1 Robert Hariman is a professor in the department of communication studies at Northwestern University. His book publications include Political Style: Te Artistry of Power, two volumes co-authored with John Louis Lucaites, No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy and Te Public Image: Photography and Civic Spectatorship. Francis A. Beer is professor emeritus of political science, University of Colorado, Boulder. His books include Meanings of War and Peace; Peace Against War: Te Ecology of International Violence; and Integration and Disintegration in NATO: Processes of Alliance Cohesion and Prospects for Atlantic Community. © 2022 The Author(s). All rights reserved. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Vol. 25, No. 4, 2022, pp. 1–34. ISSN 1094-8392. Article Color Blind: PoliticAl ReAlism, Epistemic RAcism, And RhetoricAl SAlience Robert Hariman and Francis A. Beer Te rhetoric of any academic discipline can involve epistemic distortions and blind spots, including a tendency to obscure systemic racism. Te doctrine of political realism from the discipline of International Relations is an infuential example. Realism relies on several rhetorical devices, including a structural distinction between rhetoric and reality, a modality of abstraction, and the trope of anarchy/hierarchy. Tese provide both a compelling theoretical framework and a discursive program that obscures race and racism. Realist discourse operates further through several dimensions of rhetorical salience that are modulated by changes in context. Foreground, background, ambient, and ontic salience provide multiple registers for inscribing realism. Realism’s lack of refexivity in disciplinary, governmental, and public arenas adds to its power and its defects. Exposing the rhetorical constitution of realism and its architecture of non-knowing raises challenges not only for realism but also for rhetoric. Tese include avoiding the inscription of realism and racism within rhetorical inquiry and avoiding epistemic hubris in the self-defnition of rhetoric as a discipline. Downloaded from http://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/msup/rpa/article-pdf/25/4/1/1841621/1hariman.pdf by NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY user on 12 April 2023