This is exactly how I imagine imperialism and “The Great Game” worked. A bunch of people sitting around with sharpies drawing lines on maps.
As usual, religion has its disgusting part to play in all this, too. It’s from the old “Fry and Laurie” show. Remember when television actually could have a humor sketch that assumed its viewers had any education about history, at all? I wonder if this would play with Florida voters:
‘We’re going to have to opt out’ [of the unified Europe]
huh, prophetic!
Canadian comedians Wayne and Shuster were famous for that. Probably their most famous skit involved a baseball game done up as a Shakespearean comedy, in full iambic pentameter, with a lot of the lines being direct references and puns. Cussing out the umpire in Iambic pentameter was amusing.
That was funny.
In a holyfuckinghell kinda way.
One of my favorite Wayne and Shuster was the one where the airline let the coach passengers disembark before the plane landed.
Too much laff-track for modern amusement, and not nearly enough drunkenness for historical verisimilitude.
I can’t see the video (region blocked), but if it’s Fry and Laurie there’s no “laff track”, that’s a live audience. Any clues on a title of the sketch so I can find a non-geolocked version? (or I’ll diddle with my VPN when I get home…)
@6: Title is “The Treaty of Westphalia” and this clip is 4:56 in length.
This is the first thing that pops up in Google:
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
dangerousbeans@#1:
‘We’re going to have to opt out’ [of the unified Europe]
huh, prophetic!
Yeah, that was certainly funny. It made me think a bit “how obvious was brexit?” I guess that the refusal to adopt a common currency was probably the key that Fry and Laurie noticed.
Sad affair. The last whimper of British imperialism, played like a cheap violin by anti-immigrant racism.
This is the blooper reel:
sonofrojblake @ # 6: … if it’s Fry and Laurie there’s no “laff track”, that’s a live audience.
Then the audience’s mikes should be dialed down (well below 11).
Re: laugh track – there is laughing on the blooper reel. It was not edited in later.
And the modern version of British influence in Europe was more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYqB0uTKlE
but yes, after Brexit it won’t work so well no mo’. Zut alors.
I guess I’m adding the BBC region locking content IN THE UK to the list of things that make me irrationally angry.
Yes, Minister made similar comments, like when Humphrey explains that the only reason they joined the common market was to screw it up from the inside: Link.