TIL King Leopold of Belgium had between 1-15 million Congolese people murdered while he exploited their area for rubber

A downvote but no reaction says enough, so I'll expand.

The British East India company worked in conjunction with the the people in power. Claiming that the crown didn't profit is stupid and flat out wrong, because they literally worked together.

Leopold II started the Congo Free State specifically because he couldn't get Belgium to work with him. So it's kind of exactly the opposite.

The actual rednecks really didn't benefit that much from slavery. Hence the name "redneck". As in people who worked in the field next to the slaves and got red necks because they got sunburned. They didn't benefit from slavery, except for the fake sense of pride they got because they felt better than the slaves. They did fight for it tho (the civil war), because they were afraid that the slaves would start a war when they were freed (kind of ironic). The civil war was, like so many wars before it, a war for the rich, where they played the population into doing their bidding.

What I'm saying doesn't excuse what Leopold II did in the Congo and (like I said before, but I'm sure you missed that part) it doesn't excuse Belgium from guilt. In fact, I would argue that what I said makes things far worse.

Don't talk to me like I'm some idiot that is so proud of my white skin that I can't fathom that we've committed atrocities. Maybe keep your mouth shut if you don't know wtf you're talking about and all you have to go off are your emotions.

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