Unconscious roots of conscience, and what to do about them

[gaudior]

I was talking to B about foreign policy, and had an insight about one way of viewing world politics. It's the view I've held more-or-less unconsciously for many years, and I don't know how relevant it feels to other people, but I thought I'd share.

Namely: As a white American, I would talk about how we (whites and Americans) oppress everyone else in the world-- how our actions (currently and historically) are responsible for the vast amount of misery out there, and how other people's hatred of whites and/or Americans is completely justified because of what we've done.

Leaving aside for the moment the truth of this, I am struck by the fact that as a worldview, it can be tremendously reassuring. Because it suggests that whites and/or Americans are so powerful that we can cause all the pain in the world.

In my opinion, most worldviews are designed to perform the unconscious functions of making us feel both Good and Safe. The universe is huge, full of overwhelming amounts of information, and innately dangerous (we're all gonna die, sooner or later). We rely on our worldviews to make sense of it and our place in it, in a way that lets us feel secure enough to function. And if we need to distort or ignore some facts to feel that security, we'll generally do so for as long as we possibly can.

The worldview "whites and/or Americans are evil oppressors" fills these needs neatly. It would let me feel that I was Good because I, as a liberal, saw that racism/imperialism is bad, and so I felt virtuous about wanting to work against them. But it also, without my realizing it, let me feel Safe because no matter what I could do, I was still part of this immensely powerful group. If our group is so strong that it can do all this damage-- well, then it's also strong enough to protect me, keep me safe from all the bad things out here. I might disagree with other whites and/or Americans, but doing so could not remove from me the power they/we hold.

Now, all worldviews may be flawed in this way (certainly, the view, "Americans are good, everyone else is bad, and we're the strongest and can beat them up!" also makes us feel both Good and Safe, but has definite drawbacks). But I am troubled by this particular flaw because I believe it works directly against the goal it claims to be attempting.

Namely: if I felt safe because our group is powerful enough to cause all the ills of the world-- then I could not feel safe if other groups gained power. My conscious desire for people of color and/or developing countries to become empowered went directly against my unconscious desire to feel safe.

This has many manifestations. One, as B pointed out, was my tendency to assume that, for example, the terrorist attack on September 11th was caused solely by response to American oppression-- not by, for example, the influence by the Saudi Arabian monarchy on the rest of the region-- or, indeed, anything else being done by the people living in the Middle East. I assumed that terrorists were "misguided" or angry about American injustices toward them-- because that is so much less frightening than the idea that people might have a real ideology opposed to ours, and the willingness to act on it to defeat us.

Another manifestation (one which I don't think I did so much, but which I recognize in other people) is one of white allies in anti-racism work basically trying to take over the movement-- because they believe that they need to rescue the poor people of color from their horrible plight. This leads to white allies not listening to POC, putting forth solutions to non-existent problems while ignoring the real ones, complaining about how POC would make more progress if they would just change their "tone," etc. (I also notice this particularly in disability activism, where disabled people saying they want the kinds of help they want, not the kinds that non-disabled people assume they need, are often met with considerable resistance and accusations of ingratitude.)

Now, it is very important to note that this does not mean that white and American people don't have a lot of power and the responsibility for tremendous misery, both historically and currently. We do, and I think it is incredibly important to work to dismantle that abusive power.

My point is that if we do not look at our unconscious motivations for doing that work, we may find ourselves accidentally working against our stated goals. If we cling to White Guilt, it can keep us from hearing the voices of the people of color who have the best grasp of what is actually happening. That guilt is a marvelous unconscious compromise; it lets us imagine our group to be all-powerful, but absolves us of the possibility of doing anything real about the harm we do. We can both be all-powerful (Evil White Americans oppress the WHOLE WORLD!), and powerless (we can never make up for all the Evil our group has done, so there's no point in trying-- and anyway, it's not our fault, because we are good liberals!).

The better position, I think, is one of having an awareness of exactly how much power we do and don't have. As a white American, I do have a great deal of privilege, and can use it to make the world a little better or a little worse. But people from other countries, and people of color, also have power. They look at their own situations and make their own decisions about the best route to take. And on the other hand, America is not immune from others' actions and beliefs-- September 11th was not our idea, it was genuinely people wanting to hurt us because they hated us. Everyone has some power-- not all, not none-- and a realistic worldview must realize and accept that.

I am not Safe because I am a white American. Nor am I Good for thinking that racism and imperialism are bad. I am a vulnerable, imperfect person, like everyone else. And it is only together, as a united group of vulnerable, imperfect people, that we can change the world.

--R

Comments

[eredien]

I agree with much of what you've said, and said well, here.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how abuses of power at both a micro and macro level use many of the same techniques--there is always silencing, there is always a tendency to see people who are not you as either opponents (to then be silenced) or as needy dependents (to then be silenced), there is always an assumption that the fact that change is hard should absolve us from doing that hard work, or else allow us to talk endlessly about how virtuous we are for changing and pat ourselves on the back for doing so.

In particular this essay brought some of those techniques and uses of them, which I have been thinking about lately, into focus for me--in particular, the last line brought a bunch of stuff into focus. I can see myself, personally, as a priveliged white woman, struggling to become more than what "someone did to me."

