Liberal rhetoric can mask imperial racism as benevolence

Evidence

The Obama era therefore came to be characterized by a shift to liberal imperialism and liberal Islamophobia. The key characteristics of liberal Islamophobia are the rejection of the “clash of civilizations” thesis, the recognition that there are “good Muslims” with whom diplomatic relations can be forged, and a concomitant willingness to work with moderate Islamists. Liberal Islamophobia may be rhetorically gentler than conservative Islamophobia and (as we will see in chapter 10) the language of the “Islamophobic warriors,” but it is nonetheless racist and imperialist in that it takes for granted the “white man’s burden.” It doesn’t occur to the likes of Nye, Albright, and Haass that it is for ordinary people in the Middle East to make decisions about their societies. Self-determination does not enter their framework—and “benevolent supremacy” remains unquestioned. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 430 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Hobson argued imperialists used humanitarian rhetoric as a moral fig leaf — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 253; Neoliberal responses to anticolonialism mirrored liberal imperialist culturalist alibis. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 914; Liberal rights discourse has historically justified rather than opposed empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 72 (+29 more)

Broader Connections

• Liberal hegemonic soft power rhetoric masked imperial ethnocentric racism. #corroborates (1.00)
• Human rights rhetoric masks imperial assumptions that racialize colonized peoples #corroborates (1.00)
• Liberal Islamophobia is racist and imperialist despite its gentler rhetoric #complicates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 430
• Liberal remorse functions as a form of racism #complicates (0.90)
• Nineteenth-century liberal thinkers held racial-imperial views inseparable from their writings #complicates (0.80) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 75
• Imperial rhetoric about Wahhabism reflects internal tensions in British liberal-authoritarian ideology #complicates (0.80) — Robin Alexander Plant, Discuss the Relationship Between…, 20
• Modern racism needed both colonial domination and liberal societies #complicates (0.80)
• Diversity rhetoric leaves empire-directed structural anti-Muslim racism untouched #complicates (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 44
• Colonial radicals weaponized British liberal traditions of free speech against the Empire #complicates (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1228
• The same liberal rhetoric served both anti-racist and racist colonial ends #complicates (0.80) — Julia Stephens, The Phantom Wahhabi, 156
• Liberal free-speech defenses can function as entitlement racism #complicates (0.70)