14 Days of Freedom: Day 5
One of the worst traps to fall into is that of elitism: they are stupid, they are cruel, they are unworthy, they do not deserve freedom as much as we, the worthy ones, the Elect, do. Let them rot in their own filth.
I understand the appeal of elitism. I understand it all too well. I've told people who have pretty much openly told me that they want to remain stupid and ignorant that they can go die in a fire, that they can rot in their own filth for all I care, that they make me ashamed of humanity. I could have said and done much, much worse, but it was neither the time nor the place. For any person, there is a temptation to see it as me, my group, the good ones, the Elect, versus the evil, stupid, ignorant masses who are beyond saving.
This is the point at which I sound naive, idiotic, childish, any number of things. Throw enough insults at me and some of them are bound to stick, I guess, but all the same...if you're only going to fight for a better society for "those who deserve it", just stop. Stop right now. Get off the computer and think for a bit. Think about who else is in a shitty position right now. Think about how the great and the good(!), particularly those on the Right, justify that. Think about victim blaming.
If that hasn't managed to spark your thought processes, I shall spell it out for you now: by claiming that some people deserve to be in a shitty position, by claiming that they deserve to be left out of your wonderful vision for humanity, you are no better than the people - particularly individualistic conservatives, who get a lot of my ire because this is the vision they are pushing for society - who claim that anyone who isn't a rich white heterosexual male deserves to be oppressed. You can dress this vision up. You can claim that they deserve it because they're inherently more stupid, irresponsible, prone to crime, whatever, but in the end it doesn't matter. You are still claiming that anyone who isn't part of your group doesn't deserve the kindness you extend to them.
What complete and utter bullshit. We are all human, we are all part of this construct called humanity, we all have to look after each other if we don't want to end up living in a horrible society. That means everyone, from every race, creed, culture, what have you, deserves to be in this free and humane society, no matter what you think of them.
I am not as naive as I seem. I understand all too well what it is like arguing with people who don't want freedom, who want to oppress everyone else, who think nothing is wrong with the current system except for those bloody foreigners on benefits...yeah, you could pretty much put any "normal" attitude down.
Fighting with those people makes me want to scream and punch things sometimes...well, a lot of the time actually. I still consider it my duty to fight with them and build a free society with them. Why? The ethical value of a society - its worth and goodness, if you will - isn't found in how it treats its elites, it's found in how it treats the masses, the very poorest and lowest, the dissenters. And if that society can't or won't treat them well - because of the way it's set up or because "they deserved it" - it's a shitty society.
I am not a complete idiot. I know how hard it is to love everyone. I know how hard it is to work against elitism. I know how utterly worthless it seems. I just know, too, that an elitist society is not the one we were supposed to be building, that it'll be just as bad as the one we have today, that it goes against everything we were supposed to be fighting for.
I understand the appeal of elitism. I understand it all too well. I've told people who have pretty much openly told me that they want to remain stupid and ignorant that they can go die in a fire, that they can rot in their own filth for all I care, that they make me ashamed of humanity. I could have said and done much, much worse, but it was neither the time nor the place. For any person, there is a temptation to see it as me, my group, the good ones, the Elect, versus the evil, stupid, ignorant masses who are beyond saving.
This is the point at which I sound naive, idiotic, childish, any number of things. Throw enough insults at me and some of them are bound to stick, I guess, but all the same...if you're only going to fight for a better society for "those who deserve it", just stop. Stop right now. Get off the computer and think for a bit. Think about who else is in a shitty position right now. Think about how the great and the good(!), particularly those on the Right, justify that. Think about victim blaming.
If that hasn't managed to spark your thought processes, I shall spell it out for you now: by claiming that some people deserve to be in a shitty position, by claiming that they deserve to be left out of your wonderful vision for humanity, you are no better than the people - particularly individualistic conservatives, who get a lot of my ire because this is the vision they are pushing for society - who claim that anyone who isn't a rich white heterosexual male deserves to be oppressed. You can dress this vision up. You can claim that they deserve it because they're inherently more stupid, irresponsible, prone to crime, whatever, but in the end it doesn't matter. You are still claiming that anyone who isn't part of your group doesn't deserve the kindness you extend to them.
What complete and utter bullshit. We are all human, we are all part of this construct called humanity, we all have to look after each other if we don't want to end up living in a horrible society. That means everyone, from every race, creed, culture, what have you, deserves to be in this free and humane society, no matter what you think of them.
I am not as naive as I seem. I understand all too well what it is like arguing with people who don't want freedom, who want to oppress everyone else, who think nothing is wrong with the current system except for those bloody foreigners on benefits...yeah, you could pretty much put any "normal" attitude down.
Fighting with those people makes me want to scream and punch things sometimes...well, a lot of the time actually. I still consider it my duty to fight with them and build a free society with them. Why? The ethical value of a society - its worth and goodness, if you will - isn't found in how it treats its elites, it's found in how it treats the masses, the very poorest and lowest, the dissenters. And if that society can't or won't treat them well - because of the way it's set up or because "they deserved it" - it's a shitty society.
I am not a complete idiot. I know how hard it is to love everyone. I know how hard it is to work against elitism. I know how utterly worthless it seems. I just know, too, that an elitist society is not the one we were supposed to be building, that it'll be just as bad as the one we have today, that it goes against everything we were supposed to be fighting for.
Comments
Post a Comment