- “Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers, and me.” – Kermit the Frog
Gotta love that frog. Equality, diversity, understanding. These are things a society must embrace if it is to evolve and survive. An insular society becomes stagnant. And when a society becomes stagnant it gets covered in algae. Or maybe I mean ponds. Whatever.
I think it’s morally right to be in favor of equality, to embrace all races, all castes and all cases. But I think questions of morality are, whether you like it or not, subject to opinion and personal belief. I’m not saying boo-yah to moral relativism, but it’s maybe sort of a thing. Trying to use morals as a guiding principle can be tricky because they don’t always align themselves with the word of the law or other people’s ideas about what is fair and just. Becoming embroiled in a discussion about right and wrong can go on for days and will pretty much kill any party atmosphere. However, when it comes to framing a debate I find that it’s important to use historical perspective and/or scientific data instead of just feeling my feelings at someone. Find the pudding with the proof in it and you shouldn’t have to get bogged down in points of view.
Part of why the United States of America has thrived is its diversity, that old “melting pot” thing. However, as the country becomes even more diverse (whites will be in the minority by 2043), the political divides appear to be deepening as the parties are playing both ends against the middle. We get angry at each other as they get re-elected. (You know, when it comes to America’s representative democracy I actually think that the system works most of the time even if only by a slight margin. But the check and balances process which makes it effective in passing bipartisan laws at the federal level is also what bogs it down and makes progress arrive at glacial speeds.)
Melting pots aren’t just metaphors for national diversity anymore, now they’re great for hosting a swanky dinner party! Remember to put your keys in the bowl!
Phrases like “family values” get thrown around to “defend” the stock-photo-in-a-picture-frame archetype of what families should look like in America all the while we take for granted the good that diversity has brought our country. I mean, could you imagine America without Mexican or Chinese food? What would college kids even eat? Politicians are good at what they do, and that’s feeding us fear to rally their base and that makes good people turn against each other.
But I digress, equality and diversity will save our country and maybe the world if everyone gets on board. To be fair, some regions are further behind than others. Whether it be the anti-gay legislation that’s been sweeping the continent of Africa, the suppression of women in some areas of the Middle East, or the politically-motivated detentions and executions that remain common in parts of southeast Asia. These countries will never sit on top of the heap so long as they stand on the necks of their citizens. The world is too global and too interconnected now for oppressive regimes to call all the shots. (Although, Russia is trying damned hard to prove me wrong.)
I should also note that as a trekkie I have slightly dorky reasons for embracing diversity and attempting to foster greater acceptance for all people; and that’s the hope of achieving a Roddenberry-esque utopia as in the Star Trek universe.
The United States is far from perfect, but we do have a tendency to lead the pack in forward-thinking laws that protect the citizenry and make it easier to be who you are. It needs work though. I mean, the military has a huge problem with sexual assaults, gay marriage still isn’t technically legal in a lot of places (way to go Michigan!), and crime and income inequality make it near impossible for non-whites to succeed in some cases. These are just the most hot-button issues of the day but in actuality there are perhaps too many to address here. One on the horizon may be how we define gender as a species as there are more and more high-profile court cases centered around gender-dysphoric individuals and thusly public discourse over the matter is likely to intensify.
Maybe a change in perception a key first step in finding a solution for a nagging problem. For instance, I know plenty of white, middle to lower class people that probably chart in the middle when it comes to social issues, but might say that a woman seeking equality comes across as “bitchy” or that a person of color who seeks equality is “uppity” or “lazy.” Part of it could be out and out bigotry, you can never be certain. But a lot of it stems from unfamiliarity with the concept of “white privilege” among whites, specifically white men.
White privilege is a term that basically means whites in America are more likely to be born into advantages that other races are not. A mental picture to illustrate the point: Picture small-town America. Red brick buildings, flower beds, a nice downtown and a promenade along the river. Like out of a campaign ad or a boner-pill commercial. Now, populate that setting with Hispanics, Asians, and Blacks. It kind of doesn’t compute, right?
