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Benedict Arnold

What is white man's burden and is it fact or fallacious?

Posted - October 14, 2018
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Responses


  • 8214
    Just trying to get a good tan can give you cancer. Very few of us look good in anything white except a wedding gown. Freckles are separated by white spaces. 
      October 14, 2018 10:31 AM MDT
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  • 6098
    That is an old thing when we thought it was up to us to take care of everything in the world because no one else was capable of taking care of it.  Now if we are smart we let others take care of themselves and we just help if we can. This post was edited by officegirl at October 16, 2018 4:03 PM MDT
      October 14, 2018 11:03 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    It was a propaganda attempt to make the activities of the British colonial empire sound better.
      October 14, 2018 12:42 PM MDT
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  • 22891
    never heard of it
      October 14, 2018 2:38 PM MDT
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  • 7280
    A poem worth a read.

    It is consistent with reality. This post was edited by tom jackson at October 14, 2018 3:09 PM MDT
      October 14, 2018 3:08 PM MDT
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  • 7795
    What is this "fallacious" word you're talking about?
      October 14, 2018 3:11 PM MDT
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  • 4624
    "The White Man's Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, written in 1899, about the Philippine–American War of 1899–1902.
    In it, Kipling calls on the United States to take control of the Philippines.
    He says it is the "white man's burden" or duty to justify imperialism on the grounds that it brings civilization to the uncivilized parts of the world.

    Today, very few people would agree with that view.

    I would call it fallacious.
    It is a fallacy to assume that one culture's views are wrong while one's own can only be right. 

    In Kipling's time, the term "civilized" was defined by whites at the expense of all non-whites. It signified a white supremacist manifesto.

    Most of the Philipines at that time had already been converted to Catholicism and spoke Spanish as well as Philipino.
    While not as technologically advanced or powerful, the country was, even in the 19th century, sophisticated in its cultures.

    Today...

    The Badjao tribe of Sulu island earns most of its living by fishing and is famous for colorful and artistically-woven sails.
    Most are Muslims but a few have animalistic beliefs. They are peaceful and there is nothing "uncivilised" about their way of life.

    The Igorots of the Cordillera mountain ranges cultivate rice in carefully engineered and irrigated terraces of great beauty.

    Among the Ilongot in the mountains of Sierra Madre, there is equality between men and women, and both parents usually take motherly roles.

    Many of the tribes make subtle tonal and percussive music with unique instruments.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Zgb8_8RAs&list=PLnOSH5j1sQh-7uYJsMshWnjhZviV0KpHt
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqDEnZRLodI&index=2&list=PLnOSH5j1sQh-7uYJsMshWnjhZviV0KpHt
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY9FIjQTarc&index=8&list=RDgsX0z82FTeI

    There are still many other tribes in the remoter mountain regions and islands where the beliefs are primarily animistic and the way of life includes fishing or hunter-gathering. These tribes live in close proximity with almost no violence and they have rich heritages of culture.
    If they can live peacefully while the USA had 386 violent crimes per 100,000 of the population in 2016- who is the more civilized? (Source US govt database: Crime in the United States by Volume and Rate per 100,000 Inhabitants, 1997–2016 (Table 1))
     
    Thankfully, by contemporary standards, most of us would not regard the Philipines as uncivilised.





    This post was edited by inky at October 16, 2018 10:08 PM MDT
      October 15, 2018 11:57 PM MDT
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  • 4624
    Thanks for your pick, Cosmic - and thanks for a very interesting question. This post was edited by inky at October 16, 2018 10:10 PM MDT
      October 16, 2018 10:10 PM MDT
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