There is no such thing as the "outside."
Nick Land and many conservative philosophers (and I consider Land moderately, if not considerably, conservative) like to insist on the positive existence of binaries that subsist beyond our mediation (i.e. observation). Of these, perhaps the most important is that of the "outside" versus the "inside"; in other words, the notion of escape, or exit, is possible because there exists an extra-cultural space wherein we can definitively divest ourselves of the horrors of the past (racism, misogyny, imperialism, colonialism, etc.).
The more I seriously think about this - and I mean think, not read what others have written - the more I'm convinced that the "outside" is an illusion, an ideal; just as utopia cannot be an actuality but only a process, the notion of "exit" or "escape" can never be completed. It will always and forever be a process.
This may seem as though I'm resisting progress or development of any kind; but what I would insist upon is that escape, or exit, or progress - indeed, any kind of motion that involves the reflexive sublimation of prior contradictions - can only be conceived of as dialectical. Land despises dialectics because he believes it results in the destruction of motion: a stasis. This is untrue. Dialectics are the purest form of motion; an eternal oscillation whose y-axis increases with the length of its arc.
The notion of exit or escape is necessarily inconceivable because it requires the abandonment of a previous cultural unconscious. This is a subtle appeal to transcendence, and is entirely idealistic. The truth is that human progress can only happen dialectically because we are in constant reflexive communication with the symbolic remnants/remainders of our history: race, gender, sexuality. These moments remain impactful today not because propaganda machines force-feed them down people's throats, but because they are part of our history. Their prior existence has shaped material conditions of existence that, in turn, shape the way we live today. Every breath we take inhales the echoes of slavery.
The realization of the West has to be that there is no such thing as forgetting, or overcoming, or transcending racism. The realization must be that racism is a component of Western existence just like early hominids are a component of modern homo sapiens. The only way we can ever hope to progress is through synthesizing this earlier horrendous phenomenon with our current state.
As it stands, our record for admitting guilt isn't looking very good.
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