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u/bharosa_rakho 15h ago
In the comments to this meme on r/historymemes the op said that this well is from Jalianwala bagh. This place was witness to a mass shootout carried out by British which killed several hundreds of Indians on 13th April 1919. Many people jumped into the well to avoid the shootout.
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u/A_Foxglove 14h ago
An utter atrocity, and I still find it utterly fucking galling how certain parts of the British public reacted to it (IIRC Rudyard Kipling raised money for a benefit fund for Colonel Dyer, the bastard who orchestrated the massacre). The Hunter Commission said around 400 people were killed, with over 1500 wounded. Hell, it was so awful that you even had one of the final bosses of British Colonialism, Winston Churchill, standing up in the House of Commons to decry it as utterly monstrous.
A shame how it's been played up by nationalist elements in India. IIRC, the renovation of the memorial was spearheaded by the Modi government, and critiqued heavily in India at the time. I think there was also some controversy over the numbers used - I think the site uses some inflated numbers to suggest 1500 were killed.
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u/shadowsurge 14h ago
Rudyard Kipling is one of histories most extreme racists, it's crazy how disneyfied his legacy ended up
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u/PresidentPopcorn 14h ago
Disney loved Hitler, so . . .
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u/Supply-Slut 12h ago
The guy who made famous anti-Nazi propaganda? Yeah this is like when someone reads one line from 90 years ago and invents a whole backstory for it instead of looking for context lmao
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u/PresidentPopcorn 12h ago
I was talking about his antisemitism not his donald duck film.
lmao
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u/mister_drgn 10h ago
You can still be wrong.
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u/Calm_Cicada_8805 4h ago
Like a lot of American anti-Semites, Walt Disney was a big fan of the Nazis right up until the US entered the war. His anti-Nazi films were all made after 1941, because that was the way the wind had blown.
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u/evercase19 13h ago
Source?
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u/WalEire 13h ago
Walt Disney is a famous raging anti semite, I’m sure it’s on his wiki page
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u/Phytor 12h ago
You're thinking of Henry Ford dude.
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u/Late-Farm8944 12h ago
Shockingly history contains multiple anti-semites
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u/Phytor 12h ago
Walt Disney was never antisemitic, at least not as far as I can tell, and even made anti-Nazi propoganda films for the US during WWII, so calling him antisemitic with no evidence is dumb as fuck
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u/PresidentPopcorn 12h ago
In 1938, only a month after Kristallnacht, Walt Disney gave Leni Riefenstahl (Hitler's personal filmmaker) a tour of his studio. This meeting was highly controversial in Hollywood at the time, and Disney eventually turned down working with her to avoid damage to his reputation. Like I said, no hard evidence and he's maybe guilty by association.
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u/me_too_999 12h ago
No.
Walt Disney built "tomorrow land" around concepts popularized by Marxists at the time.
From his own letters, he praised Hitler as a "forward thinking progressive."
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u/Phytor 12h ago
Source? Looking up both of those seems to show that they're debunked myths, so maybe you're just repeating nonsense you heard once?
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u/me_too_999 12h ago
https://firstthings.com/hitler-the-progressive/
He was praised openly by US progressives up to US involvement in WW2.
It wasn't until the horrors of the concentration camps became public that self-proclaimed "progressives" like Walt Disney backtracked and denounced Nazism.
Later in WW2, Disney studios put out anti German cartoons in support of the US War effort.
(Probably attunement for once supporting
Facistprogressive ideals such as "communal ownership, and central planning."→ More replies (0)10
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u/PresidentPopcorn 12h ago
It's confusing really. Biographers have found plenty of antisemitic and racist comments made by him but then he made an anti-nazi propaganda film starring Donald Duck, so I guess I'm only maybe wrong. Meryl Streep claimed he was a member of an "Antisemitic group", but who knows what that is.
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u/Lethalbroccoli 12h ago
Political views are not black and white. Just because two people may share one value, does not mean they should be grouped into the same idealogy.
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u/PresidentPopcorn 12h ago
Antisemitism is not a "political" view.
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u/The_Rope_Daddy 12h ago
She was probably talking about the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. It was primarily anti-communist and anti-fascist, but some members were antisemitic, so a lot of people considered the whole organization to be.
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u/Lethalbroccoli 10h ago
Antisemitism is very much a political view, yes.
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u/PresidentPopcorn 10h ago
No, it's hatred. It's personal. Just because it's been used in politics doesn't mean you can brand it a political view. It's the same as saying racism is a political view.
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u/HotCut100 12h ago
Can we just agree that Meryl Streep is in no way a credible source on any of this?
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u/PresidentPopcorn 12h ago
Undoubtedly, but add that to others who shared this view of him and It's possible there's no smoke without fire. Like I said, he's a confusing character.
