Racialism
From RationalWiki
Racialism is sometimes considered synonymous with racism, but often refers to frightening racial ideologies rather than mere run-of-the-mill bigotry. While racial prejudice is irrational, racialism attempts to rationalise it into a coherent doctrine. Examples of racialist governments include Nazi Germany and South Africa under apartheid. Examples of racialist pressure groups include the Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan.
Some forms of racialism are based on flawed interpretations of Christianity, and others on flawed interpretations of science (including evolutionary theory) and pseudoscience. Sometimes the term scientific racism is thrown in to reinforce such theories. Diagrams showing the skull shapes and measurements of various races were used in racialist justifications for slavery during the 19th century, and appeared again in Nazi propaganda. Another facet of racialism is to refer to races in esoteric racist jargon. For example, racialist wiki Metapedia categorises races into "Caucasoid", "Negroid" and "Mongoloid". And, yes, the Metapedia entries for these terms do include skull measurement diagrams.
Most racialists believe in some sort of hierarchy of races, and since in most cases they are white supremacists, this usually puts the caucasian (or 'Aryan')[1] race firmly at the top. While all racialists are certainly racist, not all racists are necessarily racialist, although the more stupid ones may be a target for racialist propaganda.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Or, in Metapedia's case, "Caucasoid".
