The Legacy of the Angry White Man
“There is nothing more frightening in America today than an angry White man” concludes John Blake in an article made for CNN in 2020.
This angry White man has been a major character throughout US history. He gave the country slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans, and Jim Crow laws. His anger also helped to fuel the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. It’s this angry White man — not the Black or brown man you see approaching on the street at night — who poses the most dangerous threat to democracy in America”.
This ranting is well in line with the last decades of growing propaganda against “the white man”, who is often pictured as an angry, middle-aged, chubby guy with receding hairline. This blame game received a fuel injection during the peak of the “Metoo” movement when basically every man was a legitimate target. So, is there any substance to these allegations?
Well, if you go back in time a few hundred years the answer is probably a clear and resounding YES! Consider the crusades, colonialism, imperialism, slavery and more recent events such as racism, sexism, abortion laws and serial murderers. These are of course not solely the deeds of white men but you can easily make the case that white men have been extremely overrepresented.
In 1899 Rudyard Kipling wrote the famous poem “The White Man’s Burden” in which he encourages the annexation and colonization of the Philippine Islands. Kipling defines white imperialism and colonialism in moral terms, as a “burden” that the white race must take up in order to help the non-white races develop civilization.
But these examples are taken out of context, in the rearview mirror of history when we have all the answers. And who is black and who is white and who is something in-between? And more important, the failures and deeds of the white man must be weighed in with the great achievements. Let’s mention a few of them:
Science is primarily an achievement by white men and the list of scientists that have helped us understand and change the world is endless: Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein are just a few of them.
Democracy originated in ancient Greek and was also practiced in the Roman Empire. It developed in Europe during the middle ages and the modern form evolved with the British Empire during the 19th century. This is of course a simplified view and slightly contradictory since the idea of democracy originally included wealthy white men.
Technical inventions: let’s face it, the greatest inventions of the 19th and 20th century came from white males. The printing press, electricity, steam engine, automobile, telephone, radio, television, vaccination, computer, airplane, anesthesia, semiconductors, nuclear fission and internet where all developed by white men.
Cultural masterpieces. Art, music and literature is more than anything a European phenomenon. You will of course find great works in every culture but few can compare to Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Sebastian Bach.
Explorations. Again the list is endless but lets mention a few: Christopher Columbus’ explores the West Indies, Scott and Amundsen Race to the South Pole, Captain James Cook’s voyage for the Australis Incognita, Charles Darwin and the voyage of the Beagle, The Travels of Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the Earth, Charles Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic, Edmund Hillary Conquers Mount Everest… and so on.
Deeds and achievements. Nothing is black or white. Not even chubby white men.
