White Man's Burden

[Lik3]

What was the White Man's Burden and how did it relate to imo (pseudo) Christian doctrine?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

The White Man's Burden was the concept that Europeans should rule and guide inferior peoples, like a shepherd sheep or a father his sons. Often conceived either as permanent, or in an advisory capacity until they were educated and 'civilised' enough to look after themselves. The modern descendant of this doctrine is the UN and its agencies, that set developmental goals and dispatch experts, aid and missions to coax countries into adopting certain ideas.

Christianity was seen as one of the boons of Civilisation - in fact so-called 'muscular Christianity' often drove the concept. Taking western Medicine and agriculture to feed and treat the less fortunate natives was often the goal, though requiring colonies or protectorates to safeguard their efforts against native opposition, superstition or wars.

It is not clearly related to Christian doctrine though, except in a 'Good Samaritan' or 'fed Me when hungry, clothe Me when naked' sense. Some of the strongest proponents were Enlightenment intellectuals, like Voltaire and Hume, that had decidedly low opinions of other races and were often anticlerical deists. It is perhaps akin to the Liberation Theology beloved in Latin America, in a sense of an obligation to help those perceived as less fortunate.

The NT with its brotherhood of believers, even slaves, really does not support establishing permanent racial castes. Some would defend it with ideas like the curse of Ham, but that is more eisegesis than anything.

Largely though, Western aid schemes have merely divested of racial rhetoric and come to stress 'soft power' to straight on colonial ventures, but the differences are less stark than people think.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

White Man's Burden - by Rudyard Kipling.

TAKE up the White Man's burden -
Send forth the best ye breed -
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild -
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden -
In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

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 hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden -
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper -
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead !

Take up the White Man's burden -
And reap his old reward,
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard -
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah slowly !) towards the light:-
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
"Our loved Egyptian night ?"

Take up the White Man's burden -
Ye dare not stoop to less -
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden -
Have done with childish days -
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgement of your peers.


---
This gives the flavour of the concept. Of Westerners selflessly helping the poor natives who can't help themselves, conceived as a moral duty - knowing full well they are hated for it. Today of course, it would be decried as flagrantly racist, but it was a different time.

 

[Resha Caner]

While imperialism certainly created a pantheon of bad guys, it can be hard to know what was right.

In my class on the history of American education, we spent consider time on the Native Americans. Some of the efforts that might get lumped under Imperialist actions were actually sincere attempts to help. As the American megalith rumbled across the continent, what was the "right" thing to do? Native American concepts of property were so different that (until very late) they never attempted to shut out Europeans. Was it the job of Europeans to protect borders that Native Americans themselves didn't imagine? Is it wrong to show one culture the powerful discoveries of another culture if you know it will forever change them? Is such "integration" wrong? Is pluralism possible, or is it just polyculture?

I don't believe we can ever sort our the "right" thing amongst such complexity. One simply does their best to follow Christ.

 

[John Bowen]

The purpose of life is constant growth .The native cultures were not growing . Contrary to what is taught in schools they weren't these peaceful people in nature living a ideal life . They were constantly warring, had human sacrifice , were cannibals . They were stuck in their traditions the mother culture. So to help free those people the Europeans came in to shake them out of there stagnation . Just as Jesus came in to free the captives the Jews who were stuck in their traditions their "laws" sacrificing animals. Of course there is always a elite that wants to make lots $$ off of people.That's why the Native Americans were pushed off the land cause farmers would make more profits for the elite than the tribes were willing or could do.

 

[Resha Caner]

The native cultures were not growing.

I'm afraid that's not true. You're right Native Americans were not pastoral people. The Spanish interceded in some tribal wars that bordered on genocidal - though not out of any sense of altruism.

With that said, the Iroquois and Algonquin confederacies were very vibrant and stagnated because of European encroachment. As is the case all over the world, cultures are in a continual cycle of growing, stagnating, shrinking, and rejuvenating.