Benevolent assimilation further humiliates the person it claims to equalize

Evidence

To assure the black that he is exactly like the white man, while he obviously is not, is secretly to wrong him still further. He is benevolently humiliated by the application of a standard by which, under the pressure of the system, he must necessarily be found wanting, and to satisfy which would in any case be a doubtful achievement. The spokesmen of unitary tolerance are, accordingly, always ready to turn intolerantly on any group that remains refractory: intransigent enthusiasm for blacks does not exclude outrage at Jewish uncouthness. The melting-pot was introduced by unbridled industrial capitalism. The thought of being cast into it conjures up martyrdom, not democracy. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 117

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to later critiques of ‘color-blindness’ in critical race theory and to Fanon’s account of the Black subject measured against white norms. — connects to: A co-opted spokesperson’s assimilation shames rather than liberates those they claim to represent — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 636; Prejudice has mutated into benevolent forms that sustain inequality; Benevolent, sugar-coated treatment of subordinates enlists them in their own oppression — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 768 (+2 more)
• SEED: Article angle on the liberal use of ‘representative’ success stories as a form of benevolent humiliating comparison — Adorno diagnoses this in 1951.

Broader Connections

• A co-opted spokesperson’s assimilation shames rather than liberates those they claim to represent #corroborates (0.92) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 636
• Reversing prejudice into its positive mirror image still dehumanizes its object #corroborates (0.90) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 55
• Benevolent, sugar-coated treatment of subordinates enlists them in their own oppression #corroborates (0.85) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 768
• Prejudice has mutated into benevolent forms that sustain inequality #corroborates (0.80)
• Attempting to appropriate the Other destroys the incarnational freedom desire sought #corroborates (0.78) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 989