Something white folks like me from "middle class" backgrounds really need to fucking deal with is that privilege isn't just the advantages that put us a little ahead or give us a little more comfort or space or whatever.
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Every time I start to write like this, I start to worry about somehow "overstating" things or being "alarmist", but fuck no.
I have never been as clear or unequivocal about this as I should be, because the fictionalized "America" in my head still sometimes overwrites the actual United States I see with my eyes, hear reports & witness accounts from, & can look at the data about.
Some voice in my head still tells me it's hyperbolic to speak this way, but that's because I'm fucking propagandized.
A lot of us middle class folks first wake up to the idea that we are being exploited, & if we are empathetic & have some self-awareness, we will get from there to understanding that some people are *more exploited* than we are & we know that we should care about this.
So because we are empathetic & aware, we start demanding things that ought to help all of us, & especially lift up those most struggling.
It's a good start.
It's not a sufficient understanding of the true circumstances however.
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A lot of us middle class folks first wake up to the idea that we are being exploited, & if we are empathetic & have some self-awareness, we will get from there to understanding that some people are *more exploited* than we are & we know that we should care about this.
So because we are empathetic & aware, we start demanding things that ought to help all of us, & especially lift up those most struggling.
It's a good start.
It's not a sufficient understanding of the true circumstances however.
Poverty isn't just "can't pay the bills."
Poverty is also "can do nothing about harassment by cops or the legal system."
Poverty is "everything you could do to help yourself or your community breaks some laws or regulations or is functionally impossible."
Poverty is "the State has extreme power over you, because you can't survive without the tiny pittance that is your disability check."
Poverty is "your kids have no future because the State keeps your schools bankrupt."
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Poverty isn't just "can't pay the bills."
Poverty is also "can do nothing about harassment by cops or the legal system."
Poverty is "everything you could do to help yourself or your community breaks some laws or regulations or is functionally impossible."
Poverty is "the State has extreme power over you, because you can't survive without the tiny pittance that is your disability check."
Poverty is "your kids have no future because the State keeps your schools bankrupt."
The reason we can't legislate ourselves out of this nightmare is that our laws exist to *create* this nightmare.
At some point I think we have to admit that what the system *does* is what it is intended to do.
Our "legal" system makes the poor—especially the racialized poor—slaves & prisoners. People often wait months, even years, in jail before they ever face trial, losing everything & being cut off from friends & family despite being convicted of no crime.
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The reason we can't legislate ourselves out of this nightmare is that our laws exist to *create* this nightmare.
At some point I think we have to admit that what the system *does* is what it is intended to do.
Our "legal" system makes the poor—especially the racialized poor—slaves & prisoners. People often wait months, even years, in jail before they ever face trial, losing everything & being cut off from friends & family despite being convicted of no crime.
@artemis@dice.camp there's a very old systems analyst adage the state: "If you want to understand the function of any system simply examine its output." People love to talk about process and intent without ever examining the result.
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Poverty isn't just "can't pay the bills."
Poverty is also "can do nothing about harassment by cops or the legal system."
Poverty is "everything you could do to help yourself or your community breaks some laws or regulations or is functionally impossible."
Poverty is "the State has extreme power over you, because you can't survive without the tiny pittance that is your disability check."
Poverty is "your kids have no future because the State keeps your schools bankrupt."
@artemis
Staying in the US is Stockholm Syndrome, but so bad, that it deserves its own name. America Syndrome? Washington Syndrome? -
At what point is the injustice too much to bear?
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas?" Oh if only a single tortured child were enough for us to reject this defunct capitalist nightmare "utopia"!
How many children have to be torn from their parents because of petty crimes, unpaid fines, or simply FALSE ACCUSATIONS before it really disrupts our peace of mind?
How many years of human misery behind bars in torturous conditions are too many?
How many indigenous communities torn apart, harassed, abused, starved, & stolen from?
How many Black men (& Black folks of all genders & children) shot by cops?
How much is too much? What does it take to count as an oppressive police state? How many lives?
Does it matter the color of their skin or the background of their families? Does it matter how educated they are? Does it matter whether or not they are houseless?
No justice. No peace.
