Dear White People ?!

in #politics9 years ago

Since everyone wants to "have a go at you" I'm going to have my turn!

"you can not grow as an individual if you are coerced into putting the thinking of the group first." -LB-


Trigger warning for the easily offended; I will not point out where I am being sarcastic, grow up!

"All warfare is based primarily on deception of an enemy. Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight by subverting anything of value in your enemy's country." -Sun Tzu-

There is a was against being waged, generally people didn't know this, nobody declared it, you are losing and the war is almost over. Have you ever noticed that during an argument, if you concede a few points, the other party becomes emboldened instead of moving logically to the next point, the opposition moves into a more emotionally aggressive stance, to attempt to win their argument, on the few points that just went their way? It is a sign that they are in the argument to win, not for the sake of advancing knowledge. What they want to win is ideological superiority over you. They will want to win at any cost and the "end justifies the means" for the win, this to me, is disingenuous and regressive.

I assert that there is, apparently, a Hegelian "social argument" underway in the west and one side is starting to become emboldened as we can see in mainstream media and politics. It goes like this for example; We concede that judging people on their appearance or physical properties, maybe, doesn't provide the most accurate result (ignoring stereotypical judgements). The other side of the argument wants to take this further, to win the ideological argument by becoming more bold in their assertions for the purpose only of controlling you with their ideology, morality and so forth. They will not be happy until they have reached total domination over you.

So there is a war, it's against you, actually to be more accurate it is just a battle of a much bigger war, a war of ideologies. My evidence for this is in the recent programs like the 2014 film "Dear White People", the MTV campaign "Dear white Guys" and upcoming Netflix series, "Dear White People". These arguments can be used against you on the basis that in the past, judgement has been made on people based on their physical properties ( just as they are now, on you, the white person) and that as "powerful" white people, you must now pay to make things fair. Regardless of the fact that these judgements have been made on both sides since forever. These types of assertions mask the underlying issues of a particular group, making them "powerless" to do anything about them, because it is always someone else's fault right? To be clear, the underlying theme of these programs is not, "Dear White People, thanks for realising that we are all individuals, capable of different things, that need to be judged individually and objectively, for the purpose of moving forward together." no, this is not the message, the message is that, now you have conceded this one point, we will dominate you on the justification of deeds carried out by others in the past.

Now, I do not fit into, your group (I am not a white person posing to be brown). Also I do not fit into "their" group, I will never be brown enough. If you spoke to me on the phone, you would think that I was white, if you saw me you would think I was middle eastern, which I am not, I just look that way because I am mixed.

So I am writing this letter to you, as someone who is brown. As someone who has "everything to gain" from this new paradigm in racial thinking. Finally the tables have turned, however as "they" say, the grass is always greener on the other side. The truth of the matter is that it is not greener, not for me. As I don't really gain from either paradigm, I gain from a individualistic society, where I am judged on my attributes objectively. For me tribalism, universalism, really collectivism, does not work in my favour as I don't fit in to either. It works for only those who fit into either group, those people who can pick a side.

Dear White People,

On the matter of recent degradation of race relations, on the recent increase of the aggressive propagation of ideological fallacies. Please consider the following:

  1. Thank you for abandoning historical racism.
  2. Please don't go full retard, and descend back into tribalistic collectivism.
  3. As hard is it may be, try and remain objective when dealing with all people regardless of colour. I know most currently understand this.
  4. Educate yourselves and the younger generation on real patriotism.
  5. Educate yourselves and the younger generation on the reality of the welfare state (socicalism, collectivism etc).
  6. Particularly in the USA, it is the front line and last stand for individuals, defeat will mean the completion of a global collectivist system. This will be the death of innovation and death of "growth for an individual". Why? because you can not grow as an individual if you are coerced into putting the thinking of the group first.
  7. Never tolerate racism, now or in the future. It promotes tribalism.

I ask the above selfishly, as it is in my best interest. I understand that individualism, self reliance and responsibility, is the harder route to take. It is not easy to be responsible for the troubles that you have caused for yourselves (me included). I want to break the never ending cycle of blaming others, but this can only be achieved with individual responsibility. What we are witnessing today is the forging of collectivism, either a tribal version or a universal version, the blade of the sickle is hammered on one side and then turned over and hammered again. The blade is then tempered by forcefully cooling the conflict over a brief period, at which point the tool is ready for "reaping" the rewards. The tallest of wheat heads fall first so keep your head low.

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You make some valuable points, regardless of the "race" you refer to. But your post falls down in one major area - You fall into the Hegelian Dialectic, or false Dichotomy you yourself refer to in your post - you generalise about a whole group of people based purely on the colour of their skin. There is no "white people" (in the collective political sense), there are people who are white (some of whom collectivise themselves - but don't blame colour of skin for this).

Generalisations are one of the causes of conflict between people. And there are some people who like to milk these disagreements. Who benefits? Not you or me, thats for sure.

