choreographix

Since Jesse got his student loan check in the mail, we've decided to use some of the extra money to make our house look more inviting, and more like a home. So, here's what it look like when Jesse and I are sober enough to take pictures of it, and post them, in place of the other night's drunken posts (click thumbnail to see larger image):

( Come visit )

Clearly, capitalism is not working.

Anyone "for" equal rights in any sense of the word -- GLBT rights, anti-racism, feminist or anti-sexist -- cannot, in the name of consistency, also be pro-capitalism.

Capitalism SEEMS, at first glance, to be the perfect solution to the desire for "freedom," whatever that means. In a capitalist society, "everyone" has the freedom to do whatever they want, to achieve happiness and gain wealth, as long as they work hard.

The problem with this is that capitalism depends on oppression. The oppression of minority races, the oppression of women, the oppression of gays, lesbians and transgender individuals, the oppression of handicapped people. The many battles we wage to bring oppressed people to equal footing in the US only yields resentment, and the ultimate larger oppression of other minority, or oppressed peoples.

Feminism could "work." We could all, as a collective society in the West, embrace feminism and declare equal rights -- not only by law but by genuine belief -- and prove that in the way we live and interact with one another and incorporate it into our education of children and adults and it could even, in the future, no longer be necessary to have a "women's studies" class in college or high school, but in order to do so, while feminists all around the globe are celebrating their newfound equality, some other group of people are now being designated as the new "oppressed" group.

It all seems fine and dandy and a little heartwarming and even tear-jerking when we see a group of protesters, a non-profit working to better the lives of the ill-fortuned, a couple hippies preaching love and peace for all humanity, but when it comes down to the significance of such events, we (the people involved in such protests or unofficial groups of progressive and activist-minded individuals) we are merely playing to the current powers that be. "They" want us to "fight back" because they know that it will, ultimately, amount to nothing significant whatsoever. If "we" win something -- the fight against sexism or racism, for example, they know that there is always another group of people that will take the place of the recently liberated. And those groups are always the easiest to exploit and manipulate. Anyone who exists as a human being can admit to feeling secure in a group of like-minded or similarly-abled people. If you feel oppressed because of any one thing or another, regardless of how angry or active you are in your oppression, you want to meet others like yourself, people in your situation, people you can relate to. The white supremacist capitalist patriarchal society not only wants, but depends on us feeling that way. Great, they formed a group against the oppression of themselves, how fucking adorable and non-threatening!

These groups ultimately don't matter at all if we continue to use them as a means to get rid of specialized and individual oppressive behavior. They need to exist to get rid of the entire thing.

We are all so ingrained in the "communism/socialism BAD capitalism GOOD" mindset that we are not even afraid, but completely unable to think of any other solutions to our mass problems with inequality all across the board. We keep looking at black people with suits on and iPods and thinking, "great! That's so wonderful that they're abandoning the old stereotype of sitting on the porch drinking cheap beer, eating fried chicken and watermelons and becoming 'civilised!'" instead of looking at the black guy with the suit and iPod and realizing, "another one bites the dust..."

What I mean by this last, seemingly ridiculous, statement is that we should not feel proud of how many people we can convince to adhere to the tired and oppressive notions of western civilisation, but realize how sad it is that men who are not white and women in general keep, for some reason, wanting to emulate and appropriate this standard of white, masculine power that is encouraged, instead of seeing how that, in and of itself, is the BASIS of our problems! As long as the oppressed groups try to "fit in," the more we become our oppressors! The more we perpetuate the cycle of oppression!  The more we try to fit in, to appropriate, to claim our right to have what "they" have, the more freedom we give them in our lives.  The more we encourage the very cycle that we are, deliberately or subconsciously, are trying to break free of.

Capitalism is like grading on a curve.  No one but the "smartest" or highest-grade-earning student is really in favor of grading on a curve.  On a curve, someone always, whether they earn it or not, has to be at the bottom of the totem pole.  The system is designed to keep someone, or some people, at the bottom, so that others can reach the top, whether or not they meet initial requirements to be at the top.  There could be a class of 20 people, and the person who is at the top of the curve could have only earned 62% on their final test, but they are now the TOP, the highest-ranked student.  Even though they didn't meet expectations to be the highest.  The person who received lowest marks would still be as low, but what does that say about our leadership, if you look at it metaphorically?  You don't even have to achieve the minimum standard? 

WHY IS THIS NOT OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE?!


Just think about this for a minute!