I'm Not With Those Guys

Hello, my wonderful readers.

My last post concerns me, because I don't want people to confuse me with those closet bigots who get all defensive of being white. By no means do I want to try to say that white people have never done anything wrong. Those people's stance is very different from my own. The people at FOX "News" would like to say that everything is fine, there is no racism anymore, and black people are not disadvantaged, because white people are not advantaged, so don't blame them for anything. My stance is not that.

My stance is that typically white people have had advantages and still have advantages. Men generally have had and still do have advantages. Racism definitely still exists, and more grotesque is that racists try to act like they aren't racist. They're too chicken shit to say what they really think. However, just because there are disadvantages for people of color, or women, or the LGBTQ, doesn't mean that it is my fault. I personally am not responsible for those disadvantages. However I am responsible for trying to change the system, and I will do whatever I can for justice.

The people who really bother me are Libertarians, because they will say that everyone has a right to their property, and no one has a right to take their property. Yeah, because no one has ever gotten their property unethically... I mean, slavery NEVER happened. We NEVER fundamentally displaced and financially ruined the Indigenous Americans. I contend that just about every last cent in this country is the product of injustice.

Our schools still teach Manifest Destiny; what a racist paradigm that is. They say something like, "Americans felt it was their destiny to expand westward in the big empty country, and that is how we became a country." Wikipedia says, "Historians have emphasized that 'Manifest Destiny' was a contested concept—Democrats endorsed the idea but many prominent Americans (such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and most Whigs) rejected it. Historian Daniel Walker Howe writes, 'American imperialism did not represent an American consensus; it provoked bitter dissent within the national polity.... Whigs saw America's moral mission as one of democratic example rather than one of conquest.'"
They teach the perspective that won out rather than teach that it was a debate. Never-the-less, today we can look back and see that the Westward expansion was done as the cost of millions of Native Americans, and not just to disease. The Trail of Tears was the result of Manifest Destiny. They don't want to frame it that way, because then Americans would have to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. All people would like to get the most benefit to them, and it doesn't benefit the people on top to admit that how they got there was by being evil. What Americans did to the Native Americans was just plain evil. If you don't agree with that, then read in detail what the American government did. Don't read the justification pieces written by racist libertarians who want aren't historians. Actual historians are clear that our country did a lot of bad stuff to get to where it is  today. It wasn't just that we worked hard. Working hard is not how one gets powerful.

That's the other problem with Libertarianism. People assume that you deserve your property, because you worked for it and that's how people become successful. Sure that's how some people have become successful, but that's not the prevailing strategy. Most people who become successful follow the philosophy of Thrasymachus in Plato's Republic. That philosophy is, "Justice is when the advantage goes to the strong." According to these people, if I already have power and I use it to gain more power, then that is justice. That's great if you want to have a monopoly. That's what happens when you allow businesses to do whatever they want, eventually you will get more and more powerful monopolies; or a king or an emperor. That's how the game is played. You don't win until you have it all, and the best way to have it all is to use your advantage to gain more advantage, which means you put others at a greater disadvantage. People who don't want to end that system are endorsing Thrasymachus' view, which is inherently unjust, so what they say is, "justice is injustice", which is crazy. Don't endorse Thrasymachus' view, kids. Don't French-fry when you want to pizza.

The view that it is the fault of the disadvantaged that they are disadvantaged is evil. It is the view of the selfish. It is the view of the unsympathetic. It is the view of a person who lacks compassion; a sad, sorry person; a FOX "News" pundit. I pity them.

You can't undo what has been done, but that is not justice either. When you steal from someone, you can't undo stealing from them, but you can return their goods or something of equal value if they will accept it. If you murder someone, you can't un-murder them, but you can work towards preventing future murders and do everything you can to help those affected recover from their pain. This should be common sense. Justice is not sitting in a box doing nothing. Justice is not eye for an eye. Justice is love and compassion. Sorry if I sound like a hippy, but, seriously, people need to quit hating so much, get laid, then remember that we are all children pretending to be adults. No one has it figured out. No one is perfect. We all have inner demons, so why get mad when someone has way more demons than you?

Thus, we need to provide to those who lack, and not just for today. My ol' Pappy used to say, "if you give a man a fish, then he'll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, then he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day." That's classic Pappy. Education is what we need to provide; equal education; equal opportunity to succeed. The best education shouldn't go to the children of the rich, it should go to the most talented, so that we can further their talents, so that they can provide further advancement for society. Endless competition is not efficient. Endless consumption is not efficient. Our system not only creates injustice, but it actually prevents advancement and is going to destroy our planet. Instead of constantly using our resources for killing each other in fancier and fancier ways, we could be using them to save us from ruin. But hey, at least I can buy stuff just to immediately throw them away...

The thing that those who have vast amounts of power don't realize is that they would be happier if they lived in a just society. They are addicted to their power, and like all addicts, they cannot admit that they have a problem. They live like kings, but the planet is turning to shit and millions of people suffer in unspeakable ways. The most powerful demon in hell still lives in hell. They could be kings in a shit world or they could just be themselves in a just and fair society, and there's nothing wrong with just being you. Having money or wealth doesn't make you better, because you are not your money or your power. Also, no one can ever be better or worse than another person. That is just a paradigm that fuels injustice.

I'm not against having wealth or abundance. I embrace it. However, I reject a lifestyle that ignores the consequences of that lifestyle. I don't want to try to act like children in sweat shops didn't make a bunch of things that I have purchased. I don't want to live in a fantasy world where I can live a life of convenience and no one was exploited for that to happen, when the truth is vastly different. I embrace the truth, so I stare into the abyss and try to smile.

I am not against having wealth, for I believe it is my responsibility to gain as much wealth as possible, and yours as well. As long as we live in a capitalist society, then it is our duty to earn as much money as possible to use to create justice. Even if it weren't my duty, that is what I would do anyway, simply because all I wish for is justice, so if I had a lot of money I would use it to help make the world a more just place. Although I sometimes like to fantasize if I were a ridiculously rich person and didn't care about justice, then what sort of selfish stuff I would buy. I'd first hire a giant woman to carry me around everywhere I want to go, because walking is for poor people. After that I'd probably use my money to pull more and more elaborate pranks. I'd be like Danny Ocean, but with pranks. Like Mozart, but with fucking with the world. I'd probably pay for a fake news story that Dick Cheney has people locked in his basement. Prove that you don't, Mr. Cheney. Let the people go, Mr. Cheney; the jig is up...

So yeah, I'm not with those guys... I'm my own special breed of person.

I guess that's good enough for a third post... Libertarians and Thrasymachus... ooooooookay

Love & Justice for all!

-Jonathan David