The Intellectual Hypocrisy of the West is Exposed on the Palestine Question

The mask of superiority and inferiority which the so-called Western imperialist intelligentsia, with a misguided epistemology, has used to subjugate the entire human race has been repeatedly challenged and uncovered, though the exposure still didn’t make a final impact at the global level.

However, today the indiscriminate killing of thousands of Palestinians by the modern occupation power of Israel, supported by several western states that spawned colonialism, belies their claim of false superiority – their so-called transformative thesis of humanity, human rights, justice, democracy, universality, etc. 

The failure of all these ideas in Western adaptation, for an ideal world was inevitable as they were fundamentally crafted out of erstwhile policies of colonialism. Therefore, these humanistic elements are deemed only to support their mission of neo-imperialism and when this target is not met, they all collapse with all exposure as in the Palestine question. Similarly, “the root cause of Western complicity in Palestinian oppression lies in colonialism and imperialism.” [1]

It is imperative to erase this line of superiority and inferiority on mankind. Under the guise of self-claimed superiority (in today’s terms of modernity and development), this epistemology re-establishes neo-imperialism, invisible today, just as it created open colonialism in history. Only the form and word change, while actions remain the same – for example, ‘reforms’ got the name of ‘development’ and ‘savagery’ or ‘barbarism’ became terrorism which gave them their legitimacy.

The formation of a political, cultural, economic and administrative hegemony without a physical military establishment replaced the open acquisition of foreign territories in historical colonialism and the establishment of settlements there. (Of course, this practice still continues in many places today.)

This dependency theory and neocolonialism of the West was extensively discussed by multiple postcolonial studies. Guanese historian Walter Rodney in his 1972 book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa has sketched a realistic picture of this phenomena of exploitation.

Origin of Superiority and Inferiority Theory

The conception of this monstrous doctrine in Western theory began to boil after the 15th-16th centuries in Europe as a result of uncontrolled explosion of intellectual deviation. European society before the 15th century, which historians call the Dark Ages, is characterized as a time of ‘barbarism, ignorance and superstition’.

Religious persecution, royal authoritarianism, exploitation of peasants and workers, dehumanization of women, and other absurdities were common. Frustrated with these established inconsistencies, scholars of the time began to offer their opposing theories or anti-thesis as solutions. Society reached two extremes. [3]

Eventually, as great industrial development, unprecedented scientific breakthroughs, and dramatic lifestyle changes occurred, they began to replicate this process in other parts of the world. 

Armchair thinkers continued to affirm that this was a process of social change. They have now passed from infancy and reached ideal civilization. The situation might be similar in other parts of the world. Any social and environmental norms must be overcome to achieve Western progress. They claimed that the West is superior in terms of culture, religion, ethnicity, arts, literature and all other aspects of civilization.

Conversely, all the rest are labeled as inferior and uncivilized. Not only that, but by force they began to apply their rules of development to other worlds. And colonialism started under the pretext of this reformation. [4] 

In fact, this superiority theory originated with Western intellectual development. Charles Darwin first tried to prove through the Theory of Evolution that like other biological species, humans evolved from some primitive ancestors through the process of natural selection.

However, Darwinism was later conflated with other developments outside of biology by concerned scientists. Some experts are also of the opinion that this dangerous theory had a clear influence on Hitler’s Nazism, which saw the Nordic race as superior to other races and resulted in the killing of thousands of Jews. [5]

However, influenced by this Darwinism, Herbert Spencer applied evolutionary theory to cosmology, philosophy, and other social sciences. Then English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor in his book Primitive Culture further strengthened the concept of cultural evolutionism. Is this the similar evolution of western mentality? According to him, all cultures have evolved through three successive stages of development: savagery, barbarism and civilization as suggested by French political philosopher Montesquieu.

The West is now at the stage of civilization and the rest are either of the two – that’s their discourse! 

On Palestine

However, their colonial interests faced strong resistance from many parts of the world, especially Muslim regions in Africa, Arab, South and Southeast Asian countries as Islam stood as an anti-colonial resistance. This resistant spirit of Islam became the main target of Western intellectuals.

Moreover, divisive theories such as Clash of Civilizations which was argued by American political scientist Samiul P. Hantington, began to emerge. A link can be found rooted in these theories that almost all Western powers today support Israeli atrocities against Palestinian Arab Muslims regardless of traumatic humanitarian disaster. That is there, the colonial hypocrisy or duplicity under the mask of humanity is exposed. 

