Thursday, April 28, 2022

Western civilization is code for Whiteness

Yesterday I reported that "free speech has become a dog whistle", according to NPR Radio and NY Times.

Now the Wash. Post informs us that "Western Civilization is a dog whistle for Whiteness". At least it has the decency to capitalize White:

Fifty years before Samuel Huntington’s book “Clash of Civilizations,” the term “Western civilization” was the title of history courses. The most famous was Arnold Toynbee’s bestseller “A Study of History,” in which he represents “Western Civilization” as the only civilization exclusively made up of the three White “races” — Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean. (By contrast, he states that Black “races” have not contributed to any civilization).

Because “Western Civilization” was (or is) understood to be exclusively made up White “races,” the term could function as a surrogate term for “Whiteness,” including in the preamble of the North Atlantic Treaty: “The Parties to this Treaty … are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples.”

The USA Constitution says something similar.

It goes on to argue that the Slavs of Russia and Ukraine are not truly White. This seems to undermine its earlier point that Ukraine is getting European sympathy because it is White and part of Europe.

The word Caucasian comes from the Caucacus region, so Slavs are certainly Caucasian. Apparently the word White is often used not to mean race or skin color, but to refer to Western Civilization or Christendom. Yes, it is worth preserving. The Chinese author may feel left out by this, but China has its own history, culture, religions, and civilization.

Here are examples of Leftist hysteria over the Twitter takeover. 99% of Twitter employee political contributions went to Democrats. Typical comment:

“If Elon Musk allows Trump back on Twitter, it will be a death blow to the free world.”

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