Have you ever watched a Netflix documentary about people being in a cult? Did you ask yourself; how could these people be so blind to the control and manipulation?
Have you ever had a loved one stay in a domestic abuse relationship? Did you often stay awake at night wondering why they couldn’t see through the toxicity and abuse?
From these two examples we see how easy it is for a person to become influenced . We tell ourselves we would never find ourselves in that situation, but we do (as we are human). So many accounts from individuals in both these circumstances inform us how real it is and how frequent it happens. Humans are very susceptible to brainwashing and persuading.
Brainwashing is what created the American society we live in today. We are told what is best for us by those in power and blindly we follow. We are recently discovering that those in power do not want what is best for us. People are opening their eyes to the fact that everything we consume, ingest, breathe, use in some way is full of killer chemicals. Products, foods, and even vaccines are being recalled on the daily. We are constantly finding out something new that was used as a tool to keep us desperate, ill, docile, dumb, and submissive.
Stay with me.
We were told about the American dream and the productive work schedule. We were told how important three meals a day are (humans don’t need that much food,let alone the chemical filled food we are currently given). We were told not to get too much sleep, to get our fluoride (poison) teeth treatments, and to wear our sunscreen full of cancerous chemicals. We were then given the definition of what a perfect woman looks like.
Sexism
In early society (and within other cultures outside of western), women were honored. Women hold so much power within them. When the darkness took over the earth and the elitists rose to the top, that power was recognized, and perceived as a hefty threat. That is when the patriarchy was created and pushed so intently that women today suffer from internalized misogyny. Women are forced to work through the misery of their menstrual cycles. Women are held to a standard of perfection in terms of physical looks. This has been seen in advertising, media, and has affected the self worth of female children, teens, and adults.
Women are just supposed to make less than men and be less than men. “Look beautiful, clean, be bubbly and dumb and certainly don’t question any of this”, they said. And nobody did.
Heterosexism
Those are just some examples of societal conditioning and how easy it is for people in power to get us to do things without questioning. I was recently speaking to an older gentleman who was enraged over seeing a male walking around in full women’s get up. This situation is still all too familiar and at its deepest roots is a personal issue. When you feel bouts of rage by someone’s appearance, actions, things that make them happy that is a YOU problem that you decide to make an everyone problem.
Someone woke up one day and said that “men only wear this and women only wear this” and everyone listened.
Except everyone didn’t listen, they just did it in private.
Millions of people feel the need to hide their authentic selves from the public (and even family). Do you know what a heavy weight that is to carry? Having to alter who you are because “it isn’t right” is enough to make an individual attempt suicide.
Antisemitism
This discussion reminds me of the Holocaust. People despised, dehumanized, and brutally murdered Jewish individuals and for what? Because someone told them to? That may sound like a dramatic comparison, but I assure you it is not. When the Holocaust was over and the amnesia worn away, people were flabbergasted. How could someone treat another human being like a rat? That is what happens in front of our faces all the time when we witness hetero-sexism, antisemitism, ageism, look-ism, able-ism, sexism, and racism (etc.) and the violence that follows.
Racism
The elitists understood early the sheer spiritual power of people of color and therefore enslaved them. Like the patriarchy story above, when power is recognized, it is immediately shut down. (I do not care what history says, this is the spiritual truth which is the truth of life). History books must be questioned as well. Question everything.
Let me provide you with an example/challenge. Say you are in a store and two people are causing a scene. One white person and one black person are both shouting the same exact words and doing the exact same actions. Which one do you make cute little excuses for and whose behavior do you find unacceptable?
Ask yourself, where do your ignorant beliefs come from? “Well, it’s a fact that black people are violent,” some may say.
The following is an excerpt taken from African American Literature Book Club website where people can apparently comment anything.
Posted July 10, 2022
“Statistics clearly show that Blacks commit about 60% of all violent crime in America despite them being 14% of the population. Why is this? No family structure and a community that condones young girls having babies.
Other minorities that come to this country without money and without speaking our language still surpass blacks. Its amazing !!!!
Maybe black women need to find a moral compass and black men have to stop committing violent crime and serious drug offenses?? I think so !
Lets stop making excuses and start acting like mature adults. By the way, using some big words doesn't do anything either. We need to take personal responsibility. Lets stop blaming white people especially since they invented almost everything that makes our lives better.”
This is ignorant and laughable.
If you went straight from slavery to immediate and severe discrimination/oppression for years and years, how would you succeed? Continual violence against you from the police, microaggressions, separated bathrooms, (and much more) will surely affect a person and their success! Decades upon decades later the movement towards your equality is slow and STILL not entirely steady. We are making progress as the old generations die out and we teach the younger ones equality. HOWEVER, the systems still favor the elite, white, able-bodied males.