So yes, we are all brothers and sisters. Hopefully we can enter in a more enlightened age.

I don't fall "unwittingly" into the same Hegelian trap! Rather I am satirically mirroring the trap set by the programs stated above who attempt to address so called "Dear White People". The colour of ones skin is not my concern. If you are under the impression I am addressing white people, I assure you I am not (i.e. It is important to realise that the title is satirical).

Generalisations are not the cause of conflict. The root cause of conflict is fear. Fear of losing ones self or collective identity. It takes a certain level of maturity to go beyond the "seemingly offensive" nature of a generalisation, to arrive at an understanding of the usefulness that generalisations bring to a discussion. That is to say, making a generalisation has a purpose and one needs to know the limits of that purpose.

I fear that enlightenment is a long way off while people are encouraged to engage with a "collective" mental strategy, in lieu of self understanding through self observation.

Yes, I agree that fear is more of a root cause of conflict. I find generalisations tend to be used (by certain sections of authority) to play on people's fears. If I missed the satire, then my apologies, wasn't intending any harshness, so much as dialogue.

As for your last sentence - my sentiments exactly.

No harshness was assumed in your comment, in fact I welcomed your comment as I had to makes sure I had correctly conveyed my message. You have pointed out that there may be ambiguity in the interpretation of my post, which I'm glad you did, I hope you don't read harshness in my previous response. It allows us to continue the discussion here, which I think is important. I hope this platform becomes more than just memes, quotes and one-liners, like the other alternative media platforms.

If I am totally honest, I used to think in precisely the same way, avoiding generalisation because of how they are used by one group or another. However when I did this, I realised I was leaving out half the story.

If you had not seen recent virtue signalling in mainstream media, you can easily forgiven for not seeing the satire. please check back from time to time :) we probably see more eye to eye than you think.

Thanks for the reply, and this conversation is welcome as far I am concerned :)

You actually got me looking at something, so I am grateful for that. I made a generalisation about generalsations, lol. Your use of them to make a satirical (and in hindsight) a good point, was actually clever, and on point. Hats off to you.

I agree, I like to see Steemit exist for more than just memes, and silliness (they have their place, I suppose), but I find Steemit works well for developing conversations.

I will most certainly check back - actually going to follow you to stay notified of your posts.

I have had patients refuse for me to be their nurse or care for them based in my skin color. That is racism... I am white. I was taken aback both times but didn't let it ruin my day. Just kept on moving and thought sadly that is their loss because I was great at my job. I have seen patients refuse males to be their nurse again didn't let it ruin my techs day or fellow nurses day because that would be a shame. People are going to deny you at some point for whatever reason. Either you are not like them, you are too much like them, you ask for too little or you ask for too much, people just like to tell each other no because that establishes power instantly. To deny something the person wants or thinks they want is to hold power over the person. Sadly, when the patients refused me because of my skin color I saw it as their loss not mine. That takes the power back from the person who denies you. If someone says no to you then ask yourself did I really need that? Probably not.

If I understand correctly? You are saying that it is a persons choice to let somebodies behaviour bother them or not, is that correct? If so, I agree. If not please let me know.

I'll have to think about the establishment of power (in a personal sense) when you are denied or granted validation by someone else. However, I currently think that, maybe the individual is holding some expectation that requires validation by the another person. So when the individual is denied, they may feel loss of power or vice versa. In short, if you don't have an expectation of "power" either way, then nobody can take away your power by negative validation. Additionally, nobody can give you power either using positive validation. Your "power" (however you may define that for yourself) remains totally in your own control, which could be closer to absolute power.

But I am not sure, what do you think?
Is power, how much power you have over someone else? or;
Is power, how much you have over yourself or;
How much power someone else has over you?

I'll definitely have a think about this. Great comment.

I think power is something you hold yourself. That it is ties to free will. If your willing to give away or expect validation from others you lose some of your freedom or power. I agree with what you said in the first paragraph. Power comes from within and is your energy in a way. You can give it away, keep it for yourself, or have it stolen. I try not to let others steal power from me. Because people that steals typically don't use power for good. If you can give it away to someone who needs it then you created positive energy. The goal is to create postive energy out of negative when you can. Idk how free will fits in exactly but I know it does because we all have a choice on what we project and receive.

Also, have a lot of respect for nurses, they do a job that I would not be able to do.

I have a lot of respect for patients. They are typically scared in a new foreign environment having to take information in and make quick decisions regarding their health. No one wants to be the patient!

White people... I don't think that they even exist...

That's right, it seems to be a trend to create an invisible oppressor, that way you never have to prove any of their activities, because you can't see them. haha. Magicians!

Cool post brother! Racism is something you only truly understand if you have been subjected to it. Thankfully it is retreating. Sadly, not where I live right now! The funny thing is that they don't know that they don't know! Weird. Namaste!
Upped and followed!

Thanks, you are unfortunately dead right. The pendulum keeps swinging!

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