So, I had a conversation with my sisters husband about politics, he gifted me a book (the power of geography) , which he claimed to be leftist..... because it merely mentioned colonialism. He framed that as anti-white racism and how we, the 'whites', should be proud of our 'accomplishments' and how it's badass that 'we' conquered the entire world.
He then further went on to mention that after colonialism 'ended' the natives didn't know how to do anything, because they kicked the smart whites out.
What the hell do I do about this nutjob? Is there any hope for him? Should I even try to convince him that he's an absolutely moron?
I'm in a somewhat similar boat myself. The BIL is a bachelor in business administration and a pro-business crank. Recently he has started going in hindu nationalist tirades to impress my fascist parents. It is diabolical.
Sometimes I wish we had a cultural revolution so I could snitch on these people.
Hindutva could be framed as an inferiority complex towards white people turned inwards and against minorities to feel more superior, backed by an economic system justifying fascism. With so much to be proud of from India it is telling of a person's lack of inner strength to prostrate before such a failure of an ideology.
Maybe have Vijay Prashad play on the TV (or loudspeaker!) in the background? :)
/edits for clarity and levity
Yeah. It screams a lot of the view that "the only thing that sucked about colonialism was that we were the ones colonised". Anti-colonial education is very shit in India's school curricula probably because of this reason. There seems to be no desire to see colonialism as fundamentally unjust and undesirable. There is zero solidarity with other colonized nations. There used to be friendship with USSR and China at some points in the past but with the plunge into neoliberalism those have been forgotten. On the other hand, Gandhi for one wanted Indians to fight for the British in the Boer War. Maybe there are other examples like that.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." - LBJ
I feel the above has been universalised to some of the colonised.
And your penultimate statement reminded me of another book to add to my reading list: The Mahatma and the Ism by EMS
Wait, is this a book he read? Maybe get him "A Peoples History of the USA" as a kind of counter gift.
Or perhaps even better, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.
There's not a lot that can be done if they're unwilling to learn.
You could try to explain the lies colonialists told, and the systems of oppression they built. You could try to show them the direct results of colonialism, like the famines, the reservations, etc. But if they're closed off from accepting that colonialism was an evil system, perpetrated by white supremacists, you won't be able to fix their issue.
we, the 'whites', should be proud of our 'accomplishments' and how it's badass that 'we' conquered the entire world.
What about Mongols? Wasn't there a famous dude who expanded the empire till Poland? Does it count or is the skin colour not white enough?
Maybe the Mongols were too religiously and racially tolerant and humane, so they weren't "badass" enough for him.
He has strayed far from God and unlikely to return
Probably tempting to cut off your sister and him, but I'd offer another path that will make him much more miserable. If they have or end up having kids... slowly radicalize them. You can probably start young but gotta be careful because kids will just say shit to their parents. But once they're in high school there's a lot of opportunity to just expose them to all sorts of shit that their dad will hate them learning. Probably the easiest thing to do though is be active in politics, belonging to organizations that do things beyond like reading clubs (which are good too), and have your future niece/nephew maybe go along, see stuff, be the cool counter to their asshole dad, and yeah.
Not much else to be done besides... well, I shouldn't say that. Anyway. Oh, by the way!...
Im pretty sure most of the colonialism was done in the name of god, i think he is right on track, after all jesus did say to give on to the cesar what is his, so imperialism has the jesus seal of approval.
Assholes only appreciate bigger assholes.
No hope. You aren't a reeducation camp.
It sounds like as if he has an inferiority complex; his esteem is based on the supposed achievements of others. He is wilfully uneducated and proud of his pseudo-science.
If he is genuinely interested in further reading there is a whole host of books he can be introduced to (How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, A People's History, The Jakarta Method, Darker Nations or more liberal books such as Inglorious Empire, Confessions of an Economic Hitman or 23 Things You Didn't know About Capitalism to name a few). You could even potentially start with the fact that you are not a liberal?
However, you are up against an onslaught of propaganda to justify white supremacism. Relatively recent developments suggest that rest of the world may be slowly turning off that tap of superexploitation so expect to see a lot of coping and seething.
If he has made statements which have frustrated you because you instinctively knew were wrong but could not provide an immediate retort then take it as an oppurtunity for further reading and exploration.
Please take care of your mental health. In practice it will be challenging to persuade him off his delusions so you may want to invest emotionally and in time elsewhere.
/edits for clarity
Addendum - a word about privilege - one cannot choose one's ancestors (biological or cultural) but one can choose not to defend their barbarism, and instead sincerely attempt to understand the world as it is to better it; guilt leading to empty nihilism is useless.
Being civilized means cutting off the arms of children who don't harvest enough rubber for you or whatever
People with this white civilization hardon type of thinking are lost causes imo, fuck em
The amount of time and effort it will take and chances are it still won't change anything makes it not worth it. It is easier to just confront him and shun him if that's an option for you.
If it is worth it for you, you can always take the time to slowly get him to see things differently, even then it may not work.
Doesn't sound like there's any hope for him, apart from magically gaining a sense of human decency, or getting a medical dose of lead.
If all the past 500 years of white racism, genocides, colonialism, and other "accomplishments" are something to be proud of and "badass," though, why's he whining like a little removed about supposedly "anti-white 'racism'?" What's good for the goose, must be good for the gander... Maybe the supposed "anti-white racism" should then be considered a sign that the rest of the world has learned the lessons of the west; maybe actual anti-white racism should be considered hella badass. If he wants to go all darwinist about it, maybe he should consider that perhaps by his logic a "superior," "badass" group of peoples are returning to the forefront, and the weak "whites" whose feefees get hurt by.. objective reality and history, for whom simply coexisting with other peoples is apparently so impossible it's called "white genocide," and whose genes are apparently so weak they get diluted by a drop of "non-white" blood- those wimpy whiteys of the west (no relation to the actually decent Slavs and Celts) are simply returning to their rightful place in the dustbin of history.
I wonder what he would think about that? Maybe it's the rest of the world's turn to be "badass" and teach the west a thing or two. It would be nothing to be ashamed of, rather the opposite after all... right?
I say avoid him. Trying to confront him will probably lead to a fist fight since racists are naturally violent.
Racists are also notorious cowards and running dogs, so a fight should be relatively easy
What the hell do I do about this nutjob? Is there any hope for him? Should I even try to convince him that he's an absolutely moron?
Is your sister okay with the shot he said? She is your best chance for any positive outcome either by convincing him or leaving him.
What does he say about Germans and Italians and Irish not being initially considered "white"?
In plain English call him a racist to his face. Deadpan. Unless you have a good relationship with your sister, I suppose.
Ask him if he'd find it badass if a group of people targeted your family, enslaved them, humiliated them, maimed or murdered anyone in your family who opposed them, created entire media apparatus to convince anyone beyond them and your family that your family is a bunch of savages who need domination in order to "civilize" you, recruited members from your family who were desperate for a way out to work against your family and for them in order to further embed the control over you, slowly eliminate your family to replace them with outsiders and/or force your family to adopt the group's language and culture through threat of violence. And to top it off, do this over the course of entire generations of your family and take credit for anything your family produced as the product of the group's "great men" geniuses.
