I have something to say that I hope no one takes out of context. First- I should state that I am anti-capitalist, anti-billionaire, anti-fascist, and anti-racist. I do my best to practice these ideals in my everyday life, although I know I am not perfect. I am sure that I have internalized racism and white supremacy because of the society I was raised in. Although I do have those biases, I believe that I have done some of the work needed to overcome that upbringing- but I acknowledge that I still have much work to do.
All that being said, I want to talk about people like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerburg. These privileged, mediocre white dudes are running everything in this country because of their status, wealth, and influence. It’s easy to hate them. It’s easy to look down on them and blame them for all our problems. I don’t disagree with this viewpoint. However… Recently I have begun to feel what I can only describe as empathy for them. NOT pity, not sympathy, but empathy… meaning, I have begun to maybe understand what it could be like to walk in their shoes.
You see, most white colonizers are completely detached from their ancestral roots. They identify only with whiteness and being a capitalist. Those tenants make up their ‘culture’ if you want to call it that. That’s why they’re afraid of immigrants. That’s why they’re afraid of socialism. These ideas challenge the identity and culture of the white colonizer– so they must be destroyed. When we look deeper, we can also see that white colonizers are often deeply insecure- about their talents, intelligence, and appearance. So, when they are faced with people from other cultures or ethnicities that are more talented, more intelligent, or more attractive- they become defensive. Again- their identity is challenged and so they must destroy the threat.
I hope whoever is reading this realizes that having empathy for someone does not mean that I agree with their choices nor celebrate the impact they have. I do not look up to billionaires. I do not think these people are good leaders or smart decision makers, or good people in general. I think these people are very flawed and very scared of losing their way of life. Because if they lose their status and their wealth, they will have to face this challenging world with the rest of us, and they won’t have any more special protections or privileges to hide behind.
I think we can go deeper here and look at the people who idolize billionaires and idolize people like Trump. Many (not all) of the followers of these folks are also white. They have also benefited from the system being rigged in their favor (whether they realize it or not). So, they have become agents and protectors of the system in order to protect their own identity. That’s why it’s so hard to have critical discussions with people who believe in whiteness and capitalism, because their brains won’t allow them to consider any alternative system, where they are not the dominant culture.
We call that cognitive bias. People who have their worldview challenged but lack the critical thinking skills to look beyond their own biases and privilege and instead hide behind the challenges that they have faced in their life. While those challenges are valid, they often become distractions from the systemic issues that caused those challenges in the first place. Granted, a big part of the problem is that all of our mainstream media, corporate messaging, and political campaigning is designed to reinforce that cognitive bias- making people divided along political and social lines, rather than realizing that the system was designed to consolidate wealth into the hands of a few.
What’s the point of saying all this? I guess what I’m getting at is that America is a culture of whiteness. White people represent the dominant culture right now, and they are very afraid of losing that dominance. They are afraid because of the propaganda that they consume (and believe), and they are afraid because they are insecure. Most white people in power (or who feel that they have power over others) probably realize that they didn’t earn that power. They were given that power because of their whiteness. Because it was given and not earned, it can be taken away just as easily. This is quite the opposite of what our white politicians claim they want, which is a ‘meritocracy.’
So, what can we do about it? I think it starts with bringing awareness to it. Yelling at white people that they are privileged and they didn’t earn their power and that their suffering isn’t as bad as people of other races will… not solve the problem. It might feel good for a while, but all that will accomplish is further entrenching those people into their short-sighted viewpoints. Instead, what I will be doing is exploring this feeling of empathy that I’m having. I don’t want to feel sorry for these people, but I do want to understand them. Because if I can understand them, then I can perhaps begin to see what it would take for them to change their minds. And we truly need some of them to change their mind, because if they don’t this isn’t going to end well.
Things are escalating. People are becoming more desperate, more violent, and more radical. If we don’t take the time to try to understand our perceived enemies, then we will destroy each other, and that will be the story of this country and probably of this global human society. I don’t want to be extremist, but this is one possible outcome that I think we all need to face. What I would ask (and will be reminding myself of) is to remember that empathy is not devoid of accountability. When people are hurting others (especially those who are weaker or less fortunate), we need to call that out. We need to intervene and stop that from happening, if that’s within our power.
When the dominant culture practices intolerance, it is time to stand up to that culture and demand change. At the same time, we have to remember that the people we are fighting against are still human. They have the same needs that we do, and generally they have the same desires- freedom, happiness, connection, community, and pleasure. The forms these desires take, and the way people are willing to pursue those desires is often where we find conflict. I’m not claiming to be anyone’s moral authority, but to me, it does seem clear that if your pursuit of desire means that someone else needs to be more impoverished or exploited than you are- then your views are flawed.
What we need is global collectivism– we need people to care about the whole of humanity and not just their own culture, religion, or country. We especially need that from white people, because whiteness is tearing this country apart and it has to stop. I hope that we find a way to get through this and for white people to see that there is value in having immigrants in this country. I hope that white people see that capitalism is not the only effective method of commerce. We will see what happens.