You're a Racist, Just Admit It!
For many Progressives, all foreign policy begins with the assumption of America's guilt, the result of colonialism. Colonialism, that most dastardly of historical deeds can be used to explain everything, especially when Americans are involved. This of course really means, white people. White-American colonialism is always the worst kind. Why is it so bad? Because, it's racist!
For instance, when Native Americans killed and colonized other tribes, exploiting them as slaves and raping their women, it wasn't nearly as bad, because it wasn't racist. If Native Americans didn't see themselves as Native Americans, or as members of the same tribe, it doesn't matter. They were, they just didn't know it yet. But, in a couple of centuries, after white-Europeans had developed science, they could be told the truth. That way, they'd know they were victims of racist oppression and then they could demand reparations. That's why most hate crimes are inevitably about white perpetrators and victims of color. Mostly, though, it's about white on black racism, at least for the time being. Maybe, occasionally, some other minority will do, but black and white works best.
For example, it doesn't count if a black man screaming about jihad in Arabic, proceeds to cut off a older white woman's head after trying to convert her and others to Islam. That isn't a hate crime or Islamic fundamentalism. It's work-place violence.
If this sounds dumb as hell, that's only because it is! It's also the perspective of a whole lot of people in very high places; in Hollywood, at The New York Times and in the mainstream media, pretty much anywhere Leftist intellectuals tend to lurk. This is also the presidents perspective—that of a good many academics as well—which the president is alleged to be. Fox news being the lone exception. But, they're a bunch of yahoos, so they don't count. If the unanimity throughout media is not yet absolute, it is quickly getting there.
From this perspective, ISIS are merely victims acting out their aggression in response to colonial oppression. Think of them as a bunch of wayward teenagers like James Dean maybe, or some other alienated group of angry adolescents like The Jets and The Sharks from West Side Story! “They're not really bad, they're just misunderstood!”
Read the recent criticism in the media of Israel's dealing with Hamas and you see the same narrative being played out. Hamas used it's own people as human shields, in order to protect it's weapons caches, launching literally thousands of rockets over the border into Israel an effort to kill Israeli citizens. But in the media, Israel was to blame, because Israel is really just a acting as strong arm proxy for the real bully, America. The fact that Israel killed many more Palestinians than the reverse, only reinforces this theory of inequality. We can ignore that Israel is the only democracy in the region. Or, that there are over a million Palestinians living and prospering, voting and working in Israel, which includes their military and police forces. If the Israelis had to erect a barrier between themselves and the Palestinian territories, the result of literally hundreds of bombings, including suicide bombings by terrorists, that is seen as just one more example of Israeli intolerance.
For something more current, the recent meltdown of Ben Affleck on Bill Maher's show defending Muslims against the claim that radical Islam is a global problem, is a fine example of the progressive disease of willful blindness. For Affleck, radicals Muslims are really just a small part of Islam, perhaps a measly couple a hundred million or so. Sure, throw in the moderates that believe that honor killings are a good thing, including those who would kill anyone who dared to leave Islam, and maybe, you've got another half a billion. But that's it, that's tops! No more than three quarters of a billion at best!
Then, watch and listen how quickly any atrocity involving an American, particularly a white-American, can be conflated into “We” and “Us!” That's right, when it's a mere three quarters of a billion Muslims behaving badly, we must tread lightly, parsing words like grains of sand so as not to offend. It's really just a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch, not a real problem at all. Take any crime ever committed by a white-man against an alleged minority, though, and the white-man in question suddenly becomes a stand-in for every ofay, honky and cracker, every bad intention, every racist thought ever acted out or privately contemplated by an individual of the Caucasian persuasion. Not surprisingly, the various pawns in this game of racial conflagration can easily be moved around the board without little regard for the rules of logic, they simply have to be willing pawns in service of the great cause.
If that doesn't work, quickly move on to some obscure and poorly understood historical event, make sweeping generalizations, always bearing in mind to the keep the “Us” and “We” at the forefront of the debate, and the profound ignorance of the partisan-believers will do the rest.
If you are so inclined, you can easily find reasons to mournfully reject your racist past by taking the sins of the world onto your shoulders, claiming for yourself any and all grievances as just cause for why the world hates you so. Self-loathing is the agreed upon end-game and the beginning of a ritual exorcism which leads to slavery as a form of freedom—or freedom as a form of slavery—in the end, if you're confused, don't worry, your overseers will explain it all, just listen and say yes as often as possible and let the cleansing begin.
In reality, this has little to do with making up for a racist, colonialist past. It is and always has been a way of gaining power. No doubt, some people actually believe it, they are the much needed proletariat whose sheer numbers make them a force to be reckoned with. Their cynical leaders know better, though. In spite of their constant failure, their unwavering belief in themselves is near absolute. Deep within the recesses of their minds is a world of their own making. One where justice, truth and mercy reigns. If they have to turn a blind-eye to the carnage, the broken bodies, the crumbling cities as a cost of sorts, it is a price they are willing to pay; in your blood, your sweat and your tears.
