The world's movement today is away from separation, divide and conquer, and rigged pyramids of "superior races" over "inferior races." What's happening in the world marks the real end of a period that started at least three centuries ago. And I'm glad to see it end.
Writing articles on race theory back in the 60s and 70s, I'd never have predicted the events we're witnessing now in Tahrir Square or Tripoli. I'd never have guessed that the Southern or Mediterranean races would refuse to accept an economic order that's weighted against them and towards Northern industrial nations. And I believe there is much more to come.
For every twist and turn in the road, in the old days, someone could be found to amend race theory to take the new direction self-servingly into account. But now we're seeing the fall of the paradigm itself that gives rise to self-serving theories of race. Our world is becoming strong and free, never mind just for the Northern "races."
Goldwin Smith must be pleased, smiling down from heaven on us now, and raising a glass from those always-temperate climes he must find himself in, far, far away from cold weather and self-serving minds.
Having seen the way it works out, after fearing the worst in human nature, I have to say that I too am pleased. The human spirit has triumphed in the end and I hope we've all learned from the experience. Race theory was one of the depths we plumbed. Now let's plumb the heights.
Footnotes(1) Stephen M. Beckow, --Keeping British Columbia White': Anti-Orientalism in the West, 1858-1949. Canada's Visual History; series 1, v. 14. [Ottawa]: National Film Board of Canada with the National Museum of Man, 1974; Theories of Anglo-Saxondom. National Museum of Man, 1974; "From the Watchtowers of Patriotism" Journal of Canadian Studies, 1976.
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