So I know Bernie Sanders labels himself as a Democratic Socialist, but that's just a good example of political jargon developed in order to make him electable (in any campaign). In reality, had his media team not spin out this "democratic socialist" label we would consider him a liberal and a pretty far left leaning liberal at that. And hey, I'm cool with that. My political journey has ranged from entering college as a moderate conservative to leaving college as what I'd call a "democratic socialist" (you see it's ok for me to do it because I have nothing to gain from it). And now I kind of find myself with Bernie in that we want to differentiate ourselves, but if we abstract the political field, we're both lumped in a big blotch of liberalism. I'm sure for Bernie, if he weren't running for President, that'd be ok. But for me, personally I find liberalism in its current form to be pretty inept at prioritizing minorities. Now before I get the screams of racist republicans this and tea parties are "colorblind" that, I'm not saying liberals are overtly racist. I'm saying that liberals and liberalism typically supports policies that are for the status quo. Regardless if it's changing the status quo or maintaining it, liberalism serves people as a "whole." But minorities all know that the conglomerate is never truly serving them. American group think has been innately oppressive for so long that it's hard to even tell when we're feeding into it. For example, my friends, so called "social justice warriors", were quick to criticize black protesters for disrupting Sander's speech. I guess the urgency to save black lives can wait for the presidential cycle?
Elitism reeks in liberalism. So many of my friends thought they knew better than those protesters. Those that spoke (who were not black) for some reason believed they were more qualified than black people at running their own social movement. I remember one time I heavily criticized the divestment movement in my school because I thought their sit in on the CSG meetings was a poor way of getting the public on their side. I found their actions to be annoying and borderline rude. So I decided to be critical on Facebook (yay for digital acitivism!). And one of my friends, who was very involved in the movement, basically called me out for being an oppressive jerk. She was completely right. While I support her and the movement, as a non-arab, the effects of that movement were removed from me. No movie, testimony, sit-in was going to truly affect my life like so many of my peers whose families have suffered. So when the divest movement decided to act as if it were a state of an emergency, I responded to them as if they were overreacting, which makes sense. But that doesn't excuse that we need to have the sense to acknowledge when we may not know. When my friend confronted my foolishness I felt embarrassed. At the time I thought I was pretty down in the Social Justice Crowd. What happened! I forgot that the theory of social justice and its actual exhibition in our lives are two completely different things.
Ooops, this is supposed to be a post about Bernie Sanders! Well, the reason I decided to take this long tangent is because I understand and sympathize with minorities who don't trust any politician who hasn't explicitly made their campaign about them. I think it's about time we make politicians prove they're down before we give up our vote. And what better way than to potentially stake your presidential bid on making a radically profound statement on race. People want to harp about how Bernie Sanders has been fighting for Civil Rights for decades, but these same people are quick to ignore how he was complicit in a brand of liberalism that has always put minorities second and other issues first. When minorities demand that they be taken seriously and refuse to be patronized with afterthought considerations or token policy, we are viewed as being greedy and petulant. I'm not saying Bernie Sanders hasn't done everything in his power to help minorities. I'm saying that candidates who are dedicated to helping minorities don't earn their way by name dropping Martin Luther King. Bernie Sanders seems committed to helping minorities, but we're in an election cycle right now and why support someone who has race has one of his #3 or #4 issue, when we could demand that we be treated as #1. This is how political lobbying works. This is how social movements work. If we strip the civil rights movement of a lot of its romanticized notions, a lot of it was mobilizing people to pester everyday bystanders into action.
When I see liberals such as Bernie Sanders come to the fore, I begin to grow annoyed at so many people who had claimed to be committed to something higher than an individual, but abandoned those values in order to protect a politician. Which is exactly what he is. This isn't cynicism, it's pragmatism. Bernie Sanders, if he wants to be a successful president, is not going to fulfill many of his promises. Bernie Sanders will concede issues once he enters office. He may accomplish a lot of good too and it's not like his inability to get legislation passed will be any different from other candidates who are far leaning in the spectrum. I'm just suspicious and because I'm suspicious, I'm slightly critical, but for many that's considered to be liberal sacrilege. I guess I'm not a liberal after all.
