As a Middle Eastern woman living in the West, nobody “oppresses” me more than white leftists. Nobody reacts with more hostility towards contradictory narratives than those who, despite building identities on criticizing Western cultural dominance, embody that same superiority complex when drawing the verdict on foreign truths, and positioning themselves as final arbiters of it. They aren’t “anti-colonization,” they are neo-colonizers. This time, instead of land, they capture and dominate the story. In their minds, however, their role is distorted. They aren’t here in an enforcement or dominating capacity, no. Instead, as righteous defenders of the poor & oppressed. Those who betray that narrative are violently erased, even when the disobedient are from the ranks they claim to save. It is not the “victim” they’re protecting, then, it is their identity as rescuer in the “drama triangle” (victim-perpetrator-rescuer), ironically, at the expense of the victim. They cause immense trauma and act with unbridled cruelty, subjugation, oppression, harassment, humiliation, and erasure, yet remain blind to the violence they inflict (the very violence they claim to be fighting). Why? their ego rupture is recoded as “righteous anger.” So now, the ones meting out injustice are not just the persecutors, but their shadow: the challenged rescuers. This is why western radical leftists are not at war with oppressors, they are at war with the mirror. They are the monsters they hate.
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