Race and Syrians

Published by

Clarissa

January 9, 2016

The word “racist” and “racial” is used a lot to refer to the treatment of Syrian refugees, and I find that ridiculous and offensive.

Syrians are, of course, of the same race as Frau Merkel and as myself. The idea that semitic people are somehow not of the same race as non-semitic Germans was very beloved by Hitler who took it to very bad places, as we all know.

Today, people are parroting the idea that the semitic people are somehow not “really white”, believing that this makes them more enlightened and progressive. However, that’s precisely where their racism becomes obvious. If a Syrian is accepted as white, he won’t really deserve any compassion or assistance. He needs to be imagined as non-white for Europeans to pity and condescend to him. As white he’d be threatening because he’d be seen as an equal. As non-white, he won’t be seen as an equal, so it’s OK to patronize him.

An even more ridiculous instance of this is when people accuse Israeli Jews of being “racist” towards Palestinians. Constructing Jews as white ⇒ hence, just like “us” ⇒ hence, treated with familiarity and held to the same or higher standard as “us” and constructing Palestinians as non-white ⇒ hence, not like “us” ⇒ hence, implicitly held to the standard of “well, what do you expect from these poor, backwards creatures?” is an act of imagination that is deeply racist in nature.

It would not be any more stupid than declaring Russians and Ukrainians as belonging to different races and analyzing the war of Russia against Ukraine as a racist aggression. Neither would it be any more stupid than declaring the dislike of Ukrainian refugees in Europe an act of racial animosity.

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9 responses to “Race and Syrians”

David P. Bellamy

January 9, 2016

This is a fascinating analysis of racism and where and why the term applies. I think I am going to have to argue that race is a social fantasy with has no basis in biological reality. Of course, this idea that race is a social construct was first promoted by anthropologists. I hope that does not invalidate it in your view.

I have a very high opinion of the discipline of anthropology.

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1. Clarissa
  
  January 9, 2016
  
  “I think I am going to have to argue that race is a social fantasy with has no basis in biological reality.”
  
  Race is definitely a construct that has attached so much meaning to trivial things like nose shapes, etc that its value as a tool of analysis is nil.
  
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Stringer Bell

January 9, 2016

I’m with David here. Race to me seems like a social construct. Obama is as white as he is black but that doesn’t seem to stop racists from hating him.

Re: Syrians, the lesson about them being the same race as Germans should probably be given to racists first. Do you think a Trump supporter is nuanced enough to know this? Anyone with a ‘muslim-sounding’ name from the middle east is an automatic target for these fuckheads.

To say that opposition to Syrian immigration isn’t motivated at least in some part by racism because they’re white too is disingenuous. Racists don’t know this!

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1. Clarissa
  
  January 9, 2016
  “Syrians, the lesson about them being the same race as Germans should probably be given to racists first. Do you think a Trump supporter is nuanced enough to know this?”
  
  What is the likelihood of a Trump supporter hearing me out and managing to understand what I’m saying? I’m sure we can agree it’s non-existent.
  
  “To say that opposition to Syrian immigration isn’t motivated at least in some part by racism because they’re white too is disingenuous. Racists don’t know this!”
  
  The tragedy of the situation is that both the opponents and the supporters are equally in thrall to this vision of race. The actual difference between them is that the first group exorcises the terror of the Other by imagining it as inhumanly scary and dangerous and the second group exorcises the same terror of the Other by imagining it as pitiful, helpless and feminized.
  
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2. danmillerinpanama
  
  January 9, 2016
  
  I support Trump for the reasons stated here back in September.
  
  As to race, I am fully aware that Islam is not a race, that there are White, Black and Yellow Islamists and that the problems facing Europe are not substantially racial.
  
  Islam and its Qu’ran, Hadith and Sharia based rejection of the rights of women are among the major problems currently facing Europe and the European Union. It’s part the perception of women in Islamic culture too, but that is based on Islam.
  
  Fortunately, the tendency of the media to cover up Europe’s Islamist problem seems to be diminishing.
  
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Stringer Bell

January 9, 2016

“The tragedy of the situation is that both the opponents and the supporters are equally in thrall to this vision of race. The actual difference between them is that the first group exorcises the terror of the Other by imagining it as inhumanly scary and dangerous and the second group exorcises the same terror of the Other by imagining it as pitiful, helpless and feminized.”

This is a false equivalency. Or, at the very best, an academic one.

On the ground, however, to say that me being moved by, for example, Palestinian people having to live outside without shelter in the middle of winter because their house was blown to smithereens by indiscriminate bombing carried out by Israeli forces represents an ‘exorcism of the terror of the Other’ on par with a racist’s blind hate for muslims is frankly insulting.

I categorically reject this idea. I think it’s sophistry.

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1. Clarissa
  
  January 9, 2016
  
  “On the ground, however, to say that me being moved by, for example, Palestinian people having to live outside without shelter in the middle of winter because their house was blown to smithereens by indiscriminate bombing carried out by Israeli forces represents an ‘exorcism of the terror of the Other’ on par with a racist’s blind hate for muslims is frankly insulting.”
  
  I really love it when people ascribe bizarre ideas of their own making to me and then proceed to debate them passionately. And I’m not being sarcastic, I do love it because it’s a sign that the argument resonates with people and they try to hide from it behind this kind of distortion.
  
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  1. jeff
    
    January 9, 2016
    
    So what’s a non-racist way to support Palestinians? Does it exists?
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      January 9, 2016
      
      Of course. There are crowds of people who support Palestinians without any need to imagine them as being of a different race than Jews.
      
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