So what is it when you see society as a series of interlocking systems and institutions whose primary mission is to perpetuate those systems and institutions, often in cruel and inhuman ways, but almost always subtly, barely perceivable by those who are enslaved by the ideology of those systems? (Edit: I’m not entirely totalatarian/bleak about this; there is room for human connection even in a gulag.)
I think it starts with birth, when our parents decide to have children for their own ends. Then we are assigned a role inside that family system–savior, scapegoat, healer, mediator, surrogate parent, etc. We are taught how to see the world, to see relationships, in ways that benefit the family system. It’s not abuse, it’s love. We are taught to shut down, to not listen to our own voices, because to be independent, to see that the family system is there to serve itself and not you, the child, is emotionally- and maybe life-threatening.
Then it continues in school. In the most pessimistic systems, teachers–whatever there original desires to teach were–are there to fulfill metrics, and those that meet metrics are rewarded, and those that do not are punished. Your role isn´t to learn about who you are, or to develop as a human, but to fulfill the metrics the teachers have. Teachers who take time to learn about you or foster your growth as an individual are eventually weeded out.
Then maybe you go to work, maybe professional work. Your first job is to make your employer feel good about themselves and make them look good to THEIR superiors. If you are in a profession, your other role is to affirm the legitimacy of the profession. You are never to acknowledge that the system is corrupt, that the institution is there primarily to serve itself.
Then in our personal lives, in need of companionship, we make an arrangement with someone else: “I’ll be who you want me to be if you be who I want you to be.” And when this fails to satisfy us, we decide to have children, and the process continues.
I don’t have much hope. Yes, I do think a French-style revolution will somewhat reset the clock on capitalist exploitation, but ultimately, this is just HUMAN behavior. As long as we live in a society, we will create systems and institutions, and we will sacrifice our individuality to gain the protection of those systems and institutions. It is a cycle only escapable only by a few individuals, and at great cost.
So what is this called?
I’ll drop my personal experiences in a comment below because I’ve already shared the highlights before.
It’s harder to see white surpremacy as a white person, just as it’s harder to see the systems when you are benefiting from.
My story is this: I trained as social worker/therapist, then fell into a “bipolar depression” and lived off disability for almost a decade of my life. In the past several years, I’ve:
So here is what has finally x-pilled me: I have the credentials to be a therapist and social worker. I have the LIFE experience of “beating” both the depression and getting back on my feet financially after “disability”. Yet here are jobs I can barely get interviews for, much less employment as:
a) therapist b) social worker c) job coach for people on disability.
IF the system were designed to help people, my experience would be at least getting me interviews. Someone with credentials AND life experience? Wow! And he speaks a much-in-need foreign language? That sound amazing! Definitely give that guy a call! Instead, I’m taking your orders at the local drive through.
Keep in mind people can’t tell I’m an x-pilled lunatic from my cover letter. I just mention my history. So here is what I think the problem is:
The system is set up to reward people who OBEY. If you are a social worker starting at an agency, you’re supposed to be fresh out of college, with no life experiences that could challenge the narrative. I have fallen out of that system, and I think implicitly–even if they don´t say so–they see me as a threat to that system, or at least they see themselves as primarily giving jobs to the "right"people, obedient people.
There is a movement to incorporate people with “life experience” into mental health treatment, but they are carefully gated off from ever participating or advancing fully in the profession; they are ghettoized in dead-end position. What they really want are house quislings, people with nominal experience but not with so much experience that they’ve actually suffered harm or being able to form cogent criticism. For instance, a place that is looking for “lived experience” but simultaneously skip my application for gaps in employment.
Anyway, that’s my personal perspective on it.