Whiteness as an ideology must be dismantled. Consumption, domination, hyperindividualism, etc are all tenets of whiteness and subsequently capitalism.
I’m with you in some of what you’re saying but this is an extraordinarily poor and non Marxist idea. Where did you hear this? Capitalism is the result of “whiteness”? You surely must have misspoke?
I didn’t say that capitalism is the result of whiteness, just that they’re inexorably linked together. Colonialism is what ties the labor aristocracy and racial hierarchy together. The “culture” of the United States includes consumption, etc, all the things I mentioned but those ideals are solely colonial ones.
didn’t say that capitalism is the result of whiteness, just that they’re inexorably linked together.
This is either the same thing or even worse. This entire thread is bizarre and for me just demonstrates how insular and far removed from humanity American culture has become.
Exactly what it is about a lack of melanin causes people to decide to exploit others and appropriate their surplus value is a theory I can’t wait to hear. Perhaps hypervitaminosis D is the fundamental process causing a kind of atavistic savagery and sociopathy? This is the best hypothesis I can manage with all generosity and it’s wacky as fuck. Please explain yours.
If you believe that capitalism is an inevitable stage then it can emerge anywhere the conditions allow for it. If capitalism had emerged in Africa you’d be telling me that capitlism and blackness are inexorably linked together.
Lack of melanin is not the same as whiteness. Whiteness is not biological. It is socially constructed. Once upon a time Itialians and Irish were not considered white. What was considered white among “hispanic” peoples is quite inconsistant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans Recently liberals have been happily calling Russians “orcs” even though they are also fair skinned.
Whiteness is a super-structural phenomenon to contrast people that are “colored”. The differentiation gives preferential treatment to “white” people over “colored” people. To eliminate whiteness is to eliminate white supremecy. You can have cultural ties to English, Irish, German, or American culture without being “white”.
During the start of European colonization of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the mythology of white supremacy and the burden for white people to “civilize” these people is the justification for colonization. White supremecy was created to justify colonization, genocide, and slavery. All of these allowed colonizing nations to believe that they are justified to exploit the non white peoples for wealth. These attitudes carried over into capitalism and also used to exploit people of color for greater profits. The white proletariat were exploited but not to the extent of the colored proletariat.
It is up to radicals to push back against the inertia of history. If we don’t work to destroy whiteness, white supremacy will continue. We have to acknowledge the wealth stolen for generations, psychological harm inflicted for generations, and if one is understood as white, distance themselves from their whiteness. Destroying whiteness destroys coloredness. Only then can people just be people.
Lack of melanin is not the same as whiteness. Whiteness is not biological. It is socially constructed.
According to who? Anyway, we were talking about racism and skin colour. Something people experience solely on the basis of their appearance. You’re moving the goalposts here. Telling American police that it’s okay, you support the empire and are actually white won’t change their behaviour.
According to the people who made it up? We didn’t create this social construct, it was a group of people who justified the atrocities of colonialism by attributing it to their skin color. Because it’s a social construct it must be dismantled.
I’m with you in some of what you’re saying but this is an extraordinarily poor and non Marxist idea. Where did you hear this? Capitalism is the result of “whiteness”? You surely must have misspoke?
I didn’t say that capitalism is the result of whiteness, just that they’re inexorably linked together. Colonialism is what ties the labor aristocracy and racial hierarchy together. The “culture” of the United States includes consumption, etc, all the things I mentioned but those ideals are solely colonial ones.
This is either the same thing or even worse. This entire thread is bizarre and for me just demonstrates how insular and far removed from humanity American culture has become.
Exactly what it is about a lack of melanin causes people to decide to exploit others and appropriate their surplus value is a theory I can’t wait to hear. Perhaps hypervitaminosis D is the fundamental process causing a kind of atavistic savagery and sociopathy? This is the best hypothesis I can manage with all generosity and it’s wacky as fuck. Please explain yours.
If you believe that capitalism is an inevitable stage then it can emerge anywhere the conditions allow for it. If capitalism had emerged in Africa you’d be telling me that capitlism and blackness are inexorably linked together.
Lack of melanin is not the same as whiteness. Whiteness is not biological. It is socially constructed. Once upon a time Itialians and Irish were not considered white. What was considered white among “hispanic” peoples is quite inconsistant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans Recently liberals have been happily calling Russians “orcs” even though they are also fair skinned.
Whiteness is a super-structural phenomenon to contrast people that are “colored”. The differentiation gives preferential treatment to “white” people over “colored” people. To eliminate whiteness is to eliminate white supremecy. You can have cultural ties to English, Irish, German, or American culture without being “white”.
During the start of European colonization of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the mythology of white supremacy and the burden for white people to “civilize” these people is the justification for colonization. White supremecy was created to justify colonization, genocide, and slavery. All of these allowed colonizing nations to believe that they are justified to exploit the non white peoples for wealth. These attitudes carried over into capitalism and also used to exploit people of color for greater profits. The white proletariat were exploited but not to the extent of the colored proletariat.
It is up to radicals to push back against the inertia of history. If we don’t work to destroy whiteness, white supremacy will continue. We have to acknowledge the wealth stolen for generations, psychological harm inflicted for generations, and if one is understood as white, distance themselves from their whiteness. Destroying whiteness destroys coloredness. Only then can people just be people.
According to who? Anyway, we were talking about racism and skin colour. Something people experience solely on the basis of their appearance. You’re moving the goalposts here. Telling American police that it’s okay, you support the empire and are actually white won’t change their behaviour.
We’re taking about different things here.
According to the people who made it up? We didn’t create this social construct, it was a group of people who justified the atrocities of colonialism by attributing it to their skin color. Because it’s a social construct it must be dismantled.