Showing posts with label Rudyard Kipling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rudyard Kipling. Show all posts

Thursday, January 29, 2009

"THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN" - The US and the Philippines (Rudyard Kipling, 1899)

"The Phillipines makes a decent representative example of the US' first official exercise in colonial imperialism and formal empire [*], also referred to as "civilizational imperialism" - a project we're presently repeating.

"Lest this seem to be the bellicose pipedream of some dyspeptic desk soldier, let us remember that the military deal of our country has never been defensive warfare. Since the Revolution, only the United Kingdom has beaten our record for square miles of territory acquired by military conquest. Our exploits against the American Indian, against the Filipinos, the Mexicans, and against Spain are on a par with the campaigns of Genghis Khan, the Japanese in Manchuria and the African attack of Mussolini.

No country has ever declared war on us before we first obliged them with that gesture. Our whole history shows we have never fought a defensive war. And at the rate our armed forces are being implemented at present, the odds are against our fighting one in the near future." - --Major General Smedley D. Butler, America's Armed Forces: 'In Time of Peace', 1935. 1898-1914: The Phillipines.


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Hi All,

Here is a  short bio on Kipling, Nobel Prize for Literature 1907, from the (Swedish) The Nobel Foundation: 

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was born in Bombay, but educated in England at the United Services College, Westward Ho, Bideford. In 1882 he returned to India, where he worked for Anglo-Indian newspapers. His literary career began with Departmental Ditties (1886), but subsequently he became chiefly known as a writer of short stories. 

A prolific writer, he achieved fame quickly. Kipling was the poet of the British Empire and its yeoman, the common soldier, whom he glorified in many of his works, in particular Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) and Soldiers Three (1888), collections of short stories with roughly and affectionately drawn soldier portraits. His Barrack Room Ballads (1892) were written for, as much as about, the common soldier.

In 1894 appeared his Jungle Book, which became a children's classic all over the world. Kim (1901), the story of Kimball O'Hara and his adventures in the Himalayas, is perhaps his most felicitous work. Other works include The Second Jungle Book (1895), The Seven Seas, Captains Courageous (1897), The Day's Work (1898), Stalky and Co. (1899), Just So Stories (1902), Trafficks and Discoveries (1904), Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), Actions and Reactions (1909), Debits and Credits (1926), Thy Servant a Dog (1930), and Limits and Renewals (1932). During the First World War Kipling wrote some propaganda books. His collected poems appeared in 1933.

Kipling was the recipient of many honorary degrees and other awards. In 1926 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, which only Scott, Meredith, and Hardy had been awarded before him.
(1896),


From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969


Note that the Nobel Prize citation did not mention Kipling's "The White Man's Burden" poem, which indicated Kipling's racist and imperialistic beliefs and attitudes. In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations.

Its publication coincided with the beginning of the Philippine-American War and U.S. Senate ratification of the Treaty of Paris (1898) that placed Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines under American control.

Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.”

The racialism notion of the “White Man’s Burden” became a euphemism for imperialism.

- Bert

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THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
The United States and the Philippine Islands
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

(McClure's Magazine, February 12, 1899)

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 mark 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!) toward the light:--

"Why brought he 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
cloke (1) 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 proferred
laurel, (2)
The easy, ungrudged praise.

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years


Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!


(1) Cloak, cover. (2) Since the days of Classical Greece, a laurel wreath has been a symbolic victory prize.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Man27s_Burden


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PLEASE DONATE CORE SUBJECT BOOKS TO OUR HOMELAND (i.e. your hometown public schools, alma mater, etc.). Those books that you and/or your children do not need or want; or buy books from your local library during its cheap Book Sales. Also, cargo/door-to-door shipment is best.  It is a small sacrifice.  [clean up your closets or garage - donate books.THANKS!]
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I consider the following previous posts and the RECTO READER are essential about our homeland and us native, Malay Filipinos; and are therefore always presented in each new post. Click each to open/read.
  1. WHAT WE FILIPINOS SHOULD KNOW:
  2. WHAT IS NATIONALISM [Filipino Nationalism]?
  3. Our Colonial Mentality and Its Roots 
  4. The Miseducation of the Filipino (Formation of our Americanized Mind)
  5. Jose Rizal - Reformist or Revolutionary?
  6. The Purpose of Our Past, Why Study (Our) History?
  7. Studying and Rethinking Our Philippine History
  8. Globalization (Neoliberalism) – The Road to Perdition in Our Homeland
  9. Resisting Globalization (WTO Agreements)
  10. Virtues of De-Globalization
  11. Our Filipino Kind of Religion
  12. Our Filipino Christianity and Our God-concept
  13. When Our Religion Becomes Evil
THE RECTO READER is presented in several postings. Click each to open/read:

NOTE: Recto's cited cases, examples or issues were of his time, of course; but realities in our homeland in the present and the foreseeable future are/expectedly much, much worse. Though I am tempted to update them with current issues, it's best to leave them as they are since Recto's paradigms about our much deepened national predicament still ring relevant, valid and true. In short, Recto saw the forest and never got lost in the trees.- Bert

THE FILIPINO MIND blog contains 524 published postings you can view, as of April 16, 2012. Go to the sidebar to search Past & Related Postings, click LABEL [number in parenthesis = total of related postings]; or use the GOOGLE SEARCH at the sidebar using key words [labels, or tags] for topics of interest to you. Also at the bottom of each posting, you can click a label or tag to open related topics.

(2). To write or read a comment, please scroll down to the bottom of this weblog htttp://www.thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/ (the current post or another post you read and may want to respond) and click on "Comments." ANONYMOUS COMMENTS WILL NOT BE POSTED EFFECTIVE 12/07/11.

(3).Visit my other website to read/download publications: Click here:SCRIBD/TheFilipinoMind; or type it on GOOGLE Search.View/Free Download pdf versions of: postings, eBooks, articles (120 and growing). Or another way to access, go to the sidebar of the THE FILIPINO MIND website and click on SCRIBD. PLEASE Share!
Statistics for my associated website:SCRIBD/theFilipinoMind (as of 12/06/2011):
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(4). Some postings and other relevant events are now featured in Google+BMD_FacebookBMD_Twitter and BMD_Google Buzz. (<--- all="all" available="available" but="but" click="click" each="each" for="for" i="i" maximize="maximize" means="means" mission.="mission." much="much" my="my" not="not" or="or" so="so" socialize="socialize" span="span" the="the" to="to" try="try">

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(6) The postings are oftentimes long and a few readers have claimed being "burnt out."  My apologies. As the selected topics are not for entertainment but for deep thought and hopefully to rock the boat of complacency..From suggestions by readers, I have therefore added some contemporary music to provide a break. Check out bottom of posting to play Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Sting, Chris Botti, Josh Groban, etc. 

(7) Songs on Filipino nationalism: please reflect on the lyrics (messages) as well as the beautiful renditions. Other Filipino Music links at blog sidebar.  :

BAYAN KO by Freddie Aguilar <--- class="Apple-style-span" nbsp="nbsp" span="span" style="background-color: white;">click to play song.


”Bayan Ko” by KUH LEDESMA <-- class="Apple-style-span" span="span" style="background-color: white;">click to play song.

”Bayan Ko” by a Korean choir <--click play="play" song.="song." span="span" to="to">

”Sa Kuko ng Agila” by Freddie Aguilar <-- click="click" play="play" song.="song." span="span" to="to"> 

”Huwad na Kalayaan” by Freddie Aguilar <-- click="click" play="play" song.="song." span="span" to="to">