Letter To The ICBR: Re: Inaccuracies in your 'Facts' section
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am rather upset by the vitriol on your website, however I fully accept that it is your right to freely express you opinion. However, I felt that I needed to correct some points made in your 'Facts' section. I feel that the majority of points made are either grossly unbalanced, well overstated, or down right false.
Here are some of the few falsities I found after a few minutes research.
British Inventions:
Prisons - Whilst it is true that the British were the first to deploy a custom built Prisoner of War camp, this was because of the lack of space available in standard prisons, which are hardly a British invention. Of course the alternative would have been to execute all prisoners of war instead...
Machine Guns - The first machine gun used by the British Military was built by Hiram Maxim in 1881, he was an American. Of course, you may be referring to Dr Richard Gatling, who patented the Gatling gun before the Maxim gun, however, he too was an American. Notice how we keep coming back to America's irrational lust for guns? Which brings us to the country which developed the 'A' bomb. America.
Slums - I'm not sure how you 'invent' slums, but even if it is possible, it was not Britain who invented them. Anywhere in the world where a significant number of people live together there are slums, and there have been since well before the British were around.
Child Labor - Child Labor as you refer to it happened all throughout history. Ask yourself why children have a long summer holiday from school? The reason is because historically they were needed to help with the harvest in the fields. Worldwide children were used as a way of keeping the family
above the poverty line in every country in the world. In fact the movement to stop child labor was started in England with the 'Factory Acts' in 1802.
Bad Hygiene - This cannot be invented, and has been around since pre-historic man. If you are suggesting that Britain does not have its fair share of medical inventions and visionaries, then I would suggest you look up John Hunter, William Harvey, Percivall Pott, Sir Thomas Browne, Thomas Sydenham and... Joseph Lister - Who I might add promoted the idea of sterile
surgery and successfully introduced sterilisation of wounds and surgical equipment with Carbolic Acid.
The Black Plague - Until very recently, man could could not synthesise plagues. As for its origin, the Black Death is widely believed to have originated in south western Asia. In fact, the first potential, but obviously unconfirmed Plague case is written in the Torah. 1 Samuel 5:6.
The Modern University - The very first university could have been Takshashila, however the Guinness Book of Records recognises 'The University of Al Karaouine' in Morocco as being the oldest University as we know it (Incidently, I would also suggest that the 'Global Master Language' English
being so widespread is possibly related to the fact that Britain 'Controlled nearly 1/3 of the globe'). Also, The most spoken language in the world is Mandarin. If you define a Master Language as the most widespread, or as the most used, you get 2 totally different answers.
Looking at some other sections, such as how much should be paid, there are, again, inaccuracies in your reasoning:
Treaty of Versaille - The British were very lenient with the Germans, due to the fact that they felt Germany could become a strong trading partner. In fact it was the French who were the most obstinate during the proceedings.
As far as middle east conflicts go, The Crusades were not the British. The Crusades were called for by the Pope, and embraced by most of western Europe, including, but not exclusively, the British. The Israel/Palestine was not entirely the fault of the British either. After WWI, the British were left in charge until their mandate ran out. this all worked out well enough, until the UN came up with a solution to the division of lands...and then when the states fought it out, the UN didn't step back in to mediate. I would suggest that the UN has more to blame for the original conflict, and more recently, the massive US support for Israel. At the end of the day, you have to question why 'the evil doers' attacked New York and Washington and not London if they were so upset with the British. If Osama really was behind the attacks, then you need to question why the US was arranging State Sponsored Terrorism against the Russians during the 70s in Afghanistan. The same State Sponsored Terrorism that allowed the CIA to train and fund Osama in the first place. You then need to question the links between the Saudi royal family, Osama, and 'The House of Bush'.
News Articles:
Invention of the SUV - The SUV is a direct descendant of the military vehicles 'Land Rover' and 'Jeep'. As for who got there first, a prototype of a 'Jeep' was driven up the US Capitol steps in early 1941, whereas the Land Rover was launched in 1948. By my calculations, the Americans were polluting the world with their SUVs a full 7 years before the British started.
In conclusion, Britain has done some horrific things in its long history, but, the majority of the issues you have raised are completely slanderous. I am not sure if you truly believe what you have written and have simply neglected to research them, or if you are deliberately trying to mislead people.
Britain has an illustrious history, of both right and wrong, but ultimately, Britain must be judged based on the actual history, not some frivolous, incorrect claims.
regards,
Lloyd Pickering
YES, I WOULD LIKE TO SIGN THE PETITION AND GET PAID!
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