I strongly dislike neoliberalism. I am angry that it has even infiltrated what I consider the conscious of society, in the way that I believe we can make change, social justice. It fucked with my social justice, and I'm pissed. As Dean Spade kindly pointed out, you can now have the pancake breakfast without the politics. You can donate money, and feel good about yourself and never once feel connected to the issue. I don't know why I never saw issue with this, but now it seems so obvious that there is one.
I am angry that it has stolen the language of resistance movements and twisted it into their own screwed up system. I am even more angry that it has taken the language of these movements, that are created, organized and driven by collectives and then individualized this language.
What I dislike most of all is the responsibility of the individual to act alone. To take move through this world alone, as though that is something to be so incredibly proud of and freeing. To me, it sounds incredibly lonely. It does not create systems where you can lean on others, where you can form as a collective, where you can be supportive by networks of people. The only networks you are allowed to create are those that will advance capitalism. This is part of the reason why rape culture is an epidemic. This is how we have been allowed to pin the survivor's actions against them, because we do not live in a culture of support.
We are social beings, meant to thrive in collectives. Meant to work together to solve problems and protect our society. We keep each other accountable and and create stability within our society.
So why did we sign up for this? How have we become so removed that this is the norm? My soul is starting to crave revolution, because I starting to see less ways we can change the system we're currently in without one.
Hi Daniella! I too thought that the metaphor of the pancake breakfast used by Dean Spade was extremely powerful. The idea that the neo-liberalist mindset enables us to turn the other way so freely from the problems of those on the "bottom" makes me think of Angela Davis' analysis of the function of prisons. Our society, generally, is designed around making sure that the people who comprise the majority always feel comfortable. When it comes to certain individuals that expose and embody the flaws in neo-liberalism, seeing this makes people uncomfortable and turning away or rendering them invisible seems like the common solution. Instead of confronting and looking at it head-on, instead we say "it's their choice" or "they need to work harder to get themselves out of it. To link this to your analysis of the rape culture, I think that you're completely on the right track to say that this mentality is, in part, influencing the way that we place blame on survivor's.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your frustration about the use of language from resistance movements. We see the appropriation of language time and time again as a way to deceive people. If I remember correctly there was even some an issue with this on campus last year when the Pro-Life group used the phrases "coming out" and "trigger warning" on some of their posters. I was angered by this not only because it was extremely offensive but also why do groups feel the need to take up the language of another group as a mean of oppressing them. Language can be so powerful and stealing language from marginalized groups activism is cruel.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you mentioned living life alone as something you're supposed to be incredibly proud of because the DIY mindset is very apparent in today's society. When did we become ashamed of asking for help? We force ourselves to work alone and go through life only depending on yourself when this is not what we are meant to do. Systems that are created as a support to people are vital to our survival. The neoliberal individualistic mindset needs to change.