Tuesday - February 10, 2009

Row over Cambridge University’s ‘insensitive and offensive’ British Empire ball.

At first, I was going to pass this UK based article over.  It bothered me, as usual and for the usual reasons.
Idiot self hating Brits denigrating a proud past, as though there isn’t anything valid about their past.  Self hating whites maybe but I can’t help but believe that many are simply jumping on a pc bandwagon.  Lucky for those jerks I can’t get my way, because if I could, I’d have em all shot.
They are just too stupid to live and breathe valuable oxygen.  And they take up valuable space as well.
I have to calm down and remind myself again that after all, this isn’t my country.
But they piss me off big time anyway.  These jerks don’t even know their own history.  They are a waste and really should be eliminated for the betterment of the university and the country.

OK so, I was going to pass on this article as stated. BUT ...
And this shows you guys how important comments are because Chris posted a comment on another subject yesterday, and what he said made me go back to re-examine this. 
Here’s what Chris had to say on this headline story.  The subject was;

Taliban stronghold destroyed by British and Afghan forces after 10 day battle.

and Chris posted ....

“How about we try to second guess the british press version of this??  :- “upright citizens brutally murdered by empire and government mercenry forces whilst peacfully educating local backward tribes in fine etiquette”

Name of commenter:
Chris Edwards

Which made me return to the article here because darned if it isn’t the very same off the wall lunacy that Chris parodied.  That is the correct word I hope.

Row over Cambridge University’s ‘insensitive and offensive’ British Empire ball
By Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 3:49 PM on 09th February 2009

Cambridge University has been accused of advocating slavery and racism yesterday by hosting a glamorous ball to celebrate the excesses of the British Empire.
Emmanuel college is hosting the ‘Empire’ ball in honour of ‘the Victorian commonwealth and all of its decadences’ priced at £136 per head.
But there was outrage from anti-racist groups as students were urged to ‘Party like it’s 1899’ - the year the Boer War started and concentration camps were used for the first time. 

Posters promoting the event read: ‘Once, there was an empire that governed over a quarter of the world’s population, covered about the same proportion of the earth’s land, and dominated nearly all of her oceans.
‘They say that the sun never set on the British Empire - but at the Empire ball, you’ll be wishing it never rises.

‘Travel with us to the Indian Raj, an emerging Australia and the West Indies. We invite you to experience the Pax Britannica and party like it’s 1899.’
Campaigners branded the theme ‘offensive’ and accused the organisers of being ‘white and upper class’.
A row has already broken out among students at the college - known to its members as ‘Emma’ - on the social networking site Facebook.

The Empire ball, which takes place on June 14, is the end-of-year event for the college and most students are expected to attend.
But dozens expressed concerns about the theme on the Facebook group ‘Emma against the Empire’ which is demanding the theme is dropped.
Students expressed disgust that in 1899, Britain had begun a three-year war against the Boer tribe in what is now South Africa.

The conflict is seen as a dark chapter in imperial history, which saw the mass rounding up of local people in squalid camps which were to inspire Hitler’s death camps.
Britain’s empire, which once covered a quarter of the world, is also accused of perpetuating slavery and exploitation in Asia and Africa.
A spokesman for the anti-facist magazine Searchlight said: ‘These students are the people who are going to help lead the country one day - they should have more sense. 

‘Colonialism is associated with repression and exploitation and slavery. We are not thin-skinned but you have to draw the line somewhere. For a leading university like Cambridge it is amazing how ignorant some people can be. ‘
The group’s creator, student Joanna Beaufoy, wrote: ‘The British Empire oversaw countless atrocities, assumed an immense sense of cultural superiority which has sustained to this day, and destabalised dozens of developing governments. 
‘We don’t think that it should be associated with a big party, despite the apparent ‘decadences’ of the regime. 1930s Berlin was also rather decadent.’

Another Cambridge student, Laurence Doering, said: ‘The current theme implies a celebration of an unacceptable regime. Beyond that, however, it also nurtures the myth of white, upper-class, old-wealth Cambridge. 
‘Throwing a party in the name of ‘Empire’ will damage the College’s reputation indefinitely and stop people, who have the potential to be here, from applying to Cambridge. The theme is divisive and unnecessarily provocative.’
Cambridge college balls take place in the confusing-named ‘May’ week, which usually starts on the second Thursday of June following the end of exams.

Tickets for the ball, which cost £106 for the night or £136 for the dining tickets, include nine hours of live entertainment, international cuisine and unlimited alcohol from ‘all over the colonies and the Great British Isles.’
Arranged by committee of students, college balls can command up to £180 per ticket. They take months to organise and often include well-known headline acts, fairground rides and lavish refreshments, with tight security employed to throw out any ‘ball-crashers’. 
Last night, the Empire ball presidents Richard Hilton and Jenny Unwin, issued a statement defending the theme.
They said: ‘The commitee considered the implications of the theme thoroughly and ensured that we had the support of the college in making our decision.

‘We appreciate that any historical theme will inevitably have positive and negative connotations, but we are neither advocating nor condoning any point of view associated with the late Victiorian period.
‘We firmly believe our theme can be handled with the sensitivity and maturity that it demands and that it will make for an elegant backdrop to year’s ball.’
A University spokesman would not comment, saying the ball was a matter for the students.

IDIOTS

Meanwhile, over at the TELEGRAPH they ran this editorial and it was well said, even if they didn’t call for the death penalty.

Having a ball with history
Telegraph view: We need a little more of the spirit of Empire.

Last Updated: 7:29PM GMT 09 Feb 2009

The May ball organised by the junior body of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, is to have the theme of the British Empire. For £106 a ticket, ballgoers are invited to “party like it’s 1899”, as Prince might have sung had he been born a century earlier. In response, self-styled anti-fascists have denounced the theme as “offensive” and redolent of “slavery”.

Clearly the ball has pinpointed an area of ignorance. The British Empire fought slavery, and its children throve. In 1899, Ranjitsinhji, who had developed his cricketing skills at Cambridge, became captain of Sussex and the first player to score 3,000 runs in a season. Queen Victoria had meanwhile confided her private affairs to Abdul Karim, the “Munshi”, a low-born but trusted clerk. A little more of the spirit of the Empire now would broaden the minds of all involved.

You could fill several books with the outstanding contributions to civilization made by those early Brits.  For whatever flaws they may have had,
and being human it goes without saying they had to be flawed, unlike the self styled critics of the ball of course, but contribute they did by gosh.
In literature, in science, in medicine and in fact they often did more then simply contribute.  They led.
I hate the idea that those people can so easily be judged by fools who know nothing.

Alright I’ll shut up.  There ought to be enough Brits around here somewhere who can defend their past without leaving it to a Yank.
Hey wait.  belay my last.  Your past does NOT need defending!

Posted by peiper     on 02/10/2009 at 02:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Stoopid-People • UK •  
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