White Superiority: A View With Some Serious Blinders

The general idea that whites were the superior race had been around long before the late 1800's, but around this time period, that idea was amplified and turned into a responsibility. What began in Europe as imperialism, eventually morphed into the larger concept of, a "civilizing mission." The beliefs behind this concept were that Westerners could, and should, civilize the primitive non-white peoples. The common view was that white Europeans had the obligation to govern and convert all savages to superior European models. What truly fueled this movement though, was the sense of responsibility that white individuals felt towards the "savages." It was their duty to protect and help shape those who could not do so for themselves in the hopes that one day the savages would be able to self govern based on a Western democracy. The justification for this movement came from the "intention" to protect natives from tribal warfare and from more indecent forms of exploitation by white settlers and business men.

European woman also played a major role in the civilizing mission. As we heard in class, the instinct of these woman to help can be categorized as "maternal imperialism." Woman felt the empathetic need to help and therefore took up positions such as teachers, colonial missionaries, nurses, and some even accompanied their husbands overseas. The thought was that if white woman were present in the colonies, they might be able to prevent "race-mixing," which was very common with European men. If they could eliminate the production of half-legitimate whites, then it would be easier to convert everyone to the superior white ideology.

Soon after the "civilizing mission" had made its way through the borders of Europe, it found itself spreading to the Americans. Exactly like the Europeans, "Americans believed that their civilization had reached unprecedented heights and that they had unique benefits to bestow on supposedly less advanced people." (McKay 813)
The white man believed his burden was that he was too superior and had a Godly responsibility to share that superiority of cultures, traditions, and lifestyles with those considered less.

When in actually the white man's burden is the blinders he maintains when viewing those of a different race.

Sources Used:   

 McKay, John P., et al. A History of Western Society. (page 813) Bedford/St. Martins, 2017.

Orientalism: Why in the World Were These Peoples Grouped Together

Westerners shared a sense of superiority over everyone else. although, they had a strange fascination with them as if they were a new, discovered, different species. A term used by an English scholar by the name of Edward Said. He used it in a way to describe the European fascination with the middle east, Asia, and North Africa in the nineteenth century. Together they are described as the Orient. Western civilization's view on the orient was definitely stereotypical and racist. The sad thing is, is that they had vastly different cultures from each other, yet they weren't really thought of as separate.

It was described especially for the colonies they had because the people in the colonies did look different than them. They must have thought that since they looked different on the outside then they were different on the inside. It also showed how they thought westerners were definitely very ignorant because they described them as unable of understanding the orient without putting in the stereotype they have. They were thought to be uncultured by western society but most never bothered to learn the cultures of the different countries. They thought of the other non-western countries being more savage, and even primitive, and have continued to today. Westernized society is still see as superior and better. Racism is still a big issue. The idea that the west is white, so they are better, is still seen. the view of us versus them is definitely still clearly seen. The middle east is still seen as bad and evil. Many think that all Muslims are terrorists and that they are here to harm us, the west. Not all think this way but many think Christianity is better and Islamic and paganism, seen as non-western civilization is bad.

When I was younger when I though of the word orient my mind went to the Chinese. I didn't realize that the term was used to describe basically all non-western countries. I didn't really know until I read the passage in the McKay book actually. It's weird how people think they can just lump unrelated things and cultures together. People from the middle east are very different to people in Asia. Arabs are different than Indians. They really should not be all described as the orient. The Disney Corporation has been having this problem with the movie Aladdin. They seem to be having a lot of trouble finding the right actors and actresses for the live action. For some reason they can't find Arabs to cast for the movie. Hollywood doesn't seem to have many Arabs that are mainstreamed and popular and they haven't really looked elsewhere. I think they said the actor for the character Aladdin is actually Indian and people are upset about it.

I think an important thing to take away from this topic and this term is that these cultures struggled because they were all put in one group and they had an awful stereotype from the Western people, and putting people into groups does so much harm and doesn't help anyone.

works cited

McKay, John P., et al. A History of Western Society. Bedford/St. Martins, 2017

Gaillot, Ann-Derrick. “Disney's Biggest Problem Isn't Casting, It's Racism.” The Outline, The Outline, 13 July 2017, theoutline.com/post/1909/disney-aladdin-remake-casting-racism?zd=2&zi=idmhrtff.