Wednesday, October 7, 2015

What adjectives are used to describe Europeans in "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling?

In this poem, which is widely regarded as delusional and white supremacist, Rudyard Kipling portrays black and brown people as inferior to white people, and white people as superior "big brother" characters. According to Kipling, white folks are selfless and wise people who must carry the burden of taking care of non-white folks around the world. Kipling portrays white people as doing the thankless job of bringing stability and safety to non-white people, whom he describes as "half devil and half child." Non-white folks are portrayed as sub-humans who should be grateful for the presence of white folks in their homelands, but are too belligerent to understand that they are being helped. Of course, this poem has obvious white supremacist justifications for imperialism and slavery. Many people might argue that, across the globe, white imperialism of non-white nations has caused massive poverty, violence, and suffering.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/


Europeans are described in Kipling's poem as serving the needs of their "captives." The Europeans are patient and humble. They speak plainly and simply. They are self-sacrificing, and they work hard for the benefit of others—that is, the peoples whose lands they now control.
Europeans are those who bring peace, food, and health to "half devil" and "savage" people. They work to help others but, instead of being thanked, endure the "blame" and "hate" of those they bring up from "bondage."
Europeans are described as manly when they take up the thankless "burden" of bringing European civilization to "sullen" people.
It would be hard to find a more offensive or self-serving poem. Europeans are cast as the superior, self-sacrificing saviors of allegedly inferior peoples. According to Kipling, at great personal cost, they come to foreign lands to help the people they have conquered. No thought is given to whether the people want this help, though the poem implies they don't. No acknowledgement is made of the many ways Europeans profited greatly from exploiting native peoples and their lands.

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