Was it shitty that activists hijacked his speech? Sure, to you it probably was. Is everyone capable of using someone else's platform in order to further their own agenda, even if it's the agenda of a particular group of people. No, I'm sure some people aren't. But are people of color, specifically black people, still dying due to ingrained racism in this country, especially in our policing institutions, yes they are. I can't believe I'm going to agree with Donald Trump in this post, but the time for political correctness is over. Activist and those who support the movement will do what ever it takes protect black lives. I respect that. My life isn't on the line. So instead of criticizing it, I think I'll shut up. Plenty of my friends should probably do the same. Oh yea, and that's why I don't click the heels of my boots when I see Bernie Sanders. I don't trust him. I don't trust any of them. I won't be swept away. I'll wait till election day and compare the merits of every candidate.
Elitism reeks in liberalism. So many of my friends thought they knew better than those protesters. Those that spoke (who were not black) for some reason believed they were more qualified than black people at running their own social movement. I remember one time I heavily criticized the divestment movement in my school because I thought their sit in on the CSG meetings was a poor way of getting the public on their side. I found their actions to be annoying and borderline rude. So I decided to be critical on Facebook (yay for digital acitivism!). And one of my friends, who was very involved in the movement, basically called me out for being an oppressive jerk. She was completely right. While I support her and the movement, as a non-arab, the effects of that movement were removed from me. No movie, testimony, sit-in was going to truly affect my life like so many of my peers whose families have suffered. So when the divest movement decided to act as if it were a state of an emergency, I responded to them as if they were overreacting, which makes sense. But that doesn't excuse that we need to have the sense to acknowledge when we may not know. When my friend confronted my foolishness I felt embarrassed. At the time I thought I was pretty down in the Social Justice Crowd. What happened! I forgot that the theory of social justice and its actual exhibition in our lives are two completely different things.
Ooops, this is supposed to be a post about Bernie Sanders! Well, the reason I decided to take this long tangent is because I understand and sympathize with minorities who don't trust any politician who hasn't explicitly made their campaign about them. I think it's about time we make politicians prove they're down before we give up our vote. And what better way than to potentially stake your presidential bid on making a radically profound statement on race. People want to harp about how Bernie Sanders has been fighting for Civil Rights for decades, but these same people are quick to ignore how he was complicit in a brand of liberalism that has always put minorities second and other issues first. When minorities demand that they be taken seriously and refuse to be patronized with afterthought considerations or token policy, we are viewed as being greedy and petulant. I'm not saying Bernie Sanders hasn't done everything in his power to help minorities. I'm saying that candidates who are dedicated to helping minorities don't earn their way by name dropping Martin Luther King. Bernie Sanders seems committed to helping minorities, but we're in an election cycle right now and why support someone who has race has one of his #3 or #4 issue, when we could demand that we be treated as #1. This is how political lobbying works. This is how social movements work. If we strip the civil rights movement of a lot of its romanticized notions, a lot of it was mobilizing people to pester everyday bystanders into action.
When I see liberals such as Bernie Sanders come to the fore, I begin to grow annoyed at so many people who had claimed to be committed to something higher than an individual, but abandoned those values in order to protect a politician. Which is exactly what he is. This isn't cynicism, it's pragmatism. Bernie Sanders, if he wants to be a successful president, is not going to fulfill many of his promises. Bernie Sanders will concede issues once he enters office. He may accomplish a lot of good too and it's not like his inability to get legislation passed will be any different from other candidates who are far leaning in the spectrum. I'm just suspicious and because I'm suspicious, I'm slightly critical, but for many that's considered to be liberal sacrilege. I guess I'm not a liberal after all.
Was it shitty that activists hijacked his speech? Sure, to you it probably was. Is everyone capable of using someone else's platform in order to further their own agenda, even if it's the agenda of a particular group of people. No, I'm sure some people aren't. But are people of color, specifically black people, still dying due to ingrained racism in this country, especially in our policing institutions, yes they are. I can't believe I'm going to agree with Donald Trump in this post, but the time for political correctness is over. Activist and those who support the movement will do what ever it takes protect black lives. I respect that. My life isn't on the line. So instead of criticizing it, I think I'll shut up. Plenty of my friends should probably do the same. Oh yea, and that's why I don't click the heels of my boots when I see Bernie Sanders. I don't trust him. I don't trust any of them. I won't be swept away. I'll wait till election day and compare the merits of every candidate.
No comments:
Post a Comment