"Read Settlers" is a meme, but it's also a true meme. You should read it, or read other things about this thesis regarding the white working class in the US (I've heard other Marxists have since improved on Sakai's thesis but I don't know who they are).

White Americans are doubling down on the racism. As white settler colonialism is starting to face just a little bit of opposition (like teaching kids that maybe the US isn't a perfect, God-blessed country), they are losing their minds over the idea of losing even a tiny bit of their privileges. This is still a perfectly material explanation. White folks have enjoyed an incredible level of privilege since the beginning of this country and they will fight viciously to keep all of it.

IMO the bulk of white Americans are a lost cause. Not to say white folks can't be revolutionary (I'm white), but I think we probably should be spending our very limited time and resources on folks outside the imperial core break from western imperialism, and focus on the oppressed within the core. Any white Americans who want to join in are welcome but any concession to white supremacy is unacceptable.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying the Dems lost because racism or whatever. I don't care if the Dems win or lose, it doesn't matter. My point is much more about using electoral results and the campaigns that precede them to see where winds are blowing. It seems that "CRT" and fear-mongering about crime (and thus the need to fund even more cops) was a very effective message in appealing to large segments of the population - particularly the white population.

  • FidelCastro [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    This. The wrath and reaction you see from people even on the left to the suggestion that they might need to educate themselves on privilege is really telling.

    See: stupidpol and other class reductionists, the pronoun struggle session before the transphobes got purged.

    There’s a reason libs co-opted a lot of the language around privilege. Pseudo-leftists based in contrarianism completely miss that aspect.

    • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      it is honestly hard to give up privilege because it feels normal and you don't even notice it. You worked hard and your parents worked hard, it wasn't handed to you. I realised every rich person says that, so I doubted the argument. I needed a lot more time to really see how much privilege I had, but it was my own analysis or active pursuit of better perspectives which turned me.

        • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          what reactionary BS is this? privilege exists under certain systems, it is NOT inherent to human nature.

        • Brak [they/them, e/em/eir]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I feel like these are some internalized brainworms, friend. Privilege is very much systemic, which is part of why it’s stupid when people are offended at the idea that they might have privilege (they view it as being accused of a moral failing).

          I’d bet my left foot human nature is mostly collaborative, but we’re forced into a competitive dynamic by our current system (crabs in a big ole classist bucket).

        • Zodiark
          ·
          5 months ago

          deleted by creator