What was "The White Man's Burden" expressed by Rudyard Kipling?

Answer 1

Kipling came from a society who thought that blessings should be shared. His society was the "white man" territory- well, in the 19th century there were no other "civilised" societies according to their standards.

The "white mans burden" is the self appointed task to bring peace and prosperity to less blessed lands- and please notice the lack of sarcasm here.

For whatever reason, Kipling and his countrymen thought that slavery should not be tolerated. ANYWHERE in the world- regardless of "cultural heritage" issues. I guess it is not "politically correct" to think so today (after all, there is slavery in Sudan today, and no one even protests).

Kipling also writes about the "savage wars of peace"- using force to stop other nations from exterminating each other. Maybe he should just have sent them more ammunition? Just like many "ethical" states do today?

It is a pity that Kipling's times are over. Instead of civilising the barbarians, the "politically correct" barbarians have taken over in our lands.

Answer 2

OK, Kipling was a man of his times. He saw the world a different way than we do now. The most telling line in the poem is: "Why brought ye us from bondage, our loved Egyptian night?" This is a line from the Old Testament. When Moses led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, they found that life in the desert has harder then they thought, so they turned on Moses. They said that he should have just left us as slaves in Egypt, they were better off. The same idea applies to colonial powers. They wanted to "improve" the cultures they took over. Some changes were for the worse, some for the better. But change is always met with armed resistance. So the British were getting killed by the people they were trying to help. You see the same situation in Iraq today. So many people say "We were better off under Saddam" because the conditions are just so dreadful there right now. And all the world thinks that America did a horrible thing invading Iraq. But the intention was to rid the world of a family that ruled through terror and used chemical weapons on innocent people. But that doesn't matter. "The new caught sullen people, half devil and half child" hate us, "Why brought ye us from bondage, our loved Egyptian night. The "White Man's Burden" is doing what he thinks needs to be done and expecting to be appreciated for it. Joe

Answer 3

"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands.[1] "The White Man's Burden" was written in regard to the U.S. conquest of the Philippines and other former Spanish colonies.[2] Although Kipling's poem mixed exhortation to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved, imperialists within the United States latched onto the phrase "white man's burden" as a characterization for imperialism that justified the policy as a noble enterprise.[3]
The poem was originally written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, but exchanged for "Recessional"; Kipling changed the text of "Burden" to reflect the subject of American colonization.[4] The poem consists of seven stanzas, following a regular rhyme scheme. At face value it appears to be a rhetorical command to white men to colonize and rule people of other nations for their own benefit (both the people and the duty may be seen as representing the "burden" of the title), and because of this has become symbolic of Eurocentrism. A century after its publication, the poem still rouses strong emotions, and can be analyzed from a variety of perspectives."

Answer 4

One of the odd things about the poem is that Kipling seems to have been unaware that the Filipinos were Christians.
There were objections, both serious and ludicrous, to the poem at the time.

Answer 5

he felt it was the responsibility of White people to "civilize" non Whites. It was this moral mission that sent people to distant lands not capitalism or colonialism. (notice the sarcasm)

Answer 6

See Jungefrankenstein's answer. It's spot on.

Answer 7

his guilt