We go about our lives consuming products made by wage slaves under an oppression machine that is defended through constant mass military slaughter, and then we wag our fingers at a viral video of some schizophrenic saying racist things in order to feel nice feelings about ourselves. That’s what western life is, right there.
In the West, racism exists in two distinct forms: one deemed acceptable within polite liberal circles, and another that is broadly condemned.
The acceptable racism encompasses the normalization of dropping bombs on Muslim families abroad. It includes viewing starvation sanctions merely as tools evaluated on their ability to successfully provoke regime changes. It also involves accepting the imperialist exploitation of the global south as an unquestioned global norm, with disagreements among centrists and progressives only centering on how the spoils should be divided among Western populations.
Meanwhile, the unacceptable racism is the kind that directly impacts other Westerners and whose effects are visible to Western liberals.
For example, when a white woman calls the police on a black man peacefully present in a park, she becomes a social media pariah and is shunned in polite society until the controversy fades. Similarly, a public figure caught using an ethnic slur faces temporary backlash, losing favor with sponsors and studios. This is the ‘wrong kind of racism.’
This dynamic is evident when the Western media ignores multiple Palestinians killed by Western-made weapons on the same day it devotes entire coverage to allegations of “antisemitism” that result mainly in emotional distress for some Western Jews. The first represents the ‘right kind’ of racism—accepted and normalized—while the second is viewed as abhorrent and unacceptable.
Western racism falls into these two categories because civilization itself depends on the polite version, whereas the impolite form serves the powerful mainly as a divisive tactic to fragment Western populations. Often, mainstream Western politics boils down to a culture conflict: one major party supporting both polite and impolite racism, while the opposition backs only the polite kind, ensuring that efforts to eradicate polite racism are sidelined.
The polite racism is fundamentally crucial for the elites today; it underpins their authority rather than functioning just as a mere instrument. Without the imperialist extraction of resources and labor from the global south via coercive means, vast corporations wouldn’t exist to amass fortunes that fuel their manipulation of Western political systems. Without persistent military expansionism and abuses by Western intelligence agencies, those in control of the Western empire couldn’t maintain global dominance.
This explains why Western voters periodically decide only on whether to increase the impolite kind of racism domestically, but never get to vote on maintaining or ending war, militarism, and imperialist pillage abroad. This type of racism—whether called white supremacy, xenophobia, or Western supremacy—is deemed too vital to be left to popular vote.
The Western mindset mirrors this reality. Even many who identify far left politically tend to invest more attention in domestic issues rather than confronting abuses perpetrated by the Western war machine.
Earlier this month, discussions on Left Twitter centered around whether criticizing US military service was a “privileged take,” given that many service members come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many US progressives, who typically criticize ICE and police brutality, showed eagerness to defend individuals serving in the US military—a war machine far more deadly and oppressive than domestic law enforcement.
Seeing things this way implies viewing individuals in the global south as less deserving of humanity than those in the United States. It requires accepting that the suffering caused by US military attacks on, for example, Iranian children at school matters less than the plight of an American beaten by police on home soil. In other words, it treats those foreign lives as less valuable.
Even among some of the more conscious elements in Western society, such attitudes prevail. Yet, the majority remain far less aware and empathetic.
Western civilization is the most brutal and murderous worldwide. Its violence and enslavement are largely hidden because much of it is outsourced overseas, yet that is the truth. We consume goods produced by oppressed laborers under an exploitative system buttressed by relentless mass military violence, all while chastising a viral video of a mentally ill person making racist remarks to soothe our consciences. This encapsulates Western life in its raw form.
We have considerable personal and collective growth ahead. Radical, transformative change is needed—far beyond what many currently envision. The path forward is long, with many injustices across the globe demanding correction.
Original article: caitlinjohnstone.com.au
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