Guest Opinion: Fight racism with individualism, capitalism, limited government
Gregory Manco for The Intelligencer
To paraphrase economist Thomas Sowell: things a liberal would have said years ago could get him labeled a racist today.
That’s an understatement.
Consider NBA announcer Grant Napear who, after the George Floyd killing and protests, tweeted “All Lives Matter – Every Single One!!!”. He was promptly fired. How does a color-neutral affirmation of the value of every life make that person a racist?
I sought answers from those at the forefront of the national discussion, and found little more than logical fallacies and ulterior political agendas.
The author of bestseller “White Fragility” argues that color-neutrality is impossible. According to Robin DiAngelo, white people are so deeply ingrained with unconscious biases that they are racist simply by virtue of being white. Never mind that this is the actual definition of racism, by declaring inferiority of an entire race — specifically, that its members inherently possess a repugnant flaw.
It gets worse. DiAngelo explains:
“We can be told, and often are told, to treat everyone the same, but we cannot successfully be taught to do so because human beings are not objective.” (emphasis mine)
Think about that. Her own claim about human nature is itself, not objectively true. She says so. And despite unconscious biases, we can be conscious enough to buy her book and pay her thousands of dollars to lead corporate diversity training — training which consists entirely of her own subjective opinions and no objective facts.
This sounds more like a racket than a solution.
Ibram X. Kendi doesn’t endorse DiAngelo’s “embedded racism”, but holds that people constantly change its definition to suit them. That doesn’t stop the author of “How To Be An Antiracist” from changing definitions himself. Kendi says a racist is:
“…one who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction”.
Examples? He gives us a big one:
“Capitalism is essentially racist; racism is essentially capitalist.”
To Kendi, you are a racist unless you actively rebel against capitalism.
This brings us to Black Lives Matter, a movement whose co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza describe themselves as “trained Marxists.” The District of Columbia’s BLM chapter expresses its desire to “dismantle capitalism” prominently on its website. Our choice is seemingly to support BLM and the entire radical-left package deal — or risk career cancellation for any perceived challenge to the literal meaning of those three words. These are false alternatives.
None of this is to say that racism doesn’t exist. But let’s be specific. Humans have free will and there exist some who regretfully choose to be racist. Denounce them. Hold them personally accountable. Do not consider them representatives of all people who look like them.
The remedy for unconscious bias? Be conscious! Treat each other as individuals, not as members of collectives defined by irrelevant, immutable physical attributes. Opposition to racism is inherent in being a principled individualist.
Systemic racism? We can cite plenty of examples of racist policy, besides the obvious (slavery). From redlining and Jim Crow in the past to minimum wage and drug wars today — these all hurt Black Americans disproportionately. What do these have in common? Government that did not and does not fully acknowledge the rights of all people.
The solution is to embrace the socio-economic system that limits government to protection of individual rights. It’s not any variant of Marxism, nor our current, over-regulated “mixed” system. Instead it is pure, laissez-faire capitalism: equality before the law and complete separation of economy and state.
Let’s be clear: the lives of Black people truly matter — every bit as much as everyone else’s. We should put aside “All Lives Matter” as it comes off as unnecessarily trolling. But we should also be wary of anyone who tries to exploit collective guilt in order to smuggle in dangerous authoritarian ideologies.
Gregory Manco is visiting assistant professor of mathematics and assistant coach for the men’s baseball team at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
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‘We HAVE to take a stand’: Right-leaning teacher’s thread throwing DOWN on the mob coming to cancel him is an EPIC must-read
There is a lot in this article. Have a look!