the new racism

By alice | September 20, 2005

One of the things that amazes me (in the sense of “doesn’t anymore”) most about the modern variety of “liberal”-ism is its racist element. “No, folks, they’re not like you and me: they are poor, downtrodden, useless idiots who can’t do anything without the help of a charity-organisation-full of nice middle-class white people who did arts subjects at university.” That sort of thing. People who think they are helping the cause of world peace and racial harmony by treating anyone dark-looking like a stray disabled mongrel. As the new racists have a co-dependent relationship set up with quite a lot of those they like to patronise, it all works fine; the racists get to feel benevolent and superior, and everyone else gets free gifts. Perfect, and yet also very very bad.

A lot of this sort of thing is behind Western liberal attitudes towards the Middle East. Women’s rights? Gay liberation? A say in who gets to run your country? These things are sophisticated advances, only suitable for white Westerners, it seems. Even religion, the modern liberal’s Root Of All Evil, is alright for those people, the simple folk who don’t know any better. Rage is reserved for members of Us who should know better, mostly one George W. Bush. It’s fine to be a fundamentalist if you are brownish and live somewhere foreign, backward and/or hot.

The Palestinian video-faking sheninigans that have been going round the blogosphere, eg. via Belmont Club, are a symptom of the new co-dependent arrangement between some Westerners, in this case the Palestine-supporting media and their victimhood-addicted partners of convenience. The (probably quite unconscious) idea is that the media gets to feel and look sympathetic and benevolent while the Palestinians get to attract more sympathy and benevolence.

But it also shows that those poor dumb people are not quite as poor and dumb as they look. They are actually pretty skilled at the marketing and manipulation involved in giving people what they want. Terrorism, being psychological warfare, is all about appearances and advertising: strategies like winning land are basically irrelevant, which is why Palestinians have refused every deal offered by Israel over the years. Not only that, by they have apparently even done so without anyone noticing. The average Palestine-supporting Westerner’s eyes glaze over when you present them with words like “Oslo agreement”. They assume that Palestinians are a) innocent, b) stupid and c) victims. The idea that they might engineer something in order to look good is out of the question.

Yet that’s all terrorism can ever do. And we know who the experts are at this. The sad thing is, it doesn’t do them much more good than it does the people they kill. You can’t start building a real life or society until you stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for yourself. But why bother if acting the victim brings you perpetual sympathy and help? What Westerners need to do is learn to recognise the difference between genuine human sympathy and patronising emotional parisitism. They do both exist, and they are not the same thing. And the fact they are often hard to tell apart is no excuse for not trying.

3 Comments »

3 Responses to “the new racism”

chandira Says:
September 21st, 2005 at 5:56 pm

“That sort of thing. People who think they are helping the cause of world peace and racial harmony by treating anyone dark-looking like a stray disabled mongrel. As the new racists have a co-dependent relationship set up with quite a lot of those they like to patronise, it all works fine; the racists get to feel benevolent and superior, and everyone else gets free gifts. Perfect, and yet also very very bad.”

Thanks Alice, I’ve been looking for a way to say that for a while… mutual exchange.. :-) Thanks for the comment on my blog!

gcotharn Says:
September 22nd, 2005 at 2:28 am

I completely agree that liberal racism is behind much liberal attitude towards democratic progress in the Mid-East, and also is behind the coddling of Palestinians. In both cases, liberals figuratively pet the simple people on the head while observing “Oh, how can we expect such simple people to measure up to civilized standards?” This is pretentious and shallow RACISM, coming from dim liberals who spend their days trying to convince the world of how intelligent and clever they are.

Something else – this
“You can’t start building a real life or society until you stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for yourself”,
reminds of Connie Du Toit’s “free will” commentary, and something which struck me at the time. It’s frequently asked: “Are we at war with Islam?” To whatever extent a portion of Islam refuses to acknowledge free will, we are. When Iran declares an official government policy that
“Women’s hair emits dangerous rays, which debilitate men’s ability to submit to Allah”,
we are at war, at least ideologically, with whoever or whatever promotes such perverse claptrap.

Alan Says:
September 28th, 2005 at 6:31 pm

Maybe democracy isn’t the best thing for middle-easterners? Maybe while our ideal is the white picket fence, theirs is mayhem and bloodshed? At least by comparison, anyway.

Re. women’s hair, I agree… I can’t remember ever being even slightly distracted by a woman’s hair ;-)