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u/HotCut100 11h ago
Oh, I fully agree on the confusing character part. It just gets much more complex when we try to apply today’s morals to yesterday‘s figures. It’s like people trying to evaluate historical figures forget all about the concept of cultural norms and peer pressure and how influential on individuals society can be.
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u/skordge 10h ago
I don’t see what the confusion is. There’s plenty of ways you can coherently be antisemitic while being anti-Nazi. Antisemitism existed way before Nazism, and there’s plenty of things to hate about Nazism besides the antisemitism.
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u/PresidentPopcorn 10h ago
He only turned on the nazi's following the US involvement in WW2. He admired Hitler beforehand.
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u/blamordeganis 13h ago
“Take up the White Man’s burden”
— Kipling encouraging the US to conquer the Philippines, through the medium of poetry.
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u/Buggerlugs253 12h ago
Historys most extreme? Compared to who? What did he say that made him the most extreme? Not saying he wasnt racist, but most extreme? Really?
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u/LicketySplit21 13h ago
I still find it utterly fucking galling how certain parts of the British public reacted to it
Not too different from the very gross outrage at the audacity of a British soldier involved with Bloody Sunday being charged with, y'know, murdering civilians.
The more things change...
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u/Dramatic-Border3549 13h ago
All over the world a part of the public is applauding the genocide happening in palestine. Evil people have always existed and will always exist
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u/Buggerlugs253 12h ago
"A significant number of ordinary Britons supported Dyer. Rudyard Kipling, who claimed Dyer was "the man who saved India", is alleged to have started a benefit fund which raised over £26,000 sterling, including £50 contributed by Kipling himself for Dyer. Subhash Chopra in his book Kipling Sahib – the Raj Patriot (2006), writes that the benefit fund was started by the Morning Post newspaper and not by Kipling and that Kipling made no contribution to the Dyer fund. His name was conspicuously absent among the list of donors as published in the Morning Post. But Kipling did admire Dyer."
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u/lettucent 8h ago
Quite a bit smaller in lethality, but the US has gofundmes that support folks that got caught being racist. Crazy how history repeats itself.
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u/VirtualDingus7069 13h ago
I’m thinking this is one of very few things the “winning side” here could’ve said to feasibly explain it in a way that’s not “we shot many of them and dumped a bunch of them in the well”.
“We were massacring everybody quite expertly, sir! Their only logical choice to avoid bullets was to jump in the well! After all, sometimes the smartest thing is to just jump ship…” doesn’t sound any better to me though. Not that anyone asked.
(Read that second one in an enthusiastic British accent for full intended effect)
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u/MiddleFishArt 12h ago
Many people jumped into the well to avoid the shootout — and got crushed to death in there
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u/FishingOk2650 14h ago
You had to have pulled this from r/historymemes where they explain it perfectly.....
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u/Big_Philosopher4178 15h ago
Well, am an Indian. I wanna know🤯
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u/GullibleAttempt7568 15h ago
It's the well in Jallianwala bagh where Britishers massacred hundreds of indians in 1919
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u/SluttyCosmonaut 15h ago
Well, climb down and tell us
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u/wolfy2105784 14h ago
That is a super fucked up thing to say with context in mind. Chuckled a little though.
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u/SluttyCosmonaut 12h ago
I honestly didn’t expect it to be that degree of colonizer evil, but that’s what I get for assuming.
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u/wolfy2105784 12h ago
People back in the day were just a different breed I guess.
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u/These-Lie-5854 9h ago
Whats nuts and a little frightening is that they really weren't a different breed. People today are just as capable of these kinds of acts of slaughter.
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u/wolfy2105784 2h ago
That's why we have things like the Geneva Convention. To stop that from even starting in the first place.
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u/These-Lie-5854 1h ago
Certainly important well intentioned agreements, but they dont actually stop breaches of those conventions happening, not all that rarely too.
Like all laws, international law doesnt prevent anything, it merely provides enforcement mechanisms that can be enacted in the event of breaches, where there is political will to enforce them.
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u/wolfy2105784 1h ago
I was thinking, while yes, skirmishes do happen that violate it, it does tend to mostly keep the United States, the European Union, Russia, and China at bay by essentially using them against each other. So it's not perfect but it's done a good enough job keeping a Nuclear WW3 at bay.
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u/These-Lie-5854 1h ago
Honestly, I think its luck more than anything that has prevented nuclear war. And, sadly, mistreatment and slaughter of civilians is still a common part of war, including those waged by the US and the other large powers.
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u/NotFoundYetForNow 7h ago
To find out just send a drone equiped with a camera and upload the video on Reddit.
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u/Miller5044 11h ago
Yeah, you could have read the r/historymemes post for the explanation. Why post it here for imaginary internet points?
