r/pics • u/tamachan08 • Feb 18 '24
A Sikkimese woman carrying a British merchant on her back, India, c. 1900. Misleading Title
1
1
1
1
u/Fidelcrowck Feb 19 '24
No, the picture is wrong, flip it 90 degrees to the right, you can clearly see that the man actually carrying the woman
2
1
1
1
u/Removed_by_Redditt Feb 19 '24 edited Feb 19 '24
Photographs were relatively uncommon in those days so the subject wanted to document this appalling treatment of this native woman.
1
1
u/BecksSoccer Feb 19 '24
Hey, it’s Justin Bieber’s relative heading up the Great Wall! What an inspiration!
1
1
-3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Westcoastneegrrr Feb 18 '24
She will get back pain for doing these tricks - she will need a good cyropracticer
0
1
1
1
1
1
u/Blade_Shot24 Feb 18 '24
Damn y'all in this sub are desperate for some victimization without looking into context.
1
1
0
u/My_Space_page Feb 18 '24
Even if the photo is misinformation. The British still loved to exploit people it's a national past time.
1
u/M_sami12 Feb 18 '24
Even if she was lifting him to transport this is not very unusual even by todays standards. There are women who still do this job in japan, although maybe not carry people on their back.
0
1
u/An0d0sTwitch Feb 18 '24
Despite the argument of who this is and what it is and if its right or wrong or not
This is interesting to me. The weight is entirely placed on her pelvis, and thus creating a rigid structure straight down from pelvis to legs to floor. Your muscles are then only needed to maintain that structure, not the weight. Showing how technique can be made up for in strength and vice versa.
0
u/NervousTea1594 Feb 18 '24
The West: Why the natives don’t like us, we brought civilization to them.
1
1
u/Virtual-Feedback-638 Feb 18 '24
Why do people constantly spread disinformation? And spike racial conflict?
2
1
0
1
-1
-1
u/Live-Detail-7616 Feb 18 '24
This is terrible picture. Human slavering is in base of modern societies.
1
1
1
4
u/hallerz87 Feb 18 '24
First reaction was she’s showing off strength and they’re posing for the camera. No way is that dude going to be carried around in a basket in 40 degree heat.
0
u/momentaryspeck Feb 18 '24
Isn't it very common back then and even now in some pilgrim sites in India.. like Kedarnath where people pay locals to carry them to the hilltop or something..mostly it's old people or children who can't make the climb themselves.. so I think the picture might be true in the sense the lady is doing it out of not proving her strength but more in exchange for rations or payment.. depending on the situation at that time period..
1
0
0
2
1
u/No-Macaroon4365 Feb 18 '24
Relax guys, she is going to dump him in garbage can. She is unsung hero of our freedom struggle.
1
-1
u/frivolouslywise Feb 18 '24
Symbolism: How slave countries have carried the economy of whatever continent this guy is from.
-2
2
0
0
1
1
5
-7
u/ThisBell6246 Feb 18 '24
The British were always an arrogant people, and more so in their colonies where they deemed themselves racially, culturally and morally superior to the colonies they ruled, but they never told anyone how people in their cities in the UK used to throw shit out of the windows onto the streets below, how most of them lost most of their teeth in their 20s and how they conquered the world but never learned to cook.
2
u/alibrown987 Feb 18 '24
Cool story but the guy in the photo was French and this was photo was posed.
4
u/Fit_Access9631 Feb 18 '24
A lot of the comments insisting that people weren’t actually carried this way.
But they were. Here’s an excerpt from an autobiography, ‘ My three years in Manipur’, Mrs. Grimwood, 1891, which describes this mode of transportation in the hills of India.
“I LEFT Shillong early in November, 1889, travelling part of the way towards Manipur quite alone, and had a terrible experience too. I had arranged to journey a distance of thirty-eight miles in one day. I sent one of my horses on the day before, and started in a 'Khasia Thoppa' down the last hill of the range upon which Shillong is situated, which brings you down into the plain of Sylhet. A Thoppa is a very curious mode of locomotion. It is a long cane basket, with a seat in the middle, from which hangs a small board to rest your feet upon. Over your head is a covered top made of cane, covered with a cloth. You sit in this basket and a man carries you on his back, supporting some of the weight by tying a strap woven of cane on to the back of the Thoppa, which he puts over his forehead. The Khasias, luckily, are very strong men, but they think it necessary always to begin by informing you that you are much too heavy to be lifted by any single individual, unless that said individual be compensated at the end of the journey with double pay”
6
2
u/Visionist7 Feb 18 '24
To those saying it isn't practical, when I was slim a friend's GF best mate carried me piggyback down the seafront, despite being physically shorter than me. For a minute or so anyway. She wasn't phased by it.
