Individualism

by Robert Villegas

  Their rhetoric only supplies the illusion that they are doing something about racism in American society. They are, after all, staunch collectivists vying for power. It is not in the nature of a collectivist to work toward the elimination of a division that can be used to gain power. Would they acknowledge that there is as much self-racialism in our society as racialism? Would they fight to educate people about the problem of prejudice and discrimination? Would they challenge the premises of racial theory? Would they be color-blind? The answer to these questions is "Look at their actions and statements."

  If progressive educators would spend their time teaching "skills" rather than ideology, teaching facts rather than tenuous ideas, then America's children would not be educationally handicapped. Unfortunately, with the defeat of communism and socialism as a political ideal (after the decline of the Soviet Union), many of them have insisted on fostering "diversity" to continue the "critical" approach toward institutions fostered by Marx. In purely Marxist fashion, they will do everything they can, honest and dishonest to foster their views and to shove them down the throat of our country regardless of opposition. In many ways they are taking the educational focus away from quality education and moving it toward brainwashing. They are using minority groups to foster their political and ideological agenda which involves weakening the power structure.

  There are three problems with the progressives' methods. First, the "structure" versus "superstructure" divisions they are postulating are out of date. Ours is no longer an exclusively white dominated society, yet they continue to postulate a white establishment as the enemy. As educated minorities rise in the power structure the complexion is changing. In many ways, the progressive approach is blindly fighting the very people it claims to defend. This is because Marxism is a revolution, an effort to take power regardless of who is in power and whether one's views are right or wrong.

  Secondly, the victims that progressives claim to defend are nothing more than stereo-typed approximations, groups defined and developed for only one reason, not to help the groups, not to foster fairness and awareness, but to wrest power from the dominant group.

  Thirdly, the very idea of a "critical" approach to change is false. The idea that positive and negative elements clash and somehow synthesize through a Hegelian cosmic struggle fostered by critical evaluation is not realistic. Cosmic struggles are just that: cosmic. They do not reflect the world of human beings where volition, thought and deliberation have a place. In the universe of human beings, progress is made through constructive change. That change, if better, can be further improved by keeping what is good and altering what now needs to be changed. This is human progress not some cosmic or historical process.

  For the most part, however, the progressive approach to criticism has harmed the struggle for equality. By preempting the field, by becoming the self-proclaimed spokespeople for minorities, they have diverted the struggle to one for privilege and favoritism extended to only a few. Buttressed by their conviction that the "power structure" can understand only "power" politics, they attempt to overcome that structure by taking it over and installing themselves as the leaders. Rather than open up the institutions of power, they would rather establish privilege only for their special "victims," while they work to take power.

  They have captured the political agenda today and are intent on shoving their ideas and policies down the American public’s throat whether they like it or not. Free speech and expression are met with violent and unfair attacks and a perennial changing of the subject, ad hominem and appeals to pity as argument. With the storm troopers of fake outrage and social struggle yelling support in the background, they even believe they are right.

  Progressives claim that the conservatives are pseudo-racists; that they do not care about minorities because of their support of business interests. They claim that conservatives look the other way, deny the conditions in the ghettos, and would just as soon the problems go away.

  The conservatives say that progressive sociological theories create the problems in the ghettos, and that race is an issue they use to expand government and buy votes.

  Both liberals and conservatives are correct in these criticisms of each other, but neither group has any real solutions. Race relations and the problems that proceed from them are a political football passing between them. Neither offers solutions because neither understands that the problems are the problems of individuals, not of groups. Both approach race issues from the standpoint of collective problems that call for collective solutions.

  All Americans should feel that racism is a bad idea, and they should be insistent on its being removed from society. Whatever one's ethnic origin, people should not be lambasting each other through group warfare. As long as the idea prevails that races exist, we will each be the victim of racism because it will negatively affect relations among individuals.

  It is time to come to grips with the consequences of racism and correct the problem. However, contrary to modern tendencies, these solutions that I offer in the next chapter will not focus on what government should do, but on what individuals should do. That is the only solution. Individuals changing their minds and their actions will make our country into a true melting pot.

  Coming to Grips with Racism

  Intellectuals

  1. The first solution to racism is the complete defeat of collectivism. Collectivism was the scourge of the 20th Century and will devastate the 21st if not defeated as a political ideal. The intellectual should do all possible to expose collectivism for the impractical ideal that it is. All institutions based on collectivism should be thoroughly examined, reevaluated and transformed to reflect a pro-individualist orientation.