Mark Magula
For instance, when Native Americans killed and colonized other tribes, exploiting them as slaves and raping their women, it wasn't nearly as bad, because it wasn't racist. If Native Americans didn't see themselves as Native Americans, or as members of the same tribe, it doesn't matter. They were, they just didn't know it yet. But, in a couple of centuries, after white-Europeans had developed science, they could be told the truth. That way, they'd know they were victims of racist oppression and then they could demand reparations. That's why most hate crimes are inevitably about white perpetrators and victims of color. Mostly, though, it's about white on black racism, at least for the time being. Maybe, occasionally, some other minority will do, but black and white works best.
For example, it doesn't count if a black man screaming about jihad in Arabic, proceeds to cut off a older white woman's head after trying to convert her and others to Islam. That isn't a hate crime or Islamic fundamentalism. It's work-place violence.
If this sounds dumb as hell, that's only because it is! It's also the perspective of a whole lot of people in very high places; in Hollywood, at The New York Times and in the mainstream media, pretty much anywhere Leftist intellectuals tend to lurk. This is also the presidents perspective—that of a good many academics as well—which the president is alleged to be. Fox news being the lone exception. But, they're a bunch of yahoos, so they don't count. If the unanimity throughout media is not yet absolute, it is quickly getting there.
From this perspective, ISIS are merely victims acting out their aggression in response to colonial oppression. Think of them as a bunch of wayward teenagers like James Dean maybe, or some other alienated group of angry adolescents like The Jets and The Sharks from West Side Story! “They're not really bad, they're just misunderstood!”
Read the recent criticism in the media of Israel's dealing with Hamas and you see the same narrative being played out. Hamas used it's own people as human shields, in order to protect it's weapons caches, launching literally thousands of rockets over the border into Israel an effort to kill Israeli citizens. But in the media, Israel was to blame, because Israel is really just a acting as strong arm proxy for the real bully, America. The fact that Israel killed many more Palestinians than the reverse, only reinforces this theory of inequality. We can ignore that Israel is the only democracy in the region. Or, that there are over a million Palestinians living and prospering, voting and working in Israel, which includes their military and police forces. If the Israelis had to erect a barrier between themselves and the Palestinian territories, the result of literally hundreds of bombings, including suicide bombings by terrorists, that is seen as just one more example of Israeli intolerance.
For something more current, the recent meltdown of Ben Affleck on Bill Maher's show defending Muslims against the claim that radical Islam is a global problem, is a fine example of the progressive disease of willful blindness. For Affleck, radicals Muslims are really just a small part of Islam, perhaps a measly couple a hundred million or so. Sure, throw in the moderates that believe that honor killings are a good thing, including those who would kill anyone who dared to leave Islam, and maybe, you've got another half a billion. But that's it, that's tops! No more than three quarters of a billion at best!
Then, watch and listen how quickly any atrocity involving an American, particularly a white-American, can be conflated into “We” and “Us!” That's right, when it's a mere three quarters of a billion Muslims behaving badly, we must tread lightly, parsing words like grains of sand so as not to offend. It's really just a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch, not a real problem at all. Take any crime ever committed by a white-man against an alleged minority, though, and the white-man in question suddenly becomes a stand-in for every ofay, honky and cracker, every bad intention, every racist thought ever acted out or privately contemplated by an individual of the Caucasian persuasion. Not surprisingly, the various pawns in this game of racial conflagration can easily be moved around the board without little regard for the rules of logic, they simply have to be willing pawns in service of the great cause.
If that doesn't work, quickly move on to some obscure and poorly understood historical event, make sweeping generalizations, always bearing in mind to the keep the “Us” and “We” at the forefront of the debate, and the profound ignorance of the partisan-believers will do the rest.
If you are so inclined, you can easily find reasons to mournfully reject your racist past by taking the sins of the world onto your shoulders, claiming for yourself any and all grievances as just cause for why the world hates you so. Self-loathing is the agreed upon end-game and the beginning of a ritual exorcism which leads to slavery as a form of freedom—or freedom as a form of slavery—in the end, if you're confused, don't worry, your overseers will explain it all, just listen and say yes as often as possible and let the cleansing begin.
In reality, this has little to do with making up for a racist, colonialist past. It is and always has been a way of gaining power. No doubt, some people actually believe it, they are the much needed proletariat whose sheer numbers make them a force to be reckoned with. Their cynical leaders know better, though. In spite of their constant failure, their unwavering belief in themselves is near absolute. Deep within the recesses of their minds is a world of their own making. One where justice, truth and mercy reigns. If they have to turn a blind-eye to the carnage, the broken bodies, the crumbling cities as a cost of sorts, it is a price they are willing to pay; in your blood, your sweat and your tears.
Mark Magula