Western dominance rested on organized violence, not superior ideas

Evidence

The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 140 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It is now absolutely clear that white people are a minority in the world—so severe a minority that they now look rather more like an invention—and that they cannot possibly hope to rule any longer. If this is so, why is it not also possible that they achieved their original dominance by stealth and cunning and bloodshed and in opposition to the will of Heaven, and not, as they claim, by Heaven’s will? And if this is so, then the sword they have used so long against others can now, without mercy, be used against them. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1141 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Other researchers have demonstrated that, contrary to Allport’s argument, violence does not require a history of animosity at either the group or individual level. Weingast (1997) has shown that social groups can become poised for armed conflict, even when they have a history of good relations and a preference for peace, if political institutions fail to safeguard each group’s interests and mutual trust is undermined. At the individual level, experimental research has shown that organizational factors alone transform ordinary people with no personal pathologies or prior hostility into demons who torture and punish their victims for minor infractions or for no reason at all (e.g., Milgram, 1974; Zimbardo, 2004). … Such organizational factors include instructions that permit or legitimize the use of violence, a chain of command that relieves perpetrators of responsibility for their acts, the assignment of anonymous identities to perpetrators, and granting pervasive powers to perpetrators without threat of retaliation or sanctions. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 655 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Western peace was bought by exporting violence to an outside that is Western essence — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 454; The West conquered the world through superior organized violence, not ideas — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 140; Violence in the Western only carries meaning within a rule-governed moral economy (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• The West conquered the world through superior organized violence, not ideas #corroborates (1.00) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 140
• White global dominance was achieved through violence, not divine right #corroborates (0.95) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1141
• The form of violence reflects institutional structure, not underlying hostility. #complicates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 655