THINGS PEOPLE WOULD NOT BE TOTAL MORONS ABOUT IF THEY KNEW A LITTLE HISTORY #1I used to sort of shrug and laugh it off when people told me that a history degree was worthless, especially back when History was only one of my minors. Passively, I would all but agree with them. These days, however, I am beginning to realize that a lot of general stupidity would be remedied if your average Jane, Dick or Harry would learn a little bit about their own past. Like, not even obscure history. I am about to dig into some real
basic stuff here.
For example, if white people knew a little more about their own History, they would be less total morons about
RACISM.
White people never fail to get a bee in their bonnet whenever the equation:
Racism = Prejudice + Power- is brought up. The first mistake they make is to go automatically on the defensive and assume that the conversation is all about them. If they read a little history, they might learn that there are other situations in the world in which Prejudice and Power come together much like it did in, saaay, America during the slave trade. For example, if you were a Korean experiencing Prejudice while living in Japan, this would qualify equally since Japan holds a lot of institutionalized stereotypes against Koreans and has also brutally subjugated their country several times in history. But, I digress.
The second (worse) mistake white people make is to assume that if the conversation IS about them, it is an unfair assessment. This is because they lack knowledge of their own cultural history. They might have heard about a little thing called
Imperialism- y'know, those few centuries where white Europeans oppressed, exploited and enacted genocide on pretty much
everyone else- but they think of it as a thing far in the past. And besides,
Racism Has Always Existed.
1. It is not so far in the past. (White) Imperialism is still alive and well today; it has adapted to suit the times. This is because Imperialism did not happen very long ago at all.
2. While it is true that humans have long hated each other over issues as minor as slight cosmetic variation, it was Imperial Europe that purposefully and consciously constructed the idea of "race" as a tangible, genetically defined concept. They created the language and the modes of thought that racists use to this day.
Let me explain a little bit about the idea of "race" and it's history.
The early Western explanation for skin-tone variation was Biblical; they believed that everyone on Earth was descended from the three sons of Noah- Shem (Semitic- Asiatic), Ham (Hamitic- primarily African) and Japheth (Indo-European). There was a xenophobic moral judgment cast upon dark skin (Ham was sinful and so his sons were dark), but there was ultimately an assumption that "all men are brothers"- there are only spiritual differences, not biological ones.
The Greeks and Romans flirted with the idea of biological variation, but many Roman thinkers adhered to the idea of environmental determinism- people looked different because they lived in different environments from each other and had to adapt. This was also the popular mode of thought in the Islamic scientific community (where there existed a rudimentary theory of evolution already in the 9th century). As far as the Eastern Empires go, I'm fairly certain that they were more concerned with tribal and regional affiliations than cosmetic vartiations, but don't quote me on that one. I am a student of Western culture and history (which, yes, includes the "Middle East").
The term "race" as we know it today- to denote differences in human beings on a
genetic and
biological as well as cosmetic level- did not come into use until the "Age of Exploration", ie; the dawn of European Imperialism. With the "discovery" of resource-rich land populated by "strange" new people, the Europeans began to draw lines in the sand:
"Those who surpass the rest in prudence and talent, although not in physical strength, are by nature the masters. Those, on the other hand, who are retarded or slow to understand, although they may have the physical strength necessary for the fufillment of all their necessary obligations, are by nature slaves." - says Juan Gines Sepluveda, debating whether or not the native peoples of South America have a soul. Much of Sepluveda's argument speaks from a religious standpoint, but passages like this demonstrate an emerging system of observation and oppositional definition/categorization. This form of pseudo-science became especially popular (COINCIDENTALLY) around the time that the Western Economy came to depend on the subjugation of non-white people. Theories like
Phrenology were developed to give tangible weight to racial classifications.
Orientalism arose as a way to belittle "the East" without diminishing scientific and artistic achievements from Eastern countries that the West valued (because those achievements were similar to their own). "Race" was a huge fad in the Victorian era especially where it was a common form of entertainment to display people from distinctive African tribes- such as
Saartjie (Sara) Baartman, the "Hottentot Venus"- as a show for the general populace. These shows were purportedly to satisfy "scientific curiosity", but they were often exploitative and sexual in nature. Europeans turned "the other" into an animal; into a
different species because that was the only possible way to justify the brutality of Imperialism. It wasn't just about war or religion or xenophobia or hate, it was about the
complete denial of non-white humanity.By which I mean to say:
OH SNAP, FELLOW WHITE PEOPLE. OUR ANCESTORS INVENTED MODERN, INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM.
And I'm not even talking about our WAY distant ancestors, I'm talking about our RECENT ancestors. Think about when your grandparents were born; my grandfather was a child in England during World War II, but his parents and their parents lived in London during the height of British Imperialism ("the sun always shines on the British Empire"). My mother owns a medical textbook from 1898 that includes a large section justifying racism using phrenology. My great-grandmother (whom I got to know quite well before she died when I was seventeen) grew up in the 1910's when this form of science had yet to be disproved. If you think that three generations is enough to erase centuries of ingrained stereotypes and justifications, you are deluding yourself. Just remember: it is quite possible that your
grandparents at one point in their lives believed racism was fact as surely as we believe gravity works. If not your grandparents, your
great grandparents; members of your family that lived long enough to buy you Christmas presents.
When a person of colour (or even another white person) suggests that white culture is still overwhelmingly racist, you are not being asked to account for all racism from and against everyone in the world. You are DEFINITELY NOT being asked to defend your own culture. You are only being asked to accept responsibility for your history and the negative aspects of it that still influence your unconscious everyday thoughts and actions.
The solution: stop bitching and read some history.
<3
Sources: My Course Packs from 'West and the World' and 'Victorian Culture'. 'A Concise History of the Middle East', 'Reading the Middle Ages', an essay I wrote in my first year of University, outside knowledge and google/wikipedia. :D Yes, WIKIPEDIA (which handily sources it's statements to help you out in figuring out how reliable they are). Thanks to the internet, history IS that easy, kids!
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kaiousei at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
prolific_geeks.
bitchy
bored
amused
groggy
thoughtful
morose
cheerful
aggravated
pessimistic
hot