To see an entire nation (and world) struggling to become more than what "someone did to me"--to see that in a larger cultural context throughout the whole of America, and to see the silencing implicit in the fact that the work of anti-racism is just ignored, or to see that white poeple working in the anti-racist movement view the fact that they are doing the work as an excuse for further ignorance and silencing--to see that classic abusive behavior writ large across a nation and all its peoples, and to recognize the ways in which I've been that abuser (even while trying not to be that abuser, even while thinking I wasn't the abuser, even while knowing all this about abuse, even while trying to actively work out ways not to be the abuser) and to recognize and feel the truth of the well-founded reasons that some people of color have for making the decision to steer well clear of white people in general in discussions about racism...well. It was a lot of thinking, kind of all at once over a period of about an hour.

It was heartbreaking and staggering and angering and mostly heartbreaking some more, and I've been really quiet the last few days, thinking about it and trying to work out parallels between abusive techniques that have been deployed against me and abusive techniques that have been deployed against others. I'm dismayed (though not shocked, not shocked at all) to see that every one that I can come up with that has been personally deployed against me, just from being abused in a specific kind of relationship between me and my parents (not to mention all the kinds of abuse I haven't been subjected to but am trying to make myself aware of) is visibile, matched, and magnified in the broader American cultural landscape, against disadvantaged groups of all races and ages and abilites and genders, etc.

I am a vulnerable, imperfect person, like everyone else. And it is only together, as a united group of vulnerable, imperfect people, that we can change the world.

Yes. I think one of the biggest problems with having a status quo, whether it's one of race, religion, gender, or something else, is that those in the status quo use it, consciously or subconsciously, to play down/ignore their own vulnerabilities/imperfections, or pretend that they don't have vulnerabilities or imperfections. It does a huge disservice to minority groups when the status quo folks use that lie as an excuse to reach out and help The Others (who are broken and to be pitied/assisted). It also does a huge disservice to themselves, because they can't see that they themselves are vulnerable and imperfect, and acknowledge that they themselves also need love and care, and keeps them away from recieving or understanding the true nature of love and healing and caring--which is that you don't need to be perfect to give it, and you don't need to be broken to recieve it, and that receiving or giving it won't make you perfect anyway.

[eredien]

I had two questions, though:
I assumed that terrorists were "misguided" or angry about American injustices toward them-- because that is so much less frightening than the idea that people might have a real ideology opposed to ours, and the willingness to act on it to defeat us.

I think that both of these can be true at the same time, and in fact think that it is likely that both are usually true at the same time, and feed off each other. I am not sure from your sentence structure if you agree or disagree that both of these can be true at the same time. Can you clarify your statement to clarify your thought, or vice versa?

The worldview "whites and/or Americans are evil oppressors" fills these needs neatly. It would let me feel that I was Good because I, as a liberal, saw that racism/imperialism is bad, and so I felt virtuous about wanting to work against them.

Can you clarify what you meant by "I, as a liberal, saw that racism/imperialism is bad, and so I felt virtuous..."?

I agree that often liberals fall prey to the trap of "thing x is bad, and so I can feel virtuous about opposing it," but I think that people of all political viewpoints and stripes fall into the same trap without it being a particularly liberal or conservative or even political trap. I also don't see what is particularly liberal about having the ability to recognize the wrongs done by racism/imperialism (or trying to work to dismantle them).
I think you meant something else that I am probably not seeing, understanding, or catching here. Can you explain what you meant so I can have a clearer understanding of it?

[seishonagon.livejournal.com]

And it is only together, as a united group of vulnerable, imperfect people, that we can change the world.

Hear hear! Well considered and well said. It's something I've thought of, but not something I could have phrased as well as you did. Do you mind if I borrow some of your phrases from time to time?

[khava.livejournal.com]

It makes me extremely sad that you cannot see, or choose not to focus on, the tremendous good done by your own culture.

[seishonagon.livejournal.com]

Based on other things she's said at other times, I think she knows those things. At the same time, it's important to keep both in sight.

[thespooniest.livejournal.com]

Although I agree that this remains a problem, I also see some very positive steps here, and I believe it would be more constructive to acknowledge and encourage them. Change between philosophical antipodes seldom happens overnight, and when it does it tends not to last. Would I like to see people take the next few steps? Of course I would. But this challenges enough of the core assumptions behind "White Guilt" (as gaudior calls it, including the capitals) that I don't see the use in rejecting it out of hand for not going all the way.

This very article takes to task the underlying idea that a single group holds all the power. It instead moves the focus to the idea that all people have power, and that they can do things with that power, and that one of the things they can do is to gain more power. That's philosophical common ground. Let it solidify.

[jimmi-obadger.livejournal.com]

I also notice this particularly in disability activism, where disabled people saying they want the kinds of help they want, not the kinds that non-disabled people assume they need, are often met with considerable resistance and accusations of ingratitude.

This -- the notion that if those [insert minority here] people would just accept the charity offered, instead having the gall to ask for what is really needed, everything would be all hunky-dory -- is, of course, not limited to the disabled community. And it is good to see others recognizing and grappling with this tension.