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The reason we can't legislate ourselves out of this nightmare is that our laws exist to *create* this nightmare.
At some point I think we have to admit that what the system *does* is what it is intended to do.
Our "legal" system makes the poor—especially the racialized poor—slaves & prisoners. People often wait months, even years, in jail before they ever face trial, losing everything & being cut off from friends & family despite being convicted of no crime.
At what point is the injustice too much to bear?
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas?" Oh if only a single tortured child were enough for us to reject this defunct capitalist nightmare "utopia"!
How many children have to be torn from their parents because of petty crimes, unpaid fines, or simply FALSE ACCUSATIONS before it really disrupts our peace of mind?
How many years of human misery behind bars in torturous conditions are too many?
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How many indigenous communities torn apart, harassed, abused, starved, & stolen from?
How many Black men (& Black folks of all genders & children) shot by cops?
How much is too much? What does it take to count as an oppressive police state? How many lives?
Does it matter the color of their skin or the background of their families? Does it matter how educated they are? Does it matter whether or not they are houseless?
No justice. No peace.
Show me how someone talks about unhoused people, & I'll tell you whether they actually care about liberation or not.
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Show me how someone talks about unhoused people, & I'll tell you whether they actually care about liberation or not.
Maybe the biggest fucking privilege of all in this fucking country is the fucking privilege of never seeing your parents jailed because they are too poor to do anything about it.
It's never being selected as a target of police harassment.
It's living your fucking days in any way that could make you see the cops as anything other than violent oppressors who fucking stomp you & all your friends & loved ones under their feet.
That is fucking privilege.
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Maybe the biggest fucking privilege of all in this fucking country is the fucking privilege of never seeing your parents jailed because they are too poor to do anything about it.
It's never being selected as a target of police harassment.
It's living your fucking days in any way that could make you see the cops as anything other than violent oppressors who fucking stomp you & all your friends & loved ones under their feet.
That is fucking privilege.
My biggest fucking privilege is that I get to live my life in a way where—if I chose—I could spend most of my time pretending I am free.
I'm not. You're not. None of us are.
But some are allowed the illusion if we will just accept with docility the harm which other people experience & show our own deference by behaving as "good, decent people."
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My biggest fucking privilege is that I get to live my life in a way where—if I chose—I could spend most of my time pretending I am free.
I'm not. You're not. None of us are.
But some are allowed the illusion if we will just accept with docility the harm which other people experience & show our own deference by behaving as "good, decent people."
Fuck "middle class". Fuck "the American dream". Fuck "upward mobility."
It's not freedom until we tear down the prisons.
It's not freedom until everyone's children have food to eat.
It's not freedom until we stop fucking ripping apart indigenous families, Black families, families of color, poor families, HOUSELESS families...
This is not fucking freedom. This is not "order". This is brutal fucking oppression.
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Fuck "middle class". Fuck "the American dream". Fuck "upward mobility."
It's not freedom until we tear down the prisons.
It's not freedom until everyone's children have food to eat.
It's not freedom until we stop fucking ripping apart indigenous families, Black families, families of color, poor families, HOUSELESS families...
This is not fucking freedom. This is not "order". This is brutal fucking oppression.
I'm sorry, y'all, I wish this could change with votes & legislation, but until there is a clean slate, all we're doing is trying to tailor the oppression a little more neatly.
It is baked in. You just ignore it because it doesn't align with your image of your comfortable, "civilized", "decent", middle class world. That world doesn't exist, so you can't preserve it. It's a lie. You can't build a better society on a lie.
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At what point is the injustice too much to bear?
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas?" Oh if only a single tortured child were enough for us to reject this defunct capitalist nightmare "utopia"!
How many children have to be torn from their parents because of petty crimes, unpaid fines, or simply FALSE ACCUSATIONS before it really disrupts our peace of mind?
How many years of human misery behind bars in torturous conditions are too many?
(The answer, my friend)
I guess it depends on who you ask. It's been too many/much for me for over 2 decades now, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
On the other hand, there are people who apparently still think this is all fine
, and I do not understand them. -
Fuck "middle class". Fuck "the American dream". Fuck "upward mobility."
It's not freedom until we tear down the prisons.
It's not freedom until everyone's children have food to eat.