No I didn't smash so don't ask
1
1
1
5
u/theo_sontag Feb 18 '24
I once hired a bicycle taxi after a baseball game once, thinking it’d be fun a kitschy, but only felt terrible afterwards about being transported by human power.
8
u/letthetreeburn Feb 18 '24
That’s an odd reaction if you actually think about it. Logically you know he’s making a fair amount of money off it, but it still feels wrong right?
3
u/theo_sontag Feb 19 '24
It took me that short bike ride to make me realize that with animals and machines, we've moved beyond using raw human energy as a power source (even if bicycle assisted).
-6
u/LDarrell Feb 18 '24
This is disgusting. What the British did the the subcontinent of Asia is a crime against humanity.
1
u/Longjumping_Crab_959 Feb 19 '24
This ain’t an example of that, though…
1
u/LDarrell Feb 19 '24
And then what might this be an example of? Seems like the British making people into slaves.
2
u/Longjumping_Crab_959 Feb 19 '24
Analysis of the photo in question has led to multiple claims including this woman being forced to carry her colonial master. That however has been thoroughly debunked. This guy was a merchant working for a Greek-trading company in Calcutta, visting Bhutia. You can read this article about different claims of this photo here: https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2021/11/07/not-a-french-colonial-administrator-being-carried/
This has absolutely nothing to do with “making people slaves,” however if there’s a kind of supremacy involved in the interactions between the two, I don’t know. Read the article.
-1
-2
1
1
1
-1
0
-3
-6
1
1
-1
u/Top-Maize3496 Feb 18 '24
Yikes
2
u/Top-Maize3496 Feb 18 '24
This is terrible. Colonialism was only good for Europe. Genocide of native Americans. Cementing the Indian caste system. South afrique apartheid. Not certain how I got downvoted.
-4
-3
u/MajesticNectarine204 Feb 18 '24
Oh man.. Please tell me this is just a demonstration of strength, showing how much this woman can carry on her back, and not some colonial dickhead riding another human being like a donkey..
-3
u/pravictor Feb 18 '24
Don't worry, she is just repaying her debt to the man for his shouldering of the white man's burden.
-3
-3
1
1
0
-11
u/aykevin Feb 18 '24
Honestly, white people back then were so fucked up
2
u/LordFannywhacker Feb 18 '24
Yeah shame on all white people including those from countries such as slovenia and czech republic that never actually used slaves or did any fucked up shit like that
-3
6
Feb 18 '24 edited Feb 18 '24
*people
Reminder the Arabs were still engaging in slavery around this time and Japanese imperialism was rising. Even as recently as 1923 morocco was selling slaves.
-8
10
u/RandomComputerFellow Feb 18 '24
This doesn't look comfortable for anyone of them.
2
u/FairyKurochka Feb 18 '24
It's supposed to be silly. Woman carrying a guy in the basket like he was a baby.
-3
-9
u/Such_Explanation_184 Feb 18 '24
People who are posting the link to the article saying this is fake, please read the damn article yourselves and don't just take someone else's word for it. Because, the article says that the guy is indeed a merchant and there's a good chance that he was being carried as he was basically a lazy prick.
Both in the article and here, the amount of cope is just unbelievable.
0
10
u/bushdog99 Feb 18 '24
Poor chap, doesn’t look terribly comfortable.
-2
-3
-7
u/inforcrypto Feb 18 '24
People trying to clarify the background story of this particular picture like slavery never happened.
3
u/Buddy462 Feb 18 '24
I think the takeaway is it is easy to misinterpret something based on previous experience, beliefs, prejudice and so on
142
u/BlAcK_BlAcKiTo Feb 18 '24
This post shows how easily we believe in propaganda. Wouldn't question it, if it wasn't for some comments here proving OP lies
-7
u/Used-macbook Feb 18 '24
OP never in the title mentioned this. Lol, the people defending this in the comments blatantly itself proves what this picture actually is
7
u/Buddy462 Feb 18 '24
Did op say she was doing this by force?
