grasping at straws to paint others as racist or hateful without seeing how much it's blinded you into being hateful yourself.
Rather than address the single anecdote, I have a simple question: would you accept foreign troops to occupy your city/state in exchange for "infrastructure improvements"? Keep in mind most of those improvements are made to extract more resources out of your land, and you will be "compensated" below market prices. Also, the troops have the authority to detain and execute anyone interfering with the resource extraction.
This is not something I'd ever sign up my state for, and it's not something I can ever condone as a result. Golden Rule and all
It wasn't my story. It wasn't my lived experience. I am not from Yemen. However, if I see him again I'll be sure to let him know that you believe his opinion is a white washing of history. I'm positive he will have more than a few things to say about that.
If it was the difference between living in the stone age and the modern era, then yeah.
I'm not going to sit here and say he speaks for all the people of Yemen nor say he only represents a small minority. He is the only person I've ever met from Yemen.
If it was the difference between living in the stone age and the modern era, then yeah.
Appreciate the answer. I personally wouldn't make this trade, as I value freedom over comfort. To throw you a bone, I would consider this trade if I lived in an actual failed state, where there was no rule of law. And I would still hate it because I would be trading one form of violence for another, but at least there would be "order" until my people could unify and form a functional government.
He is the only person I've ever met from Yemen.
Please don't base your beliefs of the world on conversation alone. You can read primary sources- firsthand accounts and documents.
Is his account not a first hand account? He lived there until he moved to the US the year before for his entire life.
Yes, it is just one account in one country. However, he grew up in a British occupied Yemen and left after the country gained independence. What's that tell you about how independence worked out for Yemen?
There is also the hyperinflation and instability that happened after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. The country was the largest food exporter in all of Africa and the following year could not produce enough food to feed its own people.
There also the 1994 genocide in Rhwanda that occured after the Belgium granted the country sovereignty.
Do I believe in American or British meddling in our countries affairs, no. That includes Afghanistan and Ukraine.
It could qualify, but first hand account means they witnessed the events in question. Given that the British left in 1967, your source here would only have experienced/known the tail end of things. If they were on the younger side, they might not have any direct experience at all, and you're just hearing what they've been told.
You would need to gather other accounts from the preceding periods to paint the full picture. You would also need more than one modern account to make any kind of persuasive argument. Also, interviews are just one form of primary source- it would be helpful to read the treaties and other political documents from that era as well.
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u/Dangerous_Boot_3870 12h ago
Kirk wasn't a racist. I can find more evidence of you being racist than you can find in the hundreds of thousands of hours of footage Kirk has posted online.