A Word for American Terrorism
Ethnocider
(eth-no-cider)
Definition - an implementer of ethnocide
Origin - The Sustainable Culture Lab
On Wednesday, when Donald Trump-supporting, MAGA hat-wearing white supremacists stormed the U.S. Capitol, I noticed that many Americans were left speechless. This type of attack seemed unimaginable to so many, and we even struggled to find the word to describe these terrorists. The news described them as protestors, and their supporters called them patriots. Many people watching at home could not find the words, and this linguistic void exacerbated their frustrations. Not being able to articulate what is before you is incredibly frustrating, and one’s anger and dismay will only increase if this linguistic void happens during pivotal moments.
Much of the work at The Sustainable Culture Lab is about addressing America’s linguistic void. As I watched Wednesday’s chaos, I quickly found the word to describe these insurrectionists. Soon thereafter, I explained the nature of this domestic treasonous attack by using many of the weekly words we have already shared in this newsletter. We also produced a podcast to help explain Wednesday’s events.
The word for the terrorists who stormed the Capitol speaks to the heart of what SCL works to combat and raise awareness of. These people are ethnociders. They implement ethnocide.
Ethnociders & Bad Faith
The destruction of African culture to create a chattel slavery system in the Americas is the primary endeavor that launched and normalized ethnocide in the United States. When a culture is birthed and exists to destroy another person’s culture, it is inevitable that the ethnocider will eventually work to destroy their own culture too. When you exist to justify destruction, it will become almost impossible to not justify your own destruction.
The destructive foundations of ethnocide are so problematic that the ethnocider exists to propagate lies. They must lie to the people they interact with because no one would knowingly interact with someone who intends to destroy their culture, and they must also lie to themselves in order to continue their destructive existence. The ethnocider has a parasitic relationship with the world in which they feed off of others’ culture, but they prefer to deny their parasitic dependence on the Other. Therefore to continue their parasitic lifestyle, they must create a narrative that inverts the reality of their parasitic life and proclaims that they are instead independent, self-made creators. America is an ethnocidal society — countless conservative Americans champion our “individualism,” “exceptionalism,” and “self-made billionaires.”
According to Existentialism, this existence based on a lie would be described as bad faith, or mauvaise foi. Traditional bad faith consists of one person consciously lying to another person, and we are discouraged from forming bad faith relationships because they are not built upon trust. In Existentialism, bad faith also extends to the lies that we tell ourselves. By believing a lie to be the truth, we may believe that we are engaging in good faith relationships as we perpetuate bad faith and lies.
Mauvaise foi is foundational to the way of life of the ethnocider. One of the foundational lies of white ethnociders is that the rest of the civilized world depends on European, westernized ideas. This lie means that many white Americans believe that they have to dominate existence and The Other to ensure civility.
The increased diversity of American society and growing political influence of people of color has made many of these white Americans anxious about the future and angry about the present because they cannot fathom an existence where they cannot dominate other people. The attack on the Capitol is a logical manifestation of the ethnocider.
Ethnociders & Destruction
Following Trump’s defeat in the presidential race, American white ethnociders aspired to propagate more bad faith so that they could stay in power. The election was “stolen.” The voting machines were hacked. Pennsylvania and other states engaged in “unconstitutional” voting practices. I’m sure that some people within Trump’s fascist ecosystem knew that they were spewing lies, and an even greater number believed that these lies were the truth. As they disseminated lies, they believed they were prognosticators of the truth. This linguistic war against the truth is a natural progression of Trump’s “fake news” agenda from the beginning of his campaign. They have a culture of bad faith, and when you are willing to destroy the truth it is inevitable that your appetite for destruction will transition from the metaphysical to the physical.
On Wednesday, the American ethnocider attacked the Capitol because they needed to destroy even more of American culture to sustain the lies that are the foundation of their way of life. To the white ethnocider, American democracy is only legitimate when they dominate it. Losing elections because people of color overcame obstructions to their rightful democratic processes equates to an illegitimate theft to the white ethnocider.
The fact that the day before, Georgia went blue, elected the state’s first Black and Jewish senators, and gave the Democrats control of Congress emboldened the ethnocider. Their culture of dominance suffered massive defeats since November. In order to save their culture of destruction, they fought to destroy America’s democracy. They resort to barbarism to create what they would call “civility.”
America’s society is built upon ethnocide, so we are all indoctrinated with a narrative that excuses and normalizes the actions of the ethnocider. However, as we work to become a civil and equitable society, we must emancipate ourselves from and combat the culture of the ethnocider. On Wednesday, we received a stark reminder to the American brutality of the ethnocider, and it should be obvious to everyone that we cannot condone such barbarism.