Now, that was just an exercise, but really think about it. Those idyllic small towns in middle America where old people go to retire and young couples start their families tend to be primarily white in population. We can go round and round on why that happens, but the facts are these: So-called minorities are less likely to be born into money. And they are more likely to be living in inner city environments where crime is high, pay is low, drugs are commonplace and quality healthcare is scarce. Whatever your explanation for it is, it exists. White privilege is real and it’s gone on for generations. It allows for greater mobility in life, especially in terms of education and careers.
This is what I’m getting at: If whites can’t comprehend what it means to be born into such disadvantages, then they are less likely to feel sympathetic and see that something needs to change. It’s good, maybe great that the idea has been mapped out, but if more whites just don’t get it than what good is it?
The same can be said for gays and women. Straight white men generally just don’t know what it’s like to not conform to the standards of more socially conservative families or to get a smaller paycheck for doing the same work as someone else. By and large it just isn’t a thing we have to deal with.
HE BLOWS GOATS. I HAVE PROOF.
I for one can’t imagine what it must be like to have people telling you that loving the person you love is disgusting or a sin. I’ve had a few gay friends in my life up until this point and I have never understood how anyone could try to deny them the same rights that the rest of us have. There is nothing unnatural, illegal, or immoral about a same-sex attraction. It’s a part of nature the same as opposite-sex attraction. In fact there are a lot of things that happen in nature that most of us think happen only in German night clubs. (An enlightening, illustrated, NSFW article here.)
There needs to be dialogue and understanding. And it has to start with people like me; i.e. heterosexual white males. As of right now, from birth the best position you can have in life in the United States is being born a straight white dude. Pretty much no one will discriminate against you. You’re guaranteed higher pay than women or minorities a lot of the time. The cops will hassle you a lot less. You won’t be bullied as much. If dudes similar to me start admitting to these truths, then we can start understanding what it must be like on the other end of the spectrum.
I’ve been very fortunate in my life. Which is a euphemistic way of saying that I have a falling-backwards-into-excellent-situations brand of luck. I’m half-deaf and without my contacts in I’m legally blind. But that’s pretty much it. I got teased for that stuff as a child otherwise I just kinda sleepwalked through adolescence and young adulthood and yet I’m doing pretty well for myself. I benefited from loving parents and forgiving friends for sure, but being born white in Michigan in a small town with a great school system was like sliding out the womb with a free pass in hand.
Louis CK is probably the best spokesperson for white privilege there is. I think a lot of people find him offensive (to be fair, some of the stories in his routines are bluer than blue) but when it comes to society and race relations everything he’s saying is long overdue. Not even Carlin touched the stuff that Louis is nailing right now. He comments on white privilege, race relations, and inequality of gender and race and manages to make his mostly white audiences laugh their asses off. And this is all the while he’s throwing in their faces how much they can achieve simply by being white. He tricks people. He hides the truth in between punchlines to make it more palatable. People are digesting his wisdom and truth without knowing it. We need more people like Louis CK.
The biggest reason I feel its important we start being real about shit like this is that income equality is now being felt by the white middle-class just like it was by everyone else before now. Almost a fifth of the income in America goes into the pockets of the top one percent. Read that again, but this time in bold and capitalized: ALMOST A FIFTH OF THE INCOME IN AMERICA GOES INTO THE POCKETS OF THE TOP ONE PERCENT.
That basically boils down like this: Take one hundred people. Give one guy twenty cents. Then get the other ninety-nine people to share eighty cents.
BUH.
So yeah, we’re all getting screwed together now. Maybe we can commiserate over that and stop worrying about who’s gay or what color they are. If we were to achieve equality and understanding among ourselves maybe we could work together and the rich, old, white dudes running everything wouldn’t keep getting rich off of fleecing the middle and lower class. If petty, prejudiced squabbles are solved we can get back to organizing and taking back what’s owed to us. College degrees are basically high school diplomas now, banks are gouging families with loan interest rates, manufacturing jobs are leaving and we get angry at each other because two dudes in love want to get married? We lose our shit because someone wants in to our country to make a better life for themselves and we accept that women are worth less than men in a work environment, seriously? Is everyone asleep at the wheel?
