100%. First it was communism, then it was radical Islam.
Consider the following: both of your examples originate in the context of internal affairs, if it weren’t so there wouldn’t be a reason for McCarthyism and anti-terrorism activity. China keeps to itself and doesn’t have any relevant ties to domestic actors that could be persecuted, so you can’t make the jump from internal problem to external problem and the comparison doesn’t make sense. On Greenwald’s point, people don’t seem to want to admit this because of their attachment to the cultural norms of the Democratic-voting contingent of American society, but there is no contradiction between condemnation of China in the context of external affairs and white supremacy or whatever else in the domestic context. They could even tie it all together and say that the Chinese are doing white supremacy on the Uighurs and it’s racist to say they don’t need to invade China to free the Uighurs, I bet many people would eat that up too.
there is no contradiction between condemnation of China in the context of external affairs and white supremacy or whatever else in the domestic context. They could even tie it all together and say that the Chinese are doing white supremacy on the Uighurs and it’s racist to say they don’t need to invade China to free the Uighurs, I bet many people would eat that up too.
Step away from the Lathe of Heaven
There’s historical precedent, too. During the Bush years, people would get called misogynists for opposing the Iraq war because the US government was allegedly going to turn Iraq into a modern liberal democracy and liberate the local women from traditionalist religious oppression. And if you didn’t think that was doable, you’d get called a racist because you’d be implying Arabs were inherently less capable of being decent people than Americans. At least that’s what I hear from people on the internet who say they’re old enough to have been aware of politics back then.
You don’t have to go back. They’re doing that regarding pulling out of Afghanistan right now.