Yet, sadly, the world intellectuals do not realize that today over 30,000 Palestinian people, including women, elderly and children are being killed in broad daylight by Israeli attacks (just in the last four months). A CNN assessment of late January says – the conflict has killed one in 100 people in Gaza. [9] According to Al-Jazeera, The latest death toll stands at 35,287 Palestinians and about 1,139 people killed in Israel since October 7. [7] 

In Palestine, a small area of 365 square kilometers, the Gaza Strip, has been destroyed by Israeli rocket attacks, making it uninhabitable. The homeless population is fleeing from one place to another under the shades of missiles, but even there they are not spared. [8] The Israeli army is firing rockets up to Rafah, the last town on the Egyptian border. The homeland of the Palestinian people has been tightened for themselves. The Egyptian border in front, the Mediterranean Sea on the left, Israeli rockets behind and houses in ruins – the entire city, hospitals, schools, nothing left. 

Finding no protection in Europe, the so-called land of human civilization, millions of Jews sought refuge in Palestine. They were welcome. But, inspired by Zionism, they became the state of Israel in 1948. The settlement, despite international laws, threatens the existence of the Palestinians in their own homeland. Needless to say, the so-called peace-seeking Britain and other Western powers acted as instigators of this conflict between Jews and Palestinian Arab Muslims. 

Then the movement gained momentum with the demand for a full Palestinian state for its own people. Nakba 1948-49, Suez Crisis (1956), Six Day War (1967), 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Lebanon War (1982), First Intifada (1987-1993), Second Intifada (2000-2005), Gaza War etc. are some notable moments of self-rule freedom struggle. Millions of Palestinians have been displaced and became homeless in the meantime, while many have left the flag of freedom struggle in the hands of their children forever. 

The world, subjugated to Western intellectualism, is watching in silence. Of course, many have been freed from this subjugation of bias and protested for the sake of truth and justice. Moreover, if this reality still remains hypocritical, future history will surely remember it. 

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References

[1] Mannathukkaren, Nissim. 2023. “The hypocrisy of Western democracy.” The Hindu, December 11, 2023.2 Rodney, Walter. 1972. How Europe underdeveloped Africa. N.p.: Howard University Press.

[2] Davies, Norman. 1996. Europe: A History. N.p.: Oxford University Press.

[3] Goldsmith, Edward. 2002. “Development As Colonialism.” World Af airs 6 (2).

[4] Weikart, Richard. 2013. “The Role of Darwinism in Nazi Racial Thought.” German Studies Review 36 (3): 537–56.

[5] Long, Heather, and Kelly Chakov. n.d. “Social Evolutionism.” The University of Alabama. Accessed March 5, 2024.

[6] Hopkins, Benjamin D. 2014. Islam and Resistance in the British Empire. N.p.: The Past & Present Book Series (Oxford Academic).

[7] Kottasová, Ivana, Kareem Khadder, and Richard A. Greene. 2024. “Gaza: One in 100 people has been killed since October 7.” CNN, January 8, 2024.

[8] Al Jazeera. 2023. “Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker.” October 9, 2023.

Bibliography

Al Jazeera. 2023. “Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker.” October 9, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-a nd-charts-live-tracker. 

Davies, Norman. 1996. Europe: A History. N.p.: Oxford University Press. 

Goldsmith, Edward. 2002. “Development As Colonialism.” World Affairs 6 (2). https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/wa/wa_apr02_goe01.html. 

Hall, Stuart. n.d. “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power.” Analepsis. Accessed March 5, 2024. 

https://analepsis.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/hall-west-the-rest.pdf. 

Hopkins, Benjamin D. 2014. Islam and Resistance in the British Empire. N.p.: The Past & Present Book Series (Oxford Academic)). 

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199668311.003.0008. 

Kottasová, Ivana, Kareem Khadder, and Richard A. Greene. 2024. “Gaza: One in 100 people has been killed since October 7.” CNN, January 8, 2024. 

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/08/middleeast/gaza-death-toll-population-intl/ind ex.html. 

Long, Heather, and Kelly Chakov. n.d. “Social Evolutionism.” The University of Alabama. Accessed March 5, 2024. 

https://anthropology.ua.edu/theory/social-evolutionism/.

Mannathukkaren, Nissim. 2023. “The hypocrisy of Western democracy.” The Hindu, December 11, 2023. 

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-hypocrisy-of-western-democracy/art icle67624903.ece. 

Rodney, Walter. 1972. How Europe underdeveloped Africa. N.p.: Howard University Press. 

Weikart, Richard. 2013. “The Role of Darwinism in Nazi Racial Thought.” German Studies Review 36 (3): 537–56. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43555141.