[sifar]

>> But let’s be real—both Bangladesh and Ireland have benefited from British language, institutions, law, and culture

Well you cannot check out the alternate world where this didn't happen.

How can you be a proponent of democracy at home and still be a colonialist ? To give an example of this British schizophrenia, John Stuart Mill, who wrote On Liberty, worked for the EIC for 35 years. I am still trying to understand how he would reconcile this with what he wrote.

[thinkingemote]

"I am still trying to understand"

Please be encouraged to continue trying to understand and resist falling into the easier binary explanation currently popular in politics. History is your guide.

[sifar]

I agree, and I am not trying to judge him here (who am i!). All you can do is try to understand them through the things they have written.

I understand one can hold conflicting ideas knowingly or without realizing the contradiction between them. Or may be you don't have an option because it is the only game in town.

We see this analogue in our own times, people support freedom yet work on mass surveillance technologies/companies willingly. Do they not understand where it leads ? or just ignore it, or shrug helplessly.