Show transcript

[Start of transcript]

Screenshot of a tumblr post

nyancrimew posts:
remember .io games? that was 8 years ago

therealkepler replies:
nowadays the only people that use the .io domain are technology sites

nyancrimew replies:
ok so .io is a “fun” lesson in colonialism and technology, like all two letter top level domains (yes all of them) it’s a country domain belonging to a country, io being the british indian oceans territory, an archipelago in the indian ocean. .io domains became so trendy because they’re easily marketable to tech people (io can stand for input/output), it looks kinda cool and at the time domains with .io were highly available with not many websites being created on the islands.

however .io is not like other small islands with highly wanted tlds such as .ai or .to, where the islands make millions off of domain sales and can rely on them as a big pillar of their economy. all profits from .io sales go to the UK, and despite a fight to get control over their tld the islands get nothing, not only did the native population get displaced in land deals and colonialism but their colonizer also heavily profits off of the territories sudden (indirect) trendyness with tech startups.

don’t buy .io domains, don’t support the british empire.

[End of transcript]

  • RandomStickman@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    I looked up the Wikipedia page.

    The only inhabitants are British and United States military personnel, and associated contractors

    Oh, ok. That’s not too bad actually.

    The forced removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973.

    Oh.

    Today, the Chagossians are still trying to return, but the UK government has repeatedly denied them the right of return despite calls from numerous human rights organisations to let them.

    Ooohhh…

    On 3 November 2022, it was announced that the UK and Mauritius had decided to begin negotiations on sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, taking into account the international legal proceedings.

    Ok, getting better…

    However, in December 2023, it was reported that the UK government was planning to discontinue the talks.

    Oh, it’s worse, actually.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      i can’t believe the country whose biggest exhibit is of all the artifacts it’s stolen from other cultures would be so inconsiderate to other cultures.

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        This is such a braindead reddit/tumble take. You can be anti-colonialism and even make not of the artifacts that ARE stolen without trying to imply everyone in British museums is stolen because of : haha internet meme

        • L/nerd@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          they’re not stolen because internet meme, they’re stolen because many of those artifacts are literally taken by colonists who have taken the land.

            • L/nerd@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              2 months ago

              Then why did you call that take braindead? They didn’t say that all of Britain’s exhibits are for stolen artifacts, just how their biggest exhibits are the stolen ones.

              • gmtom@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                I would argue the wording of

                whose biggest exhibit is of all the artifacts it’s stolen from other cultures

                Implies that at least a large amount of the artifacts are stolen.

                • nednobbins@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  That’s inherent to the idea of theft. We judge thieves based on their thefts.
                  It’s irrelevant if they also happen to have a bunch of stuff they didn’t steal.

                  A few stolen artifacts corrupt the legitimacy of the entire exhibit.

                • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  2 months ago

                  No it doesn’t. It’s just saying that: of the artifacts they have stolen, all of them are on display. It implies nothing about the number of artifacts.

                  It’s ok to be wrong sometimes. What is important is that you don’t double down in the face of evidence that contradicts you.

                • L/nerd@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  2 months ago

                  That would be because a large amount of artifacts were stolen. The comment is referring to all of the artifacts within that large category of theirs. Do you think that all those countries that Britain pillaged and colonized just gave them those artifacts as a token of friendship?

        • StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I appreciate that you prefaced your comment by letting us know it was a braindead tumblr take. I otherwise would have been confused since it’s centered around a point the original comment never made.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          Your English is bad or you type poorly. I assume you meant that the comment implied every artifact was stolen, which it never did. The stolen artifacts are stolen, and make up most of the largest exhibit.

          • gmtom@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Apologies I have a couple of disabilities that make it difficult to type without mistakes, but I’ll make sure to put in the effort as to not offend you with my “bad English” (:

    • filcuk@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      What is the actual reason for this?
      That’s disgraceful, to say the least.

      • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        The island is probably a good location for a military naval base in the Pacific.

        • glaber@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Surprisingly, the British Indian Ocean Territory is not in the Pacific ocean, but the Indian Ocean.

          Being serious though, yeah, it’s a really good strategic location

      • fleet@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Omg I never knew BtB was on YouTube. I’ve listened to the podcast so much, feels surreal to see them talking.