this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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Good summary. I grew up in a rural part of the US, and have lived in a few metropolitan regions of the Midwest. My take is a gross oversimplification- but the racism in rural areas seems mean-spirited, but directed by those without any sort of real power and often driven by ignorance. In metropolitan and more bourgeois circles, there’s often 99% awareness and buy-in of the fact that the “first world” is built with the blood of the “third world”, and a tacit approval through lack of action. My fairly poor parents in rural America, once expressed ignorant, reactionary opinions regarding unhoused and Indigenous peoples- I “strongly urged” a course correction in thought. Since then, they’ve attended a few Indigenous speakers at our local library and a powwow hosted by a local tribe. They’ve also volunteered with the temporary housing, and (low bar alert) didn’t express the ignorant opinions others did wrt my travels to San Francisco and Portland for work.
My wife’s folks are from the same region, but have a bit more wealth. They’re very conservative, and much more entrenched in that thought. They literally don’t take in new opposing view points, despite being more formally educated. Without giving too much information- the step dad is an environmental engineer who doesn’t “believe in” climate change, and the mom is a teacher who actively supports anti-teacher state policy. (Fortunately their only “action” is voting).
Compare that with the few state department people I’ve interacted with, where there’s no ignorance in their racism- just conscious, bourgeois liberal white supremacy. And a dedication to maintaining it, and the power to do so.
Like you said- the further removed one sees themselves from those being oppressed- the more smug they are over the blind fortune that they’re not on the receiving end of it.
It's nice to hear how your parents have grown and learned as people- gives some hope for the Anglosphere, admittedly (not much but it's something).
Not white, and my experiences rural were when I was growing up as well, and while there was a lot that was alienating or even some that was really fucked up (in hindsight), there was also an incredible amount of humanity to be seen and given, the likes of which are increasingly lacking as you go up the class ladder.
Fr. WRT my parents - I wouldn’t give them too much leeway lol but they were a startling, real-time example of isolation and mass news media consumption during the “lockdown” in the US.
Got to see their rhetoric shift from things that annoyed me (typical boomer jingoism) to things that enraged me (transphobic, homophobic, anti-homeless, opinions wrt riots etc.) following isolation from their (surprisingly progressive) church groups, friends, and consumption of mass news media.
I like to think that the conversations I (loudly) had with them when those things came up and the years-long embargo from our home had some effect of spurring self-crit and growth, but the settler mindset runs deep so who knows. I’d previously passed along Braiding Sweetgrass, which my mom didn’t finish because it made her feel too sad- so hearing that they were learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers and attending community events was a great surprise. So growth is possible. I also had a lifetime friend remind me that in 8th grade I “didn’t believe in climate change”, and now that’s essentially what my life revolves around lol so pobodys nerfect.
My hometown has been gutted enough by capital that they recognize its effects if not in terminology, then in the friends that lost jobs when the pallet factory, drill-bit factory, paper mill, etc. closed in the late 90s/early 00s, or more recently when an investment firm acquired the largest employer in town (mail order retail) on behalf of a competitor with the sole purpose of immediately shuttering it. Seems like so many pieces that led to my “lefty” development have been there, if one understands them that way and not as a lizard-person conspiracy lol.
Frankly, this website has taught me so much about the importance of self-crit in an era where you can get any dogshit opinion validated online or on tv. There seems to be a common theme among settler crackkkers where you avoid discussing things that make you uncomfortable wrt the atrocities of past generations, and it’s so crucial to be beaten over the head with those lest they be forgotten.
Idk where I was going with this necessarily- just enjoyed (as usual) engaging with someone on this site.