More about Eurocentrism

[Paul Mackin]

Had another thought on the subject of Eurocentricism (brought up by
Greg). It has to do with what seems like the tendency to hold people of
European origin to higher standards of behavior than others.(not that
such expectations are often fulfilled) . For example the question of
American Indians having slaves. That wasn't as bad as the American
colonists having them because of the Enlightenment "rights of man" type
stuff being promulgated . Well, maybe so. But it IS a form of
Eurocentrism,  isn't it?

The idea of higher standards for Europeans comes up, perversely of
course, in a marvelous set piece in Philip Roth's _The Counterlife_.
just reread on MalignD's recommendation. In the "Aloft" section, the
security guy  on the El Al plane is lecturing the young, confused,  by
now only semiconscious, Jewish would-be-hijacker and Nathan Zuckerman
his unfortunate seat mate on how Gentiles really feel about Jews. The
dumb kid had thought Gentiles saw his people as their judges over the
Holocaust and his attempted highjacking of the plane was to protest so
much Holocaust emphasis as counterproductive with regard to
Jewish/Gentile relations. But the security man who claims to be only an
uneducated gas station attendent from Cleveland but who also happens to
be a Freudian goes into a long disputation  about how this is all wrong.
The Gentiles including the Arabs don't hate the Jews for thier Superego
but for their Id. It's not their being unwelcome judges that's the
problem but that they take too  much whereas  by now they should have
learned better and of course since they are Europeans they should behave
like it and not like the Arabs who naturally don't care about any such
niceites.   Anyway the whole situation does mesh with old Eurocentric
notion that more should be expected of Europeans.  I'm not telling  the
story very well but  I'm convinced it's somehow relevant (in some
perverse way perhaps) to whatever it is we've all been talking about.


P.