I’ve just spent a week in a very white place. The snow fell solidly for two days, and everything was white – the air, the ground, the trees, the streets. And to complete the picture, the houses, in the little seaside town south of Oslo, blended in perfectly, being painted pure, brilliant white. When I got back to a green(ish) Scotland, I didn’t sigh with relief, “Thank goodness, I’m finally out of that racist hellhole.” But perhaps I should have.
According to Norwegian academics, “whiteness” and “white supremacy” are terms to take literally, and the colour white, in particular the white paint that is so commonly used on Norwegian houses, equals racism. Had it been the first of April, I would have assumed this was a hoax, but alas this is serious, state-funded stuff.
From the research project ‘How Norway Made the World Whiter (NorWhite)’ co-authored by Ingrid Haland, an associate professor at the University of Bergen, we learn that:
Whiteness is one of today’s key societal and political concerns. Within and beyond academia worldwide, actions of revolt and regret seek to cope with our racial past. In the pivotal works in whiteness studies within art and architecture history, whiteness is understood as cultural and visual structures of privilege. The new research project ‘How Norway Made the World Whiter’ (NorWhite) funded by the Research Council of Norway (12 million NOK), addresses a distinctively different battleground for politics of whiteness in art and architecture. Two core premises underpin the project: Whiteness is not only a cultural and societal condition tied to skin colour, privileges, and systematic exclusion, but materialise everywhere around us. Second, one cannot understand this materialisation without understanding the societal, technological and aesthetic conditions of the colour itself.
Following this inane logic, I should be ashamed at owning a white house, but perhaps pleased that my parents’ cabin in the mountains is painted brown? Or is that cultural appropriation?
This state-funded project (everything in Norway is state-funded, by the way) goes on to say that it will show how Norway, although not a “conventional colonial power” (what’s an unconventional colonial power?), has nevertheless “played a globally leading role in establishing white as a superior colour”. A grandiose claim that perhaps requires more evidence?
“Until now, however, this story has been lesser known to scholars and the public,” the description reads. Not for much longer!
NorWhite will connect the challenging topics: whiteness, technological innovation, and mass-exploitation of natural resources in a single case study. The research project will study the Norwegian innovations the chemical compound titanium dioxide (TiO2) and the white pigment titanium white in a historical, aesthetic, and critical lens – focusing on how the innovations transformed surfaces in art, architecture, and design – in order to show how aesthetic – and thereby societal – transformation is driven by technological development.
Just how anyone has been oppressed by white paint remains a mystery, but I’m sure the authors of the study will enlighten us once they’ve used up their 12 million kroner budget (almost £992,000).
Some might say it’s rather arrogant to assume that Norway painted the world white, but it’s true that the origins of modern, white paint are Norwegian. As the authors say, the process of making white paint with a far better coverage than previously obtained was invented in 1916 by two Norwegian chemists, Dr Peder Farup and Dr Gustav Jebsen (incidentally, a relative of mine). But rather than taking pride in this achievement, the study seeks to problematise and degrade it. I have no reason to believe Drs Farup or Jebsen were white supremacists simply for discovering a chemical method that separated the iron and titanium in the mineral ilmenite to produce pure, non-toxic white paint, but then I don’t have the creative imaginations of Whiteness Studies scholars.
More recently, scientists at Purdue University developed a new super-white colour of paint so bright “you might need shades” – the ultimate form of white supremacy! Perhaps my ancestor will be let off the hook, then.
The project is curiously also receiving funding from Titania AS and Kronos Titan, the companies that pioneered the production of white paint starting in the 1920s. Maybe they believe all publicity is good publicity.
The history of white paint is interesting enough in itself, so why would postmodernists meddle with it by applying their “critical lens”? I guess grievance scholars stick to what they know best: grievance studies. There is only a linguistic connection between the whiteness of paint pigments and whiteness as applied in critical race theory and whiteness studies. Whiteness is hard to define – perhaps on purpose. If it’s connected to skin colour, it’s a very misleading term. At least I’ve never seen anyone with “skin as white as snow” outside the Brothers Grimm fairytale. A child could tell you that the shade white (which simultaneously contains all the colours and none) has nothing to do with the skin colour of any living beings. Why else would the peachy crayon that children call “skin colour” even exist? Such basic, childlike knowledge evades even the cleverest woke academics.
The premise of this project, namely that Norway “made the world whiter”, is built on a false premise. White was always a popular shade. In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity. Romans wore white togas to symbolise citizenship. White was the most common shade for new churches and government buildings from the 1800s onwards. It’s an important colour in several religions, often symbolising purity, innocence and virginity. “Whiteness” is not even necessarily connected with skin colour according to those who delve into racist theories.
Whether the grievance scholars are running out of ideas, or conjuring up demons where none exist so they can get the credit for slaying them, the truth is that this project deserves ridicule. And not £992,000 of taxpayers’ money.
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But I am not white in the sense of white paint, I am an odd pinkish shade. My only white bit is my hair, and even that is not really white.
“Is white paint racist?”
I don’t care. So what if it is?
You should care about
Within and beyond academia worldwide, actions of revolt and regret seek to cope with our racial past.
Because these people are not only siphoning off your money, they additionally want to kick you in a face as a gesture of Thank you. Ceterum censeo academia esse delendam.
Yes, I certainly care about that. I guess the point I was making is that more or less any and all accusations of “racism” should just be ignored and not engaged with, as they are just a windup.
What?
Assuming this refers to the Latin: Thats a sligh bastardization of something Cato the Elder is said to have used to end all his speeches in the Roman senate:
Ceterum censeo carthaginem esse delendam.
Apart from that, I think that Carthago must be destroyed.