Imagine he sounds like Harrison Ford’s gravelly-throated President Marshall from “Air Force One”: “Get off my border! (Or come and mow my lawn please. Oh, and do you think you could do the hedges while you’re at it?)”
Part of what made America a pioneer in the first place from its founding up until now was the greed and paranoia-fueled covetousness of the rich white people who ran (and still run) everything. The desire to compete, rob, take advantage of the disadvantaged and ultimately win is what built the country (Ask Native Americans, Blacks, the Chinese, the Irish and women). But that sort of thinking and motivation is never sustainable. “Great” societies have always crumbled when the super rich control everything. Does, “Let them eat cake,” ring a bell? Ancient examples include but are not limited to the Romans and the Mayans. Too much power, too much wealth concentrated into too small an area ends in ruin pretty much all the time. Societies that don’t evolve and change descend into chaos in the end, and that’s what’s at stake.
When a small group has all the money and all the control the citizenry gets restless and burns everything to ash. Which is one of the ways a society can come crumbling down. Gotta hand it to the unruly mobs, they really set aside their own differences and set a good fire or two. A decent modern example would be Ukraine to some extent. Yanukovych was corrupt as hell and several opposition parties banded together to get rid of him even though they don’t agree on everything among themselves.
Sidebar: I’m no advocate of brick-throwing or fire-starting. I lived in Seattle for a bit and saw a couple of marches and demonstrations end in vandalism. That sort of juvenile activity defeats the purpose of demonstrating and hurts no one but the workers who have to clean up after the shitheads who break stuff. Terrorizing the working-class only turns people against you. Trashing a Nike store or a Starbucks frightens the hard-working people inside who did nothing to you, they’re just trying to get by themselves. The people who are doing the harm don’t have street-level offices. Leave the workers alone.
Check out my mainest man Nero rockin’ out. What’s that burning in the background, you ask? Oh, it’s just fuckin’ ROME.
Another death knell for a society is when they box themselves in philosophically, scientifically, and technologically. They stop pushing for more knowledge, they rest on their laurels and finally they are surpassed and turn to dust. They accept all that they are instead of striving for more. In the States there are a lot of honkies getting their panties in a bunch because they feel victimized by the growing diversity of the nation. Gay marriage is gaining traction, the president is black, and the white majority is eroding. But what they fail to see is that by introducing new people and new types to society, we become much more able to deal with problems that arise. New people mean new ideas, new ideas equal more solutions. Different people have different points of view, and sometimes the only thing you need to solve a problem is a fresh set of eyes.
I’m not a conspiratorial thinker, I don’t think the “Man” is out to get me or anything. But I do know he’s perfectly happy to keep his riches and accumulate more while the working-class dukes it out over shit that shouldn’t matter.
If we can remove the barriers between ourselves and stop seeing the differences in each other real change can take place, maybe. A lot of countries have this view that Americans think they’re better than everyone, and they’re right. We DO think we’re better but we sure don’t act like it all the time. I’m just spitballing here, hell, this whole post is one giant spitball of altruistic gobbledygook; but if we take a second and notice that we all have something in common these days, and that’s the way we’re being screwed out of our inheritance as Americans, then maybe something good could happen probably?
Allow me to get the ball rolling. I know not every can be as fortunate as me. I want to share the world with the rest of you. I plan on being nice until you give me a reason not to be. Don’t step on my toes, don’t tell me or anyone I care about who they are or what they’re worth and most of all don’t deny others the same basic human decency that you expect for yourself just because you don’t get them.
A lot of this post came from my head over the course of a week or so, but in its later stages it was heavily influenced by this article, which I found to be fascinating. And of course Louis CK gets a lot of credit too. I wrote over two thousand words that he could turn into a hundred-word diamond.
BigFootInMouthDisease 