At the oddly omnipolitical BlackElectorate.com, there's a link to an article at the well-known antiracist resource, FrontPageMag, titled Leftist Racism:
The British Empire is the best case in point. Britons of that era regarded it as blindingly obvious that they were a superior race especially blessed by God (sound familar?). Yet did they therefore perpetrate pogroms or holocausts against anybody? Far from it. As Christians, they actually saw their superiority as giving them a duty to care for the "lesser" races (Kipling's famous "white man's burden").
Which quote is towards the end of the piece, after the author has assured readers that Hitler was, in fact, Leftist, and anything which says otherwise is part of a Big Lie. In fact, that latter phrase may have been in all caps. I'd rather not re-read the thing to check. Worryingly, the author restricts his attention to racism in Western Europe and the US, and only among white folks in the US at that.
Writing about racism among black people would have meant treating us as subjects rather than objects/victims/martyrs, after all.
The reference to Kipling is. . . confusing.
Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.
From The White Man's Burden, by Rudyard Kipling, McClure's Magazine, Feb. 1899.
Except I always read it as mocking the entire notion. Then again, I also don't think Swift was serious about his Modest Proposal.
I'm not a very good American, you see.
The first American to get to grips with the concept of irony!San Francisco: The Daily Telegraph spoke to Jay Fullmer, 38, who became the first American to get to grips with the concept of irony.
"It was weird," Fullmer said, "I was in London and, like, talking to this guy and it was raining and stuff and he said, like, great weather, or something like that. And I thought-wait a minute, it's like, no way is it great weather." said Fullmer.
Fullmer soon realized that the other man's 'mistake' was deliberate. "This guy was pretty cool about it," Fullmer said.
I know that irony doesn't come from elephants.
Want to know more? Make sure you have Java and popups turned off, and visit "The White Man's Burden" and Its Critics.
Well, Swift was being satirical of course, but as far as I know
Kipling was deadly serious. He really did think the British Empire
was God's gift to the "lesser breeds without the law".
I know. I just like to take the childlike naïveté out for a spin every once in a while.
For similar reasons, I'm avoiding most of the other comments threads right now.
Aaron is avoiding us all! I weep, I weep!
Gollum is also about to devour Willow. Guh ROSS. What has she got in her nasty little pocketses? We wonders!
"Sloth and heathen folly" is a pretty good title for a blog post, though.
What, the Ani Difranco lyrics aren't good enough for you?
Aaron, you need to pummel Darren until he learns not to put spoilers in comments without warnings. >.
There's a lot of nonsense flowing around about Kipling. The phrase "lesser breeds without the law" refers to Germany.
No, he doesn't. Darren Understands.
Martin Wisse writes:
> There's a lot of nonsense flowing around about Kipling. The phrase
> "lesser breeds without the law" refers to Germany.
I've seen it argued, most plausibly by George Orwell, but I'm
not convinced. Let's look at the context:
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget lest we forget!
Lines 2-4 are a biblical reference which equate the British with
the Jews, God's choosen people, the opposite of Gentiles. But then
note the phrasing: "...as the Gentiles use/ *or* lesser breeds...".
"Lesser breeds without the law" *might* refer to other colonial
powers, and perhaps specifically to the Germans; but I rather
think the Gentiles are Germans & Co, and the "lesser breeds"
those benighted savages to whom the British brought the inestimable
advantages of the Bible, the pox, and the Maxim gun. I think both
readings are plausible. Of course I'd have a different view of
the Germans than Kipling -- "England's difficulty is Ireland's
opportunity" and all that, you know -- so perhaps that colours
my interpretation.
Well, I just want to point out that the Maxim gun is an inestimable advantage, if you need a really really good club. And Bibles are useful for... hmmm... well, they're usually printed on very thin tissue paper which one can blow one's nose on pretty well...
As to the pox, I admit, it's not much of an advantage, although our current White House Resident seems to be using it as a scare tactic pretty well...