White Man's Burden.
Seriously?
Do we really think about it? Do we really embrace it, whether it be consciously or subconsciously? Now I can't speak from experience cause well, I'm not white, I don't need a tanning bed, the sun does a nice job in a matter of hours. I'm very Spanish or Swedish, depending on whom you ask. I think it would be appropriate to change "White Man's Burden" to "Western Culture's Burden." The thought behind this phrase, first brought about by Rudyard Kipling, refers to the West's self-imposed obligation to colonized and westernize the rest of the world. To push our culture, beliefs and various ways of life onto "less civilized people" , in total utter disregard of these people's already existing ways of life. I think it has morphed over time into an apparently driving force to fix everything wrong in the world. To be "the Rescuer." Superman. Swooping down to save Lois Lane. The knight in shining armor saving the Damsel in Distress. Is this really the "white man's" mentality? Cause frankly I know plenty of people who are very content going about they're business, not worrying about anyone else's problems but they're own. They don't care unless something is in it for them. There are plenty however, who do see the different atrocities going on around the world and believe that if they are not doing something, anything, then they are part of the problem.
I am one of these such people. I don't think it stems from "white man's burden." I believe it's more of a recognition. A recognition that as a member of humanity, there are certain things that should never be turned a blind eye. Things like slavery, human trafficking, genocide, exploitation etc. Realizing that you have the privilege of living in one of the most powerful countries in the world. A country that has tremendous influence. How do we know this? I think it says something when countries all over the world are waiting for the outcome of our presidential elections. That speaks volumes, loud and clear. Unfortunately, certain actions and language choices can be and have been construed as falling under WMB. I don't really wanna get all political but I will say that I don't agree with everything the US does internationally. Sometimes it seems like we are bullies. We feel the need to try to fix every conflict we join. Vietnam, the Korean War; these did not go so well (technically we're still at war with North Korea). And now, Operation Iraqi Freedom. When did a manhunt turn into "let's free the people of Iraq?" Did they ask us to do this? Send us an email? A box of chocolate with a note? No, now because we've been there so long, we can't even pull all of our troops out because if we do the country may very well fall apart. Or Operation Enduring Freedom (anti-terrorist retaliation in Afghanistan). But there's a difference between politically motivated decisions and wanting to punish crimes against humanity. I don't think there is anything wrong in using your power, money and influence to aid other countries and band together with other institutions and organizations to put an end to humanitarian issues and help other countries continue to develop and become stronger.
I think when a country clearly has leadership that is slowly killing the people, like President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, then we need to pressure the UN, NATO and ICC to really step in. Of course that might work if the UN had more militaristic jurisdiction, which of course it basically has none. They are only around as peacekeepers which is all well and good but I think there should be a branch that can also take the offensive so that way we can avoid another Rwanda. Or if all of these international judicial branches were able to intervene at a level that maybe they wish they could. But because of checks and balances and accountability and all that, it's not possible because everyone wants to keep things democratic and distribute power evenly so as no one institution has absolute or more power than anyone else, which is understandable. As seen throughout history, absolute power is fun for awhile but in the end it just gets you killed cause you piss off the wrong people. The Mob come after you. Seriously, they say Hitler killed himself. I say that the Mob got fed up with him and decided it was time he was out of the picture. Happens all the time.
But seriously, don't let anyone accuse you of taking a stand because you feel this burden to fix stuff based on what hemisphere you come from. If you truly believe that you can help bring about change in a situation and that situation deserves adequate attention because it involves other living human beings, then do it. If you believe that every person has rights to basic needs like food, clean water, health care, and education then by God go build a well, go teach them, go treat them, go teach them how to treat so that they can treat and teach others how to treat. Get the ball rolling. Pay it forward. Don't give anyone the opportunity to use the line "I didn't know" or "I never knew that". Do it until someone tells you they don't want it. OK, that's fine. Then you just go and find the next person that does.
