By March Twisdale
Our world is caught up in several types of conflict. The future feels very uncertain. And many of us are actively concerned. Overwhelmed, even. This is the “fear” part of the storm. And, we are correct. It is reasonable to assess the current circumstance as dangerous.
But, the threats are being obfuscated. Consider a moose charging toward you across an open field. You have a high-powered gun, skills, ammo, and enough distance to get off several shots. You can save yourself.
But she’s a Mama moose. One of the last of its kind, hunted to near-extinction by humans. This is a preserve, and you ignored posted signs, cut through fencing, and are trying to get a selfie with her baby.
Do you shoot?
When we add guilt and shame to the equation, a curious hesitancy arises within us. What right do I have to kill this moose in self-defense? Shouldn’t I face the consequences of my actions? Aren’t these endangered animals worth more than one more human?
The argument for our self-preservation has been weakened. We struggle, hesitate and doubt, as we ponder the value of our life versus theirs. This is the kernel of suicidal empathy.
In war, suicidal empathy is a subversive weapon. Like a disease, it is intentionally spread through the body politic of the enemy nation and its people. The desired effect is immobilization (at the least) or self-destruction (at the worst). It’s an effective strategy, and here’s why.
Empathy is a superpower. It can even inspire us to risk everything for others. Mothers willingly die for their children. Soldiers risk death for their country. Rescuers climb into unstable buildings. Disaster relief volunteers wade into flooded homes. And firefighters walk through fire to save people and even pets from a gruesome death. Empathy can be pure gold.
It can also be twisted, contaminated, and turned into a nation’s Achilles Heel. This is Suicidal Empathy. Currently being deployed throughout western civilization, it is not natural, logical, or an accident. The goal? That we willingly hand ourselves over to a new power, out of shame and self-hatred. And it’s working.
Imagine one day, your strawberry-blond, green-eyed son steals a neighbor’s new mountain bike. Should he feel guilt and shame? Yes. He hurt another person on purpose. Should he be punished or offer restitution? Yes, again.
Now, imagine a towheaded boy from down the street steals your neighbor’s bike. Should your son feel guilt and shame? Should he be made to replace a bike he’s never touched, ridden, and definitely did not steal? Just because he and the boy down the street have similar hair color?
I would say no. But, advocates for “white shame & white guilt” would say yes.
The bike theft scenario demonstrates the ridiculousness of racist bigotry. Yet, sophisticated theories persist, declaring: bigotry against people who lack melanin is not only okay, but morally desirable. Virtuous, even.
The “white shame & white guilt” hook is baited with the promise of inclusion, belonging, and forgiveness. If you turn on your ancestors, family, and especially yourself – you will be exonerated. Virtue signaling, demonstrated through anti-white, anti-European bigotry, is presented as the key to shedding your racially-inherited sin.
European descendants are expected to regret the good things in their life. Each blessing is twisted into one more reason to feel ashamed. And young people are