It's easy to say that it feels like a psyop, but the levels of class reductionism - that is to say - the knee-jerk ridicule of intersectional shit or critical race theory stuff feels highly suspect. Like, you can't say white people are nerds (which they are) in a lot of anti-woke left spaces without harsh rebukes, and it seems really suspect to me. Is there a real fash pipeline in our midst? Are class reductionist white people that sensitive and defensive and... well... white to the point that they can't let go of their privilege even in the context of them being left?
I'm certain there are definitely explicit white supremacists lurking and taking advantage of the rhetorical ground, but I'm pretty sure 95% of these guys are just painfully white dudes from privileged upbringings who like being edgy and contrarian. Also wagering a solid proportion of them are 15.
I get the impression most are drawn towards the arguments of the left, but the thought of them being responsible for the problems of today brings up a reactionary streak for ego self-defense.
I don't think this ideology is stable. The contradictions are too strong. Either they'll fash or eventually grow up.
ngl dude, this is kind of lib shit. they aren't responsible for it, the same way Americans largely aren't responsible for the atrocities their country commits. yeah, they might benefit from it, they might even subconsciously reproduce and propagate racist/xenophobic/imperialist propaganda, but to say that they are responsible for it is even antithetical to Marxist thought. it is to argue that single individuals do influence the State, power and culture, when that is obviously not the case. in a bourgeois State policy decisions come top down at best or are structurally decided with no human input at worst.
that is not to say that people have no level of responsibility to do political change, but saying anyone but the bourgeoisie - if you want to be critical you could even argue the left's lack of power is also to blame - is responsible for the present state of things is to fall prey to the ruling narrative that if "everyone did their part" we would somehow live in a utopia, with no regard to the key role economic organization plays into that.
speak of the devil lol
racist things happen because people are racist. people are racist because they grow up in a racist culture. the culture is racist because not enough people break the cycle and examine their own racism, which allows that racism to keep passing from one generation to the next. so yeah, white people all contribute. we're all responsible. i know for a fact i still have white supremacist bullshit kicking around in my subconscious. i've been digging that stuff out of my psyche for years and i still find more of it.
This was my point.
That their aversion to social justice is to avoid moral culpability for the ways in which their actions have furthered forms of bigotry.
Ultimately systems should bear most of the blame, but we cannot ignore the way people subconsciously contribute to it. It is not lib shit to try and root it out.
Sorry for the late response.
I think we're on the same page, but my words gave off a different meaning than I intended.
I'm not talking about them causing the problems of capitalism, imperialism, or the decisions of our corporations and state. Average people absolutely do contribute to white supremacy and other forms of bigotry, whether they know it or not. "Responsible for" was poor word choice.
Even in the absence of capitalism and the inequalities it brings, white supremacy will continue, albeit with much less power. Did homophobia, racism, and sexism dissolve after the formation of the Soviet Union?...no, even if they were better on those issues than many contemporaries.
If we have zero power to affect these social systems, and it's all just capitalism, what harm is there in using slurs every other sentence? Is it lib shit to not use the n-word?
I'm fully aware of the way my past transgressions have made safe for homophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry to propagate. The acknowledgement of this "responsibility" is what I was referring to as causing their reactionary views.