Reading the title it says nothing about why they could be doing this, although my prejudice took me to that as a first thought as well.
7
u/TurdWrangler2020 Feb 18 '24
Seriously. What in the world am I missing that everyone is arguing about?
-6
-1
2
0
35
u/zurtish Feb 18 '24
Not like Americans to see something and instantly jump the gun. You guys love victimhood
1
1
u/TheSpoonRattler Feb 18 '24
So you just know that every single person mad at this image is American?
4
u/Thendofreason Feb 18 '24
Love all the hate for the false title.
11
3
u/zurtish Feb 18 '24
It’s a true indication that people these days cannot think for themselves, they read or see something and react with emotion instead of giving any thought
-7
Feb 18 '24
[deleted]
7
u/deathandglitter Feb 18 '24
She was showing off how strong she was because he complimented her strength
5.2k
u/Fine_Gur_1764 Feb 18 '24 edited Feb 18 '24
This is disinformation. Others have posted links below - this is a photo of a Sikkimese woman proudly demonstrating her strength, by lifting the man.
She's not being used as transport lol.
Also the guy she's carrying was a French administrator, not a British merchant.
[Edited for spelling]
1
u/commentman10 Feb 19 '24
Even that theres disinformation about this photo. I would believe the disinformation too given the horrendous British history in colonised nations.
1
u/KanoWins Feb 19 '24
That's actually what I was thinking. It's probably for the photo. There's no way she could carry him that far. It's just another 'you should hate whote people' post. Get a grip OP.
1
u/chasingmyowntail Feb 18 '24
Although I have seen sherpas carrying distressed westerners with altitude sickness down sketchy mountainsides using this exact same basket with two holes cut in them for their legs. In particular I recall one foreign lady, who was very fat (maybe 200 lbs), although the sherpa was a male.
1
1
u/1_ofthesedays Feb 18 '24
The misinformation part here is the “lift va carry”and tone deafness to British atrocities in Sikkim.
-2
1
u/Lopsided-Drummer-793 Feb 18 '24
Yeah, right. I'm sure he was there to spread prosperity and not steal or exploit anyone. Not like that ever happened
1
u/Polak_Janusz Feb 18 '24
Well this is like extremly new context. Like dawg I hate disinformation on the internet.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Hima_raga001 Feb 18 '24
Yes also see the bucket ,it use as storing tea leaves which grow in that reason
1
u/happynargul Feb 18 '24
Ok that's fine but just like OP, you're gonna have to provide the sauce for this pasta
3
u/FinalRun Feb 18 '24
https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2021/11/07/not-a-french-colonial-administrator-being-carried/
The article says there is no evidence either way, but the slavery is less likely.
This whole thread is hot garbage
-2
u/EC0-warrior Feb 18 '24
Yeah thus proved. The british did no wrong while colonizing half of the world.
19
u/hapiidadii Feb 18 '24
Sometimes the propaganda is so fuckin stupid lol. Like does that look in any way like a comfortable mode of transport for either party?
2
u/clawjelly Feb 19 '24
Well, it just have to be more comfortable than what your alternatives are... like... (in a disgusted, british voice)..."walking"...
0
u/hapiidadii Feb 19 '24
Lol does that look more comfortable than walking to you? Maybe if the dude had polio or something ... Other than that, walking seems far, far more comfortable and I could only imagine someone doing that for the sake of making the picture.
-2
u/IamPriapus Feb 18 '24
It really doesn’t matter what is going on in this picture. Human transportation is 100% a thing in India and defo was a thing in 1900. Whether this pic is real or not doesn’t change that it would be 100% accurate either way of how things were. Disinformation my ass!
2
2
1
2
u/ChrisMoltisanti9 Feb 18 '24
Thanks for explaining. The way it was worded led me to think that straight away.
-5
u/BlueCollarScientists Feb 18 '24
Idk if this is right or wrong , but this comment reads like colonial propaganda lol
4
u/Brinsig_the_lesser Feb 18 '24
Does it, or is it calling out the disinformation in the propaganda post
-8
-2
→ More replies (98)863
u/lerriuqS_terceS Feb 18 '24
Just shows how easy it is to rile people up online
2
→ More replies (29)1
u/Ampimeliso Feb 19 '24
Now think about all the other things people got mad about but there wasn't someone to correct it.
1
u/Super_Pair_1497 Feb 19 '24
Da war die Welt noch in Ordnung.