The Manufacturing of Hatred: How States Weaponize Racism for Profit

 

The Manufacturing of Hatred: How States Weaponize Racism for Profit

Human beings love to pride themselves on being rational creatures, yet nothing unites a tribe faster than a convenient, state-sanctioned enemy. We like to pretend that racism is an ancient, organic disease bubbling up naturally from the human heart whenever two different cultures collide. History, however, reveals a much colder and more cynical truth: bigotry is rarely accidental. It is almost always a carefully manufactured tool of resource extraction and political control.

In her groundbreaking research on nineteenth-century Chinese migration, historian Mae Ngai dismantles the lazy myth of the "coolie"—the persistent racist caricature that Chinese immigrants were mere unthinking pawns, devoid of individual will, serving as hyper-efficient cheap labor. From the gold rushes of California to the frontiers of Australia and South Africa, white-settler colonial governments did not stumble into anti-Chinese hysteria by accident. They engineered it.

When economic downturns hit or when white miners failed to extract quick fortunes, political elites needed a scapegoat to redirect the wrath of the restless populace. By codifying exclusion laws and inventing derogatory myths, the state successfully transformed hardworking competitors into subhuman outsiders. Racism was deployed as a regulatory valve, a way to control labor markets and protect domestic political hierarchies.

The mechanics of this power game have barely changed. Today, geopolitical competition with China effortlessly recycles these nineteenth-century tropes. Modern factory workers in special economic zones and Asian-American students are routinely reduced to the same dehumanizing caricature: robotic drones who lack human agency, flooding the market to undercut the locals.

We are told that hate is a spontaneous eruption of ignorance, but that is a comforting lie told by the very systems that profit from division. Racism is a policy product. It is manufactured in legislative halls and boardrooms to keep the herd fighting downward so they never look up at who is truly holding the reins. Until we recognize bigotry as a calculated tool of economic management rather than a moral failure, the old machine will keep grinding out new targets.

racism, history, human nature, power dynamics, Chinese immigrants, colonialism, political manipulation, economic extraction, scapegoating, stereotypes, labor markets, cynicism

仇恨的流水線：政治如何為利益量身打造種族歧視

人類總喜歡自詡為理性的高等生物，然而，要凝聚一個部落最快的捷徑，永遠是隨手抓出一個官方認證的敵人。我們習慣把種族歧視包裝成一種古老、有機的病症，彷彿只要不同文化相遇，偏見就會自然而然地從人性深處冒出來。然而，歷史翻開一看，卻寫滿了冷酷而現實的算計：偏見從來不是偶然，它幾乎永遠是資源掠奪與權力控管的精心產物。

歷史學家麥琪·劉（Mae Ngai）在研究十九世紀華工遷移史時，無情地拆解了那個流傳已久的「苦力（coolie）」神話——那是一種根深蒂固的種族刻板印象，把華人描繪成沒有自主意識、任由資本家擺布的廉價勞動力機器。從加州的淘金熱到澳洲與南非的邊境，白人殖民政府從來不是在無意間陷入排華狂熱的，他們是刻意製造了這場狂熱。

每當經濟衰退降臨，或者白人礦工無法輕易撈到好處時，政治菁英就需要一個完美代罪羔羊，來轉移憤怒群眾的焦點。透過立法排華與不斷散播貶低性神話，國家成功將努力工作的競爭者打成非人類的局外人。種族歧視在這裡成了最完美的調節閥，用來操控勞動市場、穩固國內的政治階級。

這套權力遊戲的劇本，兩百年來幾乎沒有換過。今天，當西方與中國進行地緣政治角力時，十九世紀的舊把戲被毫無窒礙地拿出來重玩。現代經濟特區裡的工廠工人，以及亞裔留學生，經常被簡化成同一種去人性化的面貌：彷彿他們只是沒有情感、不知疲倦的機器人，專門來低價搶奪本地人的資源。

我們總被告知，仇恨是無知造成的自然爆發；但這其實是那些靠著分裂群眾獲利的體制，所餵給大眾的安全謊言。種族歧視是一種政策產品，它在議會大廳與權力權謀中被生產出來，目的就是要讓底層群眾互相撕咬，永遠沒空抬頭看清究竟是誰在操控韁繩。只要我們一天不把偏見看作是精算過的經濟管理工具，這座舊機器就會繼續運轉，源源不絕地製造出下一個犧牲品。

種族歧視, 歷史鏡鑑, 人性弱點, 權力博弈, 華工歷史, 殖民政治, 政治操弄, 資源掠奪, 代罪羔羊, 刻板印象, 勞動市場, 冷眼旁觀