Or we can imagine an italian who moves to Sweden and is not reeeealy considered white, over there. Does that mean only the most exclusionary concept of whiteness is true?
Forget Sweden, I know Italians who couldn't move into certain neighborhoods here in the northern US as late as the 1990s
Italian was considered a different racial category from northern European as late as the 1980s, I've seen it on official job applications
Italians also just look different in a way which doesn't exist for Irish Polish or even Russian people. They're darker, and they look more proximal to Arabs or Mexicans depending on who you ask.
Rather, an european who reminds our latin american comrades that they are very much not western and "to be honest we don't even consider the czechians western" is merely exercising once again the power to define who is or isn't [ingroup] that is characteristic of whiteness and westerness.
well yea, because that's what whiteness is. It's exclusionary. It's not exclusionary to say "the whitest whites don't consider you white". That's not racism, that's just observing reality.
This whole debate is pointless because "Western" is just another weasel word, a euphemism, a dogwhistle, for "White". The point was to make it sound softer and tamer, and the fact that this debate even exists, means they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. "The White World" sounds awkward and racist to the POC across the globe, but "The Western World" sounds soft and tame and inclusive--mission accomplished!
They can basically say "White interests" by saying the word "Western", and the White supremacists know the sound of the dogwhistle, they can claim plausible deniability ("it's not based on race, I swear!") and even half a continent full of Latin Americans will have millions of people clamoring about how they're "totally Western actually" even though most of them would be facing deportation as a LEGAL US CITIZEN in many towns and states.
Forget Sweden, I know Italians who couldn't move into certain neighborhoods here in the northern US as late as the 1990s
Italian was considered a different racial category from northern European as late as the 1980s, I've seen it on official job applications
Italians also just look different in a way which doesn't exist for Irish Polish or even Russian people. They're darker, and they look more proximal to Arabs or Mexicans depending on who you ask.
well yea, because that's what whiteness is. It's exclusionary. It's not exclusionary to say "the whitest whites don't consider you white". That's not racism, that's just observing reality.
This whole debate is pointless because "Western" is just another weasel word, a euphemism, a dogwhistle, for "White". The point was to make it sound softer and tamer, and the fact that this debate even exists, means they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. "The White World" sounds awkward and racist to the POC across the globe, but "The Western World" sounds soft and tame and inclusive--mission accomplished!
They can basically say "White interests" by saying the word "Western", and the White supremacists know the sound of the dogwhistle, they can claim plausible deniability ("it's not based on race, I swear!") and even half a continent full of Latin Americans will have millions of people clamoring about how they're "totally Western actually" even though most of them would be facing deportation as a LEGAL US CITIZEN in many towns and states.