The Postmodern Fascism A to Z
E: Ethnomasochism
In social psychology, the concept of group polarisation[i] is used to describe the tendency of a group of people to adopt a more extreme version of the individuals’ initial position.
Group polarisation is the phenomenon through which:
1 – An individual interacts with people holding similar opinions
2- This interaction consolidate an individual view (confirmation bias[ii]: Other people arguments supports the individual position or idea)
3- It results in the development of more extreme attitude.
In short, in the face of opposing opinions we tend to moderate our arguments while in a supportive environment, surrounded by people holding similar perspectives (confirmation bias), our position is reinforced and intensified.
Group polarisation is often explained with the concept of social comparison theory[iii] whereby individuals seek to produce an accurate self-evaluation of themselves by comparing themselves to others.
As individuals, we yearn to know whether we meet society norms, fit in with peers, or if we need to adjust our behaviour to conform with the group. We gauge our skills and abilities against others as well as evaluating opinions and attitudes. And as there are no objective standards to measure opinions and attitudes, social comparison offer us a benchmark.
Social comparison can lower self-esteem (if we don’t compare well) or appeal our narcissistic personality (if we compare better). According to this theory, due to our desire to be accepted by the rest of the group, we are constantly reassessing how other members present themselves and readjusted our opinions and attitudes to present ourselves in a favourable position. We aim to be positively different from others, and consequently adopt more extreme stances. This individual polarisation, through a knock out effect, causes others to adopt similar radical views in order to be, in turn, seen as being respectable.
Nowadays, in western societies, the darkest hours of history (slavery, colonialism, 20th-century totalitarianism…) are a tremendous source of shame. There is no greater fear than being labelled a racist. Persecution, public verbal humiliations, and social death can ensue from the accusation of racism. Consequently, in western societies, individuals strive to signal that they believe everyone should be treated equally regardless of their skin colours.
However, driven by their desire to be better, the narcissists who endeavour to appear more virtuous than the group have embraced xenophilia: the love and overvaluation of “the others”, the magnification and veneration (implicitly or explicitly) of foreigners, non-western cultures, the preference for ethnicities different from theirs.
Motivated by the need to feel superior and their fear of ostracism, polarised westerners gave birth to an even more extreme stance. They began to display psychological and ideological attitudes perpetually denigrating their own history and culture.
Westerners prostrated and humiliated themselves before the group to demonstrate their abilities to go above and beyond the antiracist norm. They submit to their peers pressure, swallow the anti-western propaganda and embrace self-hate: Ethnomasochism, the self-punitive counterpart of xenophilia, a concept whose paternity belongs to the late French journalist and writer Guillaume Faye (1949–2019).
Ethnomasochism is an ideology of shame, the guilt of white men, judged oppressors by essence in reason of their skin colour, accused of being responsible for all the evils past and present. Ethnomasochism is the contempt for oneself, for one’s own ethnicity and culture, a contempt so powerful, so polarised, that it becomes hate.
Ethnomasochism climax with transracial identity i.e. whites who reject their racial identity and prefer to identify as belonging to another ethnicity. As an example, Rachel Dolezal, is a white woman who passed as black and served as president of her local NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)[iv]. She claimed black ancestry and Native American descent. She was a civil rights activist involved in the academic circles and in 2015, she taught at the Eastern Washington University topics such as African History, African American Culture and Africana Studies.
She was also a recognised figure of the Black Lives Matter movement in his region until June 2015 when her claims about her ethnicity, race and background contradicted by her biological parents being of German and Swedish origin, became the subject of public controversy.
In response, Rachel Dolezal justified herself by saying that whiteness felt foreign to her and that ethnicity and race are social construction whether it matches or not tangible appearances. However and ironically, Rachel Dolezal strived to look (physically) like a black person, she tanned her skin and braided her hair.
Yet, the most visible symptom of ethnomasochism is not transracial identity but the culture of repentance, the public manifestation of endless apology, sometimes official and institutional, for a fault that one claims to have committed (or one’s ancestors have supposedly committed) and for which, one asks forgiveness.
The culture of repentance is an ideological weapon that serves only to bruise the memory and identity of westerners, to sully their history, make them feel unconditionally responsible and assume guilt for all the wrongs in the world with no contextual consideration (e.g. colonialism, slavery, racism…).
The culture of repentance is a form of tribalism demanding to every white person alive today to apologise for the crimes perpetrated by some in the past. Oppositely, polarised westerners wallowing in the culture of repentance along with xenophilia, go all out to find an excuse for the current and actual crimes committed by individuals from non-white minority groups (culture of excuse).
And so, while the individual responsibility dwindles for whites in the face of the weight of collective guilt, for others, ethnomasochism provide an alibi for their misdeeds (e.g. this person became a criminal due to the white supremacy and racism in Western society).
Ethnomasochism and the culture of repentance have been ingrained into westerners minds thanks to a long propaganda enterprise in schools and universities. This narcissistic complexion is nowadays amplified by social media: it is socially acclaimed, fashionable and can also be lucrative.
This “white guilt” and self-hatred is promoted at the highest levels of states with memorial laws, annual commemoration on set dates, official requests for forgiveness, and even financial compensation.
Those who resist, or accused of being racist, are chastened, and with group polarisation, the narcissists who endeavour to be the most virtuous continuously call for harsher and more extreme punishments.
[i] https://dictionary.apa.org/group-polarization
[ii] https://dictionary.apa.org/confirmation-bias
[iii] https://dictionary.apa.org/social-comparison-theory
[iv] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11776765/Race-fakers-America-unmasked-outrageous-racial-imposters.html