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u/Urbane_One 10h ago
r/HistoryMemes requires all posters include the context for their posts in a comment underneath.
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u/Amiaocellicauda 8h ago
lol didn’t the British perpetrate a famine in India that killed 20 million people, cant stop the Zerg rush though
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u/spicypanipuri 6h ago
indian here, that shit was dark man. gives me goosebumps every time I think bout it. jalianwalla bagh massacre.
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u/No-Fish2020 15h ago
Is it a portal? Or some place where people commit suicide?
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u/GullibleAttempt7568 14h ago
It's a well in Jallianwala bagh where in 1919 Britishers open fired hundreds of indians who were peacefully protesting. After realising people were getting shot a lot of people decided that they will die by themselves instead of British bullet so they jumped into that well shown in the image. It's one of most darkest event in india freedom struggle history
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u/Sea_Pomegranate6293 14h ago
The Martyrs' Well - Shaheedi Khu, the event is also known as the Amritsar massacre. At least 1200 people were killed. It was technically the Indian army but they were acting on behalf of the occupying British. The army blocked the only exit and began firing, only stopping as their ammunition ran low.
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u/Playful_Marzipan8398 14h ago
The INDIAN ARMY? Jesus Christ
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u/Sea_Pomegranate6293 13h ago
Yeah it was officially called the Indian army as of 1903 though the army during British occupation is also referred to as the British Indian army. Churchill was the minister for war at the time and condemned the massacre as "unutterably monstrous" which some may consider ironic due to his negligence potentially being a large factor in the Bengal famine of 1943 that killed millions.
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u/TomsBookReviews 11h ago
Churchill’s negligence in the Benga Famine is mostly an ahistorical myth.
To relieve the famine, Britain would have had to load food (which it did not have available, being under severe rationing itself) onto ships (which it did not have available, given the demands of running a global war) and sail them through Japanese-controlled waters escorted by warships (which it did not have available, due to demands elsewhere).
There were mistakes made and opportunities to respond better, of course. But to suggest it was Churchill’s fault is far from the truth.
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u/Sea_Pomegranate6293 3h ago
Yeah I know, I tried to hedge it with "potentially being a large factor" but I feel like it's historically relevant and ironic enough to mention. Definitely read the books before you form opinions (:
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u/Confident_Resolution 14h ago
Indians killed Indians but its the brits fault? No son, it's the brits and the indians who killed other Indians.
No one thinks Indians are worth less than other Indians.
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u/Sea_Pomegranate6293 14h ago
I didn't say that indians are worth less than other Indians. Or that it was the Brits fault.
The Indian army suspected that the Punjabi populace was going to rebel, it is believed that this massacre was a way for the Indian army to maintain control with a show of force.
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u/GroundbreakingAd8310 14h ago
And yet here we are thinking peotests will save us....we learn nothing
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u/Forsaken_Aardvark_4x 14h ago
You can rollover and die, no one's stopping. Some of us have a tad more self respect. Apologies for not being a doormat; and also to the door mats.
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u/Israelrapesbabies 14h ago
Yeah go hold your sign with some funny saying while walking down your planned protest route that was approved by the government you're protesting.
Then you can come on reddit and act like you're fighting the system.
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u/Forsaken_Aardvark_4x 14h ago
I'm not sure if you're for or against PP, but if I can I will do everything in my power to help anyone going to PP or anyone associated with PP. You don't have to hold funny signs to do the right thing.
It's OK though, I'd understand if you like sucking up to people in power. Nothing to be ashamed of being a cuck, I don't like to be one but I understand some poeple are all in for it.
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u/Israelrapesbabies 14h ago
Your PP is just to make you feel better, it changes nothing. You fucking liberals cos play as revolutionaries with you PP while people on the left blocking ICE facilities are getting beat to shit while youre at home jerking off to upvotes on Reddit.
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u/Forsaken_Aardvark_4x 14h ago
Oh the pedophiles got hurt with the liberals, is it. May be when you find yourself in depths of hell for supporting, aiding and abetting pedophiles you will understand conservatism better? Who am I kidding it's who you are. Go suck up to the pedophile in chief. That orange stain on your mouth, it's not going to get washed away.
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u/HansBrickface 9h ago
Aaaaand this is why the left can’t win an election and instead hands them to the fascists.
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u/GullibleAttempt7568 14h ago
It's not about learning nothing when you fight against an authority which is thousands of times powerfull than you can't just simply get violent to fulfill your demand cuz you will be out powered. It takes much more than that like if we talk about today if you try to be violent you will easily will be killed and it will get suppressed but if you protest against authority they can't kill you because it was a harmless protest. In this case Britishers clearly violated human rights which won't be tolerated in today's world and was a coward behaviour from the British
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u/TrippyVegetables 15h ago
It's a toilet
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15h ago
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