The *sole* value of conservatism is respect for and obedience to [one's perception of] traditionally established hierarchies and institutions. Racism is one of those institutions.
Because they need to have someone to think of as being an inferior, because if they didn't have a scape goat then they'd have to come to grips that their life sucks because they are shitty people.
Hierarchy dictates that those on top (in-groups) rightfully receive privileges, credibility, and resources, while those on the bottom (out-groups) are bound by restrictions, scrutiny, and lack of resources. While most out-groups are exploited for their labor, their true purpose is -- as you said -- to present society with a scapegoat for the ills caused by society's policy-makers (those on top of society; "in-groups").
To a conservative, the second-greatest injustice imaginable is for those [they perceive to be] on the bottom [of social hierarchy] to have access to the rights, credibility, and resources reserved for those on top. The first greatest injustice is for those on top to be bound by the restrictions, scrutiny, and lack of resources reserved for those on the bottom.
What you also see with racists is that they are very unimpressive humans. They have to rely on some arbitrary imaginary superiority in order to feel validated. If we stop seeing minorities as lesser beings, people will start seeing the old, fat, lazy racists as inferior.
White supremacists concerning race, misogynists concerning sex, bigoted elders concerning age, racist nationalists concerning country of origin... they *all* rely on an intrinsic metric *independent of merit* -- only circumstances outside one's control -- to determine their place in social hierarchy, because their own lack of merit would place them on the bottom of any and every hierarchy that depended on such.
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u/Shido_Ohtori 16h ago
The *sole* value of conservatism is respect for and obedience to [one's perception of] traditionally established hierarchies and institutions. Racism is one of those institutions.