Two core premises underpin all of these ‘projects’:
Norway has been a colony (ie, a dependent territory) from 1380 – 1905. It never had any colonies of its own.
I think there’s another core premise, which is that “goodthinking” whites who like to feel virtuous feel uncomfortable with how successful European civilisation has been compared to, for example Africa. White guilt, not necessarily because of colonialism (though this is how they rationalise it) but because of our good fortune/success.
I think that’s an induced neurosis: It’s basically what was done to the Germans after 1945 in order to turn them into harmless and useful sheeple applied to the rest of the world with cosmetic modifications, ie, swap Nazis for empire, keep everything else.
Yes, induced neurosis. Leading to our downfall. Very sad.
In this respect, I’m decidedly optimistic: This will end. Probably not during my lifetime (considering that I’m already 50), something I very much regret, but so be it. The madness is accelerating because it becomes steadily more difficult to hold the inevitable outcome at bay.
I hope you’re right for the sake of my kids. It could get quite nasty before it gets better though.
When do we get to the awkward question of the colour of the paper the report is going to be printed on..?
I hope none of these Norwegian academics are interested in the preservation of polar bears!
‘…and the colour white…’
Point of order: white is not a colour nor is black.
White is a combination of all wavelengths (colours) of visible, black is an absence of any visible light.
’Person of colour’ refers more appropriately to White people, being a composite of colours, whereas Black peoples have no colours.
Black is now the new Master Race… bend a knee in worship and subservience.
Yep! Diaspora needed! All these people who come out with this insanity need to be given a country of their own to rule as the ultimate Wokeland. They can be helped travel there by their current countries. Presumably all the ‘oppressed’ minorities they talk about will flock there and leave the mythical evil ‘White Supremacists’ to rot. The fact that many of these ‘White Supremacists’ will be black or Asian will no doubt cause much shaking of heads. Maybe we should call this Wokeland ‘Golgafrincham Ark Fleet, Ship B’!
Alternatively I’ll happily up sticks and take my elderly parents to a new country that is free of woke crap.
The other two-thirds of the population stayed on the planet and lived full, rich and happy lives until they were all wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone.
always had an awfully prophetic feel to it since March 2020. That was supposed to happen to us had we dared to let larger universe go unsanitized for too long.
Let no one ever say that academic race and gender hucksters don’t know when they’re onto a good thing. £992,000.00? KA-CHING! £€$¥!
It’s so depressing eh? I’ve worked with many of the theories these people are abusing and stress testing to breaking point. I know people like this at my own university – they really are this wigged out … or maybe just marinated in cynicism too long. The tragedy is that if/when the tide turns, necessary studies into genuine examples of racial intolerance that have material effects on real people in the here-and-now will become unfundable.
An idea I’ve recently been entertaining is that they’re not genuinely different from their erstwhile associates (partially common drug career in the 1970s) still roaming the streets and molesting everyone for spare change, except that they don’t do change anymore, they want millions. But they share the same heartfelt disregard for anybody who pays them: Stupid host animals ready for plucking[*]. Referring to Norway as conventional colonial power is very close to claiming that it becomes dark after sunrise, ie, they don’t even bother to come up with remotely credible justifications.
[*] the German rupfen has a conotation of relieving someone of his surplus money via con tricks.
“We’ve Reached peak woke”
Every time I here this statement, something else pops up to surpass the last woke one!
The stars are white, the moon is, most of the planets shine white but, space is black, thank goodness for that!
No doubt we’re ‘white supremacists’ because we know dark matter exists, but can’t see it…
But wait, I thought white paint, at least on roofs, is good to help cool the overheated planet….
Don’t rainbow colours make white?
Stand in the Park – Make friends & keep sane
Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Elms Field
near Everyman Cinema & play area
Wokingham RG40 2FE
Surely these people have better things to do than focus on what is clearly a pointless and insane observation. Not even ‘white people’ are white and ‘black people’ are not black. We have different shades of pigmentation from a pinky/browny/beige through to darker brown. That’s it. End of. Enough with the nonsense!
More emotive, irrational, mentally imbalanced drivel
I was going to comment but I really can’t be bothered it’s such nonsense.
20 years ago we had the “Don’t say black bin liners” nonsense. People laughed. They thought maybe it was funny. Now they know it wasn’t funny in the least. —————— Because it is usually the loudest voices that get their own way, what we have seen in the last 20 years is the black bin liner nonsense expand into every conceivable crack in society where good people stayed silent. Everyone says they believe in free speech, but only if people keep controversial views to themselves. So while we all kept controversial views to ourselves the wokerati were empowered to march relentlessly on, capturing institution after institution, planting the flag of victory on top of every building, knocking down statues, obliterating history, deciding that classical music is the art of dead white people, and maths is white people’s truth. so that today no politician dares to explain what a woman is. No politician will ask about the cost or benefit of NET ZERO because they will be trashed as a “climate denier”. ———Ideological cleansing takes place all over the western world and white people are now duty bound to attend classes on their “white privilege” if they expect to move on in their career. No CLASS, No PROMOTION. ——-I recall some years ago doing some training for a new job. The class (which curiously consisted of 6 white people) completed the training and were ready to start work, when we were given a little speech, which went something like this —-“You will all no doubt have noticed that there are a lot of Indian, Muslim and Asian people working here. Should any of you say anything to offend or upset these people you may face disciplinary action and possible dismissal” ——-We were then asked if any of us had any questions, and since I really was not too fussy about this job I decided to ask this ————“If an Indian, Muslim or Asian person offends or upsets me will they also face disciplinary action and possible dismissal”??????? ————In all my life I have never witnessed a jaw drop to the floor so fast and remain there. —-The black bin liner has a lot to answer for.