  Indeed, the antidote to collectivism is Individualism and all that proceeds from it. When each person is considered for the beauty and grace that he owns, and not as a member of a fictitious group, then a better approach to human relationships can be found. This approach, based on value and character will give each person an opportunity to mold life according to the highest principles. It will help each person realize that one can have the highest qualities in abundance and not feel guilty for it.

  2. Along with collectivism will go racism, the most virulent form of collectivism yet devised. Racial theory, based on the false idea that genetic characteristics determine the moral worth of individuals, must be defeated and removed from human discourse.

  Intellectual leaders have for too long allowed the idea of "race" to co-exist with the idea "species." They should have discarded "race" the moment that scientists popularized the term "species." They should have seen the evidence before their eyes, that there was only one species of man. They should have seen that "race," as used by racial theorists, was impractical, unscientific and unnecessary. They should have fought to eliminate it. Had they done so, they could have precluded the devastation that has been the hallmark of the 20th Century.

  The philosophies that have justified racism stand like a house of cards. We must increase our understanding of the factors that have created this philosophical house and begin systematically knocking it down from the foundations: racial theory.

  3. Prejudice, a form of false generalization, must be removed as a common thinking pattern. Once this fallacy no longer dominates in society, each person will be treated fairly. When people hold each person as an equal, then we will see a massive emergence of truly great human beings of all colors and ethnic heritages.

  The term "white racism" is as bad as the term "black racism." Racism can exist in the mind of anyone blinded by racial theory or the philosophical legacy it has left. To say that victims of racism cannot be racist when they say negative things about "whites" ignores the point that racism is a thought process steeped in illogical reasoning. The illogic of racism makes it false. Powerful emotions derived from having suffered, or from having had ancestors suffer do nothing but cloud the issues. They do not validate or prove anything except that cruelty is possible. To destroy racism, each person
must eliminate his racist thinking and be an example of fair-mindedness. To be just as racist as the racist who is oppressing you prolongs the struggle to the next generation. To believe anyone has a right to be racist is pure demagoguery.

  Another example of this poison is the statement that white individuals are immoral by nature, that they are corrupt by nature. This is nothing more than racial theory aimed against the European. We must keep in mind that ideas have nothing to do with the genetic makeup of people (That is one of Gobineau's fallacies). We must also keep in mind that Europeans brought two systems to this continent, the society of domination and conquest (Imperialism/Colonialism), of privilege and class, as well as the society of equality and Individual rights. Which society is genetically tied to the European? The first set of ideas we should argue against and discard while the second set established the foundations of the greatest society in the history or man.

  Most importantly, we must impart the idea that "being white," that is "being civilized," employable and productive is not a negative. When characteristics of this kind are considered undesirable, one has to wonder what is desirable. Is being unemployable, impolite, ethnocentric, and "uncivilized" better than conducting oneself in a manner that allows others to want to deal with one? Does being "white" mean that one is civilized? What is the alternative and what should "society" be conditioned to accept?

  The worst aspect of this attitude is the peer pressure exerted against people who are willing to succeed but who are made to feel they have betrayed "their people." It takes great individuality to fight against this onslaught of collectivism and guilt.

  We must encourage all individuals to conduct themselves in a manner that makes them worthy of social and business intercourse.

  4. We must demolish the myth of race among those most affected by racial theory. We should recognize that many of the victims of Gobineau's and Chamberlain's racial theories have accepted those theories and are fostering the same ideas toward themselves and others. Prejudice and discrimination are the result of wrong thinking, of intellectual mistakes that are wrong regardless of who holds them or how much they have suffered.

  We must distinguish between the European ideas (colonialism, imperialism) that have devastated so many lives and the European descendants themselves. Those living today are often open to persuasion. The discovery that many people are subconsciously following the tracks laid down by the European legacy of domination may convince them that a different approach is in order.

  Western Philosophy certainly contains many contradictions. The legacy bequeathed to it by Ancient Greece and later the Enlightenment includes some of the most important and beneficial ideas, particularly Individual rights, Equality before the law and constitutional governments of checks and balances. These ideas are admired by many nations and their development (if proper) will point the direction toward a society that would be the envy of the world, a melting pot of descendants of many nations.

  5. We must learn that the government is not a solution but a major part of the problem. We must demolish the myth of the Welfare System. We must find ways to dismantle it or transform it (temporarily) into a system that will eventually lead to self-sufficiency for those already victimized by it.

