This imaginary of the non-European world as inherently stationary and needing to be dragged [by the West] into civilisation kicking and screaming naturally gravitated towards biological explanations of power relations. Within this context, invocations of […] infantilising tropes were not just distasteful transgressions or individual eccentricities, but rather a way of justifying the imposition and monitoring of a wide range of juridical practices of domination and disciplining.
Ntina Tzouvala, from “Capitalism as Civilisation.”
I was readying a whole rant and your quote covered all my points succinctly. But I want to feel like I’m part of the discussion so I’ll just regurgitate relevant stuff from media I enjoy
“Centrism isn’t change – not even incremental change. It is control. Over yourself and the world. Exercise it. Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of Coalition airships hanging there. Ask yourself: is there something sinister in moralism? And then answer: no. God is in his heaven. Everything is normal on Earth.”
