White Supremacy & America
Dec. 6th, 2021 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
takethisforexample“Colonization of the mind” refers to the ingrained preference towards whiteness and white culture in western society. This includes all aspects of white culture such as values, food, physical appearance, gender, gestures, and language to name a few. Ideas about what is normal and desirable are perpetuated mainly through the environment that a person lives in. Media is the main vehicle for continuing white supremacy because it is unavoidable and has been established for multiple generations. A person, in every aspect of their life, is raised with a sense of normality that revolves around whiteness because the people in their life are influenced by the same media and values. Media’s role in “colonization of the mind” is exposing massive amounts of people to similar advertising and themes. For instance, an entire industry exists for women’s shaving products that doesn’t exist in many other cultures. If a person is raised in the US, they are subject to believe that body hair on a woman is unattractive due to advertising for these products and the subsequent social adoption of that norm.
However, emphasis needs to be put on how values such as that one come to be. The origin of western beliefs about women’s body hair was created and established by Gillette to sell shaving products for women. This speaks to the type of power industry has over common societal beliefs. Media rhetoric is the key to influencing and affecting culture, and as it exists now in the US, it is controlled by industry and caters to a predominantly white country. Essentially, a "white value" can be created out of corporate greed alone.
Many people will look at the example I provided and argue that it is too trivial to be proof of white supremacy. That's because the general public's ideas about white dominance are controlled by people who are influenced by or control the same media that establishes it. White dominance exists covertly in American society through trained incapacities and desensitization, where an individual can observe what might be a clear example of white supremacy but not think much about it or beyond what they already know. Recently, this behavior can be seen through the general indifference or shallow understanding that most Americans have about police brutality towards people of color. Even an issue of this scale can continue to exist and become more severe through the ingrained ideals of American people. Many Americans feel intimidated when offered the idea that white dominance may exist primarily through subtleties and not just in clear points of contention like they are used to. It is uncomfortable to fathom that a person's entire sense of normality is founded on systemic oppression and a well-established cycle of media influence. Moreover, the way terms like "white supremacy" and "oppression" are treated in American media make them seem much more radical and intense than how they are actually observed.
Being able to understand and remain critical of all forms of media and advertising is the only way to identify and resist white dominance, among other things. However, I would go as far as saying that being a victim of white dominance is the only way to truly understand it. In order to think differently about society and media, a person must first become disillusioned with it. If a person has something that marginalizes them, they are predisposed to critical beliefs about white supremacy in America, even if they don't identify it as such. In the end it is important to recognize that white supremacy in America exists under free market capitalism, and everything that exists under that system works together to establish all that is "America" or "American". Disenchantment is the only way to think critically and accurately about capitalism, which in some cases requires an individual to go against everything they are raised with and estrange themself from it emotionally. A vast majority of people don't have either of two things: an empirical reason to think critically or the ability to think critically right out of the gate. And that's why we are ten generations deep in American capitalism with no projectable chance of that changing anywhere in the near future.
Disclaimer: I'm just a stupid kid according to older adults so keep that in mind. These observations I have made just now are clearly nothing more than a product of hormones and rage and have no intellectual value at all. I'll grow out of it, yeah, just like Mom keeps telling me. So take it with a grain of salt, guys. (Joking.)
However, emphasis needs to be put on how values such as that one come to be. The origin of western beliefs about women’s body hair was created and established by Gillette to sell shaving products for women. This speaks to the type of power industry has over common societal beliefs. Media rhetoric is the key to influencing and affecting culture, and as it exists now in the US, it is controlled by industry and caters to a predominantly white country. Essentially, a "white value" can be created out of corporate greed alone.
Many people will look at the example I provided and argue that it is too trivial to be proof of white supremacy. That's because the general public's ideas about white dominance are controlled by people who are influenced by or control the same media that establishes it. White dominance exists covertly in American society through trained incapacities and desensitization, where an individual can observe what might be a clear example of white supremacy but not think much about it or beyond what they already know. Recently, this behavior can be seen through the general indifference or shallow understanding that most Americans have about police brutality towards people of color. Even an issue of this scale can continue to exist and become more severe through the ingrained ideals of American people. Many Americans feel intimidated when offered the idea that white dominance may exist primarily through subtleties and not just in clear points of contention like they are used to. It is uncomfortable to fathom that a person's entire sense of normality is founded on systemic oppression and a well-established cycle of media influence. Moreover, the way terms like "white supremacy" and "oppression" are treated in American media make them seem much more radical and intense than how they are actually observed.
Being able to understand and remain critical of all forms of media and advertising is the only way to identify and resist white dominance, among other things. However, I would go as far as saying that being a victim of white dominance is the only way to truly understand it. In order to think differently about society and media, a person must first become disillusioned with it. If a person has something that marginalizes them, they are predisposed to critical beliefs about white supremacy in America, even if they don't identify it as such. In the end it is important to recognize that white supremacy in America exists under free market capitalism, and everything that exists under that system works together to establish all that is "America" or "American". Disenchantment is the only way to think critically and accurately about capitalism, which in some cases requires an individual to go against everything they are raised with and estrange themself from it emotionally. A vast majority of people don't have either of two things: an empirical reason to think critically or the ability to think critically right out of the gate. And that's why we are ten generations deep in American capitalism with no projectable chance of that changing anywhere in the near future.
Disclaimer: I'm just a stupid kid according to older adults so keep that in mind. These observations I have made just now are clearly nothing more than a product of hormones and rage and have no intellectual value at all. I'll grow out of it, yeah, just like Mom keeps telling me. So take it with a grain of salt, guys. (Joking.)