  6. Advocate a free society in which the government is restricted to defending the Individual rights of citizens; one that is constituted in such a way that legalized theft of property is no longer the order of the day. The present political system is based on domination by groups, and there is little protection from the power of government. Fight the dual political system in place today, the self-contradictory system that offers freedom and rights along with domination and exploitation. Fight against ideas of domination and massive all-powerful government. Fight for a government of laws that protect rights and not a government of men who dispense privilege. Expose this dual system for its inconsistencies; expose it for its unfairness and its lack of concern for the individual. Educate people to the fact that a system of such contradictions cannot exist for much longer without the victory of dictatorship.

  7. A new theory about the nature of man must be fostered, one that proclaims the beauty of all mankind, the abilities inherent in humanity and the equality given by nature. This theory will destroy the ideas that superficial characteristics define individuals fundamentally. It will champion a fairness toward all persons and see that there is no difference that separates them in their claim to the name "human being." It will be based on a truly scientific theory of value, not one that seeks to find fundamental divisions where there are none. It will use the tenets of science, where facts are facts, to prove that, in nature, all men are genetically and morally capable of high achievement. It will sweep aside the racialism that has stigmatized many into lives of despair. It will acknowledge that our accepted ideas have created the unfairness that is so obvious and counsel individuals to advance closer to equality of result through equality in excellence. It will show all human beings how to achieve that excellence. It will teach individuals that it is achievable--by anyone.

  Teachers, parents and businesspeople

  1. The best way to eliminate discrimination is through the development of quality individuals. Toward this purpose, we should foster education that develops real knowledge (the basics) and true skills. The “poor” need more knowledge and productive ability, the two elements that create success in life. Their lack of these elements is what makes them poor. Knowledge comes before success. "Society" does not give it, as our public schools prove. A person has to "get" it. We must sell people on wanting it, pursuing it and getting it.

  The purpose of knowledge is to bring into existence new materials to benefit man. There is no sociological mystery about it. To survive, individuals have to know things that allow the creation of material products, the tools of survival. If you have knowledge and skill and produce better products, the impact of racism is lessened for you. In this way, a person does not "get" a job. He creates an opportunity to sell his ability.

  We must teach people to improve their status in their communities. The real issue for each Individual is not race or class or ethnicity. It is status, a condition of individuals. Being poor does not mean belonging to a class, it is having the status of a poor individual. Class is a collectivist idea that does not apply to individuals. The higher status a person has achieved, the better his life becomes and the likelier is success.

  One's status determines how the rest of mankind, the wider community, deals with one and provides opportunities for advancement. If one has earned a position as an authority or better person, one attains a status that gains respect. This status becomes a benefit that causes this person to be treated with deference (positive discrimination). Status can be achieved by anyone who lives his life in such a way that those who deal with him come to respect what he does. Anyone, no matter where he starts in life, can lift himself to the next rung on the ladder that is status. That step may be a modest one, but it is in the right direction and puts one closer to the next step and the next.

  We must impart to the young the positive ideas that create successful living and give status. We must teach each person that his life is his to build. Those of us who have been successful, who have elevated ourselves to a certain higher status know how we did it. We can teach others to follow our examples. Those without the time to teach, the vast majority who must dedicate their time to work and family, should teach their children by word and deed.

  Finally, we should focus on encouraging Individual achievement. The most important changes in our society take place, not in government, but in the daily improvements and new products developed in the industrial and business environments by individuals. Achievement is an Individual process.

  2. Teach clear thinking to the children. Learn to distinguish the fallacy of overgeneralization and show youngsters how that practice is unfair. Better, teach in words and example that a benevolent attitude toward all people is the only fair attitude. Teach children to recognize individu
als and not groups. Teach them that common characteristics among some ethnic groups are only generalized, that there are many who do not possess those characteristics. Teach them that there is no real difference between people of good intentions; most want successful and happy lives and the best for their children.

  Teach them to know the Individual in all their interactions, not what is said or thought about him. Teach them to judge according to Individual qualities of character, not qualities of "types" of people. Teach them to make judgments based on facts not suppositions.

  3. Hold special discussions with the children, exposing racism in our society. Show them the methods of prejudice and how individuals are stigmatized, stereotyped and excluded. Teach them that the worst element in our society is racial theory. Teach them to recognize it and fight it. Teach them that the first step toward racism is the belief that races exist. Teach them that perceived racial differences are those most likely to be different from Individual to Individual and that they have no connection to qualities of character.