I pity the fool (787-793 but especially Kipling)

Perhaps the greatest and most ridiculous conceit of all Europe's great and ridiculous conceits is the deep-rooted conviction, the illuminating conviction that overtakes men sometimes in daytime aspirations to godliness, that Europe is above all else selfless.  The illusion of selflessness is ridiculous in and of itself; more ridiculous still are the black-and-white, day-and-night terms by which Kipling proclaims himself Jesus-like:  "Take up the White Man's burden... To seek another's profit/ And work another's gain."  Kipling is easily persuaded, but it is a tragedy of humorous proportions that his drawing is at best totally wrong.  Less humorous and far more disturbing is the patronizingly racist language of the whole poem, which, like the hilarious illusion of selflessness, will become the leitmotif for Europe into the twentieth century.