Was Kipling racist?

[irocfan]

Manchester University students paint over Rudyard Kipling mural. Students replace poem If by ‘well-known racist’ with Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise


https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/19/...

[del mar]

We could just erase all white people from the history books and replace them with bame people instead ?

[anonymous-user]

Probably by todays standards but you can’t judge Kipling or Churchill or Ghengis Khan by today’s moral outlook.

[Digga]

When did you ever see a black mini Bakewell?



You do the maths.

[anonymous-user]

Reminds me of the old joke.
Do you like Kipling ?
I don't know, I've never Kipled.

[jjlynn27]

Digga said:

When did you ever see a black mini Bakewell?



You do the maths.

[WinstonWolf]

jjlynn27 said:

Digga said:

When did you ever see a black mini Bakewell?



You do the maths.

That second one looks a bit like a gollywog, you're racist.

[Mothersruin]

Can you be Phobist?

[Troubleatmill]

Kiwi boot polish did have an interesting name for their product colours.

Boycott them I say.

[TooMany2cvs]

I grew up just outside Bakewell. Those Kipling things are a travesty of a proper Bakewell Pudding (I went to school with the Bakewell tarts).

Oh, right, sorry.

I'm sure ol' Rudyard's weltanschauung was not very different to the consensus of the time. Which, by today's standard, would be viewed as somewhere to the right of UKIP.

[FourWheelDrift]

I was going to say these students will one day be leaders of commerce and high ranking decision makers on the national and international scene, but then thought they are all probably sociology students so one day you will be ordering your fast food from them instead.

"the union’s liberation and access officer"

[Mothersruin]

I don't unerstand how wiping history benefits anyone - surely knowing how history has a habit of repeating itself, isn't it wise to learn from it rather than simply make it disappear because the professionaly offended get all shirty?

Anyway, If these morons are the future of the western world, they'll be the cause of its demise when it's walked over by those who will prey on their pathetic sensibilities. I don't care, I'll be dead, just glad that I grew up in a world where it was still fun for the most part.

[anonymous-user]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's a cultural trait of the English to do that so you can be confident it's not racist.
Own the insult.

[TTwiggy]

Mothersruin said:

I don't unerstand how wiping history benefits anyone - surely knowing how history has a habit of repeating itself, isn't it wise to learn from it rather than simply make it disappear because the professionaly offended get all shirty?

Which hasn't actually happened here. Some silly kids have made a protest in the way that silly kids are prone to.

Mothersruin said:

Anyway, If these morons are the future of the western world, they'll be the cause of its demise when it's walked over by those who will prey on their pathetic sensibilities. I don't care, I'll be dead, just glad that I grew up in a world where it was still fun for the most part.

No, they'll grow up, get jobs and ultimately vote Tory. Students should do things like this, it's the point of being a student. Are they right? Yes and no. By modern standards Kipling's work could be seen as racist. Pointing this out is fine, censoring or altering his work isn't. 'Safe Spaces' can get fked, but a bit of student action is fine (IMHO).

[poo at Paul's]

He may be racist but he does make...……...

[citizensm1th]

Cultural revisionism is a pox on our university system.

Kipling racist? Probably but he has to be seen in the context of the Times he lived in

[philv]

And to think tney are allowed to vote.

[anonymous-user]

philv said:

And to think tney are allowed to vote.

[citizensm1th]

philv said:

And to think tney are allowed to vote.

So are 80 year olds with dementia

[bitchstewie]

El stovey said:

Probably by todays standards but you can’t judge Kipling or Churchill or Ghengis Khan by today’s moral outlook.

Pretty much what I was going to say.