Crapitalism

Ah, the American dream! There it is, over the horizon! Great wealth. A younger and more attractive spouse. Beautiful and genetically-selected children who have the benefit of superb healthcare and a superb education. One or more scintillating and fully-paid-for houses. Power over the lives of a great many people under your employ or control. And let’s not forget the most important thing of all: profit, profit, profit!

The problem with the American dream is that, for only a few people, it came true. As it exists today, the American dream cannot possibly be achieved or even glimpsed by all. In fact, only a select few ever tread the gold-paved path that leads to financial immortality. I believe there is something very wrong with American society. We prize profit and innovation at the expense of nearly everyone. We fail to properly recognize and respond to our differences in favor of lumping everyone into a single American experience (and if some do not fit, they become "other").

I don’t know why we should allow the rich to gain their wealth on the backs of those they trample to get there. The Republicans claim that the stimulus package is pure socialism while agreeing to prop up monstrous banks and their lecherous moneylenders. The Democrats, while they may mumble something indiscernible, do not overtly deny that the stimulus package is socialism. Perhaps this is because "socialism" is too dirty a word to say, but I’m betting that it’s because they think the stimulus has lofty, socialist goals. Which is, of course, pure bullshit. Obama is a baby step in the right direction but not in terms of the stimulus. The stimulus package is only a means of prolonging an anti-worker, anti-feminist, anti-minority, anti-human capitalist society. Roosevelt also shoveled the shit of champions, dishing out half-measures (while admittedly beneficial to many workers) in order to prop up capitalism. As a result, social programs are now labeled "socialist" and called out on their failures, but social programs will ultimately fail and draw criticism for their failures under capitalism. The people groan about the partially "welfare state" society we live in and call it socialism, but welfare capitalism is still capitalism. As history has shown, half-measures won’t do, but Obama’s strides, while in the general direction of freedom and equality, are too far to the right to make any meaningful difference to Americans. Meaningful encouragement and care can not be achieved under a system that prizes profit above all else. There are very few relationships from person to person; under capitalism, nearly all relationships are determined by the intermediary of money.

So where is this country? We’re certainly not socialist. We’re not even "Adam Smith" capitalist anymore. And contrary to the ridiculous and unfounded claims of the right, center, and (to a large extent) the moderate left, not everyone has the means to success. A fairly static underclass is necessary in order for those above to accumulate their wealth and propel themselves politically. Minorities and marginalized groups continue to experience not only discouragement from attaining success but disenfranchisement. WTF? FBI! CIA! An onslaught of acronyms won’t save us from this disaster. America doesn’t need to put up with this. The students at UWEC don’t need to put up with this. Find it in your heart to care not just about yourself and the privileged few. If you would only open your eyes, you may very well see as I see.

Okay, schmuck, you may be thinking. Why do you think not everyone has the means of achieving success? The answer isn’t very complicated. During Obama’s campaign, a lot of people said, "Of course you can do anything you want. Look what Obama did and where he came from!" The problem with this statement (and many African American scholars, among numerous others, agree with me on this) is that Obama is a member of society’s conception of the "model minority": members of the minority who forgo most/all cultural ties and cultural identity (though many still identify themselves as of a certain race). In a clearer, more concise way, Wikipedia says, "Model minority refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average. It is most commonly used to label one ethnic minority higher achieving than another ethnic minority. This success is typically measured in income, education, and related factors such as low crime rate and high family stability. The term is often characterized as a myth which amounts to racial stereotyping, and that its use may be a political tool and its implications incite jealousy and fighting among ethnic minorities..." Those who associate with their cultural traditions or who, for other reasons, do not conform to society’s expectation of a fairly concrete definition of an "acceptable" person, are marginalized.

For the idea of the model minority, let’s take a pretty basic statement one of my acquaintances made trying to sum up my explanation of the model minority. "Even though Obama has dark skin, he pretty much acts like a white guy, so we shouldn’t think that because of him black people can do whatever they want in society." While that is an oversimplification, that’s the gist of it.

The term "model minority" has been mostly applied to people of Asian descent and in particular Southeast Asians, but I think it works in most other contexts as well. "The binary views [of marginalized groups] have led to the denial of critical support based, on one extreme, on the assumptions that they have no real needs and, on the other, on the notion that they don’t deserve it," notes Dr. Khatharya Um, a scholar of Asian American Studies at the University of California-Berkley.

Whichever lens you’re seeing this situation through will certainly impact your ability to view the idea of the "model minority" as valid or invalid. People who have first-hand experienced racism/classism/sexism practiced against them throughout their lives more clearly recognize the idea of the "model minority" and can identify its implications. Being a white, heterosexual middle class male, I haven’t really been discriminated against in these ways, but as a scholar and someone who cares deeply about these issues, it’s all too clear to see ignorant racism in play.

In the end, by taking a look at the ways in which different groups or the majority in general (including the middle class) have little (while admittedly some and in varying degrees) control over rising financially, I feel that I have a better grasp of the state of our society on a whole. We prize profit and innovation at the expense of nearly everyone. We fail to properly recognize and respond to our differences in favor of lumping everyone into a single American experience (and if some do not March 25th - April 7th 5

fit, they become "other"). The enjoyment of a select few at the expense of the majority is unacceptable.

I have some suggestions if you really don’t want to deal with the truths of capitalism (or if, after careful consideration, you find my points incorrect and irresponsible). If you believe that nothing is truly wrong and would much rather be content with the state of our world, I would suggest that you go to your "local" corporate bookstore and purchase a book from its wide array of novels that concern middle- to upper- class heterosexual white people. Then, I suggest that you amble on over to one of the surrounding Starbucks stores. Splurge. Go on, do it: purchase something sweet to drink and something sweet to eat (both packed with calories and corporate charm). Read your book, and along the way get refills on your double venti nonfat organic soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha frappuccino with extra white mocha and caramel… extra hot. Feel free to hold a book discussion with your many white friends and your one or two racially diverse and/or LGBT trophy friends. I can all but guarantee that when you are quite finished and the book has spilled its last words, you will feel quite satisfied that nothing could be wrong in the world outside of the problems addressed in your new book, which you can now add to your private library. If you’re not into heavy reading, just pick up a copy of Vogue or GQ.