AP Euro
24 February, 2009
Imperialism: An Easy Excuse
I believe that “The White man’s burden” is an excuse for imperialism. It sounds nice to say that we are civilized, and they are savage and therefore we are obligated to provide help and support. However, with this summary description of imperialism the cruelty, and loss of culture is rarely described or even mentioned. It becomes a story of noble men eager to help others, when that was never truly the case. If the men who imperialized truly did care for the people then they would have lent a helping hand while still preserving the peoples dignities and cultures. However, imperialists are merely concerned with their own fortunes and are solely looking to gain power and money. I agree with the article by Hobson that says that the imperialist mess is to blame on those eager to invest capital in foreign countries. I see the only motives of imperialists to be selfish and money driven.At the same time it is hard to picture history playing out any differently. If there is one thing that I have learned throughout my studies it is that money talks. People, no matter what period in history, are driven and motivated by money and power. It is a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless. I think that some people are and were motivated to actually better other people in this world, but unfortunately the majority are not in line with this motivation, and the only way to motivate the others is to involve money, and profit. Imperialists, as a whole, were acting off of selfish motives. While those motives are sad, they are realistic and in line with the priorities of the majority.
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Alicia Gabriela Korda, it's like you took the words out of my mouth. You did a phenomenal job of depicting the truth behind imperialism. Virtual blog high-five ( i can't believe i just typed that)!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alicia...Imperialism/ The White Mans Burden is an excuse to gain money and power from other countries that lack it.
ReplyDeleteOh Miss Korda... How you have wowed me! Your word choice, sentence structure, evidence, and overall idea was just even better than just GOOOOD. Down with Imperialism! We must face the reality of our sins!
ReplyDeletePerfect statement Alicia. You are right when you say that imperialists are selfish and that if they really wanted to help they would lend a helpful hand instead of ruining the countries. But then again, there is no true way of avoiding the imperialistic nature of large countries. Like you said, The White Mans Burden is an easy excuse for the horrible things they are actually doing.
ReplyDeleteAlicia I agree that money motivates. Imperialists are driven by selfish motives, although some are actually trying to do good. I wonder if imperialism was originally looked at as a burden, or if it was seen as an economic opportunity.
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