Prince William is in a bit of a pickle after having made remarks at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in London, where he said it was “very alien to see this in Europe,” implying that it’s usually those dark-skinned people in the Third World who suffer from the ravages of war, not “civilized” Europeans.
Daughter of Martin Luther King, Bernice King, tweeted: “Horrific comment. European people ran roughshod over the continent of Africa, pillaging communities, raping women, enslaving human beings, colonizing for profit and power, stealing resources, causing generational devastation. And European nations continue to harm Africa.”
Human rights advocate Qasim Rachid: “How do you have a 1,000-year history of colonialism, a literal 100-year war, launch 2 World Wars, allow multiple genocides, & bomb a dozen nations since 9/11 alone—yet make this type of a statement.”
Numerous examples of Western journalists lamenting the existence of warfare among Ukrainians variously described as “Christian,” “European,” “just like us,” or even “blonde and blue-eyed” are widely shared on social media.
But is racism the only, or even the primary factor in determining who counts as a “worthy victim"?
After all, the British were eager to “help” the people of Libya and Syria, who are not typically considered to be Christian, European, or blond. They did so by killing or attempting to remove those countries’ leaders, and subjecting the nations to civil war and chaos.
Cries of “Save Darfur!” during the Bush administration led to the Save Darfur Coalition and associated groups raising hundreds of billions of dollars and forcing disinvestment from Sudan. (To what actual end?)
But the people of Afghanistan are not considered “worthy victims.” Neither are the long-suffering people of Yemen. Nor are the poor of whatever complexion or background around the world being starved and impoverished by the green new deal.
People are up in arms about the calamities reported to be befalling the Ukrainians, because they are told to be outraged. They are organized and manipulated by the media and social media apparatus that is effectively part of the same financial and military establishment that relies on them to provide an appearance of popular support for their deadly policies.
In this sense, the populations of the trans-Atlantic countries themselves become weapons in the hands of this elite.
