In its entirety:

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation To call upon a neighbour and to say: — “We invaded you last night–we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us cash to go away.”

And that is called asking for Dane-geld, And the people who ask it explain That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say: — “Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we’ve proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say: — “We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that pays it is lost!” 

Every Social Justice Warrior with a grievance is going to come to you with one hand out and the other in a fist and will have no choice but to pay them off.

Congratulations Starbucks, you just paid the Dane Geld.  Now you will never get rid of the Dane.

This is what happens when they stop teaching the classics in Liberal Arts.  The wisdom of our past is lost.

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By J. Kb

4 thoughts on “Starbucks and Kipling”
  1. Damn, I need to reread Kipling. The man understood human nature and could articulate it better than most.

    1. Indeed he did!
      The problem with Starbucks (and Dick’s) obviously is that being a left wing CEO is not a recipe for a healthy company. Then again, the word “Schadenfreude” comes to mind.
      BTW, speaking of Kipling, there’s a nice movie made from one of his stories: “The man who would be King”. Recommended. It’s set in what I thought of as a made up place until I recently learned it’s a real one: Kafiristan.

  2. They don’t teach Kipling anymore. The claim is he was “racist” because of “The White Man’s Burden” — never mind what it actually says, or why it was written, or Kipling’s other statements and work.

    I think it’s really because of pieces like this one, and Gods of the Copybook Headings, and If. Too many powerful lessons in them that run against what the left wants you to believe.

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