Comments by "Voryn Rosethorn" (@vorynrosethorn903) on "The Black Hole of Calcutta - The Real Story Behind The Phrase" video.

  1. The fact was there was great optimism and most of it quickly dissipated when many things the common population valued (like a fair legal system, lack of corruption, effective administration and continuing economic development) failed to continue. Certainly many nationalists would say that it was worth it but none can claim that the period after independence lived up to expectation, though some typically claim the British were responsible for that as well (and not the attempt at introducing socialism so successful that most people have never heard of it and economic growth was stifled for decades). The issue was however big enough to inspire considerable efforts through education to give a nationalist interpretation and suppress the sentiment in much of the older population that things were much better before the current regime. They were successful as it happens as most of that generation are now dead and none of their concerns were even addressed. India has great potential but as I've heard many investors say it has no hope of ever fulfilling any as things stand.
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  2. I wasn't suggesting that Britain has done well out of it, India will largely trundle along and things are certainly better than they have been throughout most of their history even if it was by no means the golden age so many were hoping for. Meanwhile Britain is in very dire straits and has long been in the process of trying to set the boat on fire. In many ways the reasons we lost the empire (hideous incompetence, a bad political system and and an elite hostile to the national interest) have not changed one bit. Equally India hasn't really played a part in any of it, any wealth (which is a great deal less than the nationalists claim) from India that the British gained was either wasted on the world wars or handed over to the American's as part of those conflicts, Indian immigrants are if anything a stabilising force rather than pursuing any notion of revenge and so it you really want to cheerlead our doom I can only recommend you take up the Pakistani flag instead.
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