Teju Cole is the author of Open City, which won this year's PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
The White Savior Industrial Complex
By Mar 21 2012, 7:15 AM ET1- From Sachs to Kristof to Invisible Children to TED, the fastest growth industry in the US is the White Savior Industrial Complex.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
2- The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
3- The banality of evil transmutes into the banality of sentimentality. The world is nothing but a problem to be solved by enthusiasm.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
4- This world exists simply to satisfy the needs--including, importantly, the sentimental needs--of white people and Oprah.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
5- The White Savior Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
6- Feverish worry over that awful African warlord. But close to 1.5 million Iraqis died from an American war of choice. Worry about that.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
7- I deeply respect American sentimentality, the way one respects a wounded hippo. You must keep an eye on it, for you know it is deadly.
-- Teju Cole (@tejucole) March 8, 2012
For full story and context go here -
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/?single_page=true
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