Not only does racism have an effect individually, but science has finally confirmed (and spirituality always said) that generational trauma is real. When an individual isn’t ready to face and release a trauma, family members down the line are faced with it.
Understanding trauma is an important component to all of this. More on that later.
Unlike what the commenter said above, this is the personal responsibility of white people. If we set up the system to advocate for and encourage pure unfiltered equality with all the same perks and advantages, there would be change. When you set a whole group of people up to fail, they will.
Knowing all that, it really is a no-brainer people would need to use violence to get anywhere. The magnetism to violence may also be due to internalized racism. As someone who experienced internalized misogyny, I know this is a very real experience. When facing so much blatant discrimination you begin to internalize it and believe you are inferior and hopeless. Or you have tried so hard that resistance seems futile.
Now we are even seeing a blatant disregard for homeless people. The streets of Kensington (for example) are filled with people displaying zombie-like symptoms. Why are we dehumanizing these individuals as well? Now that we know the government is not for the people, how could we expect them to positively intervene?
Viewing Discrimination as a Trigger and the Role Trauma Plays
The preceding examples suggests the isms (hetero-sexism, racism, etc.) should be viewed similarly to psychological triggers.
We hear the word trigger often in the psychological realm. According to BetterUp website (2022), a trigger is “a person, place, thing, or situation that elicits an intense or unexpected emotional response” and is not something I usually hear when referring to the isms. Some people are triggered when they see an individual that is different than them. The appearance or action of the other person is a trigger.
Ask yourself, why do I feel triggered by this? Is it societal conditioning? Does it stem from patriarchal programming? Why am I triggered by someone else’s life and business outside of my own? Why does the happiness of someone else make me react in disgust? Am I bitter? What is going on here?
Many people may not even know why they feel triggered. There are a lot of uneducated people who are unable to formulate their own opinions and have only listened to their family. Some people are misdirected by familial and societal conditioning. The cycle continues until someone stops it.
Trauma
Trauma is stored in our bodies, and it doesn’t matter how much we talk about it and analyze it. The only way to release trauma is to feel it and feel it fully. This often requires healing methods such as EMDR that allows a person to relive a situation in a safe space with a professional. When the pain is too much and we repress it our entire lives, it goes to the next person and the next person until someone can feel it and break the cycle. I have been quite obsessed with this topic since I began my healing/spiritual journey.
The point of this article is to encourage different lenses and strategies to be used when trying to eliminate the isms that destroy so many lives. It is like being in recovery. Look at prejudice as a sickness, an addiction. We so often want to be mad at the person, to yell at them and ask, “what is wrong with you?” That does not solve anything.
Similarly, to a domestic abuse situation, you must take the racist (for example) out of the environment, provide education, and therapy. Therapy to take a deep dive of where the belief system originated and the origins of the trigger and pushing education. Education is the end to ignorance. I am not alluding that racism should be treated with the most gentle touch BUT since it is our responsibility and we started/caused it, we need to provide a safe means to recovery. There will be people more susceptible to it than others, but does that mean we do not try? What are we even doing now to stop all this?
I do not speak on this with the wish to be a white savior. As someone with privilege, I know that privilege equals power. Power comes with responsibility. This isn’t Spiderman, this is real life. I was given the gift of privilege and the gift of being well written. There is a responsibility on me therefore to advocate for change. I do not claim to know what it is like to a person of color. I do not claim to know the challenges of LGBTQIA+ individuals. I have however faced oppression due to my psychiatric disabilities, status as a woman and being impoverished.
Why wouldn’t you want someone else to be happy? Why wouldn’t you want to see someone advance? The thought of everyone being able to be their fully authentic selves (and shine every single day) is the most heart-warming thought there is. Why are some people more deserving of this than others? Why do some kids have to grow up and ask their parents what is wrong with them? Who said that skin color (just one example) was an indicator of worth and why did everyone run with it?
It is up to the people to stand together and advocate, educate, and PUSH for change. So many of us are social workers, educators, doctors, and are of helping professions. We must now answer the call to go bigger. THINK BIGGER! God needs you on a level higher than ever before.
Today I hope I have sparked even a glimmer of change in perspective. Right now, we are stagnant. The answer is community. No longer can we rely on those in power. We must take that power. It is not just the elitists world; it is our world! We are headed in the most wonderful direction and your gifts are needed to continue this. Thank you for listening and I pray for compassion and love among all humans.