It's not freedom until we stop fucking ripping apart indigenous families, Black families, families of color, poor families, HOUSELESS families...
This is not fucking freedom. This is not "order". This is brutal fucking oppression.
@artemis so much this that if were to boost it over a trillion times, it wouldn’t even begin to reach the emphasis I wish to express the need for this right here.
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I'm sorry, y'all, I wish this could change with votes & legislation, but until there is a clean slate, all we're doing is trying to tailor the oppression a little more neatly.
It is baked in. You just ignore it because it doesn't align with your image of your comfortable, "civilized", "decent", middle class world. That world doesn't exist, so you can't preserve it. It's a lie. You can't build a better society on a lie.
This is HARD for those of us who have lived decades, perhaps our whole lives, under the illusion of our good, decent, wholesome, middle class way of life.
Like I said, I know the truth of these things & yet I STILL try to censor myself sometimes. I still worry I exaggerate or overstate.
Why? Because the fiction is so comforting & convincing. Because it feels like the truth couldn't possibly be so horrible. I live here, don't I?
The United States is a monstrous State with a monstrous past.
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This is HARD for those of us who have lived decades, perhaps our whole lives, under the illusion of our good, decent, wholesome, middle class way of life.
Like I said, I know the truth of these things & yet I STILL try to censor myself sometimes. I still worry I exaggerate or overstate.
Why? Because the fiction is so comforting & convincing. Because it feels like the truth couldn't possibly be so horrible. I live here, don't I?
The United States is a monstrous State with a monstrous past.
I wish it were otherwise.
I wish that learning the history of this nation was not an exercise in imagining vast & horrible suffering.
That would be nice.
Yet here we are. Until we remake this place, the corpses around the foundations will only continue to accumulate.
There is no good & decent past. There is no stable present.
There is only the hope of a better future built on something other than broken bones & irrigated by something other than blood.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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I wish it were otherwise.
I wish that learning the history of this nation was not an exercise in imagining vast & horrible suffering.
That would be nice.
Yet here we are. Until we remake this place, the corpses around the foundations will only continue to accumulate.
There is no good & decent past. There is no stable present.
There is only the hope of a better future built on something other than broken bones & irrigated by something other than blood.
@artemis [mumbles something about building a new society by starting with those willing to reject the myths of the old]
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I wish it were otherwise.
I wish that learning the history of this nation was not an exercise in imagining vast & horrible suffering.
That would be nice.
Yet here we are. Until we remake this place, the corpses around the foundations will only continue to accumulate.
There is no good & decent past. There is no stable present.
There is only the hope of a better future built on something other than broken bones & irrigated by something other than blood.
I've said it before: I'm not an accelerationist, because we've already arrived. Actually, we've always been here.
The elitist fascist ethno-state is here.
What are we going to fucking do about it?
Are we going to try to preserve some people's peace & comfort at the cost of the lives & freedom of others? Or are we ready to stop accepting "freedom" & "safety" that requires millions of others to suffer & die?
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I've said it before: I'm not an accelerationist, because we've already arrived. Actually, we've always been here.
The elitist fascist ethno-state is here.
What are we going to fucking do about it?
Are we going to try to preserve some people's peace & comfort at the cost of the lives & freedom of others? Or are we ready to stop accepting "freedom" & "safety" that requires millions of others to suffer & die?
It is fucking uncomfortable. I bet it's really hard for those among us who have kids, who want them to have stable, comfortable lives. Of course you do! You love your kids.
What about the people whose children suffer abuse in foster care because they have been stolen from them by the State, kids who will never enjoy the stability & comfort that you wish for for your kids?
Are you willing to choose "incremental change" that will result in countless more victims just so that YOUR kids are fine?
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It is fucking uncomfortable. I bet it's really hard for those among us who have kids, who want them to have stable, comfortable lives. Of course you do! You love your kids.
What about the people whose children suffer abuse in foster care because they have been stolen from them by the State, kids who will never enjoy the stability & comfort that you wish for for your kids?
Are you willing to choose "incremental change" that will result in countless more victims just so that YOUR kids are fine?
@artemis and your child isn't even getting a stable comfortable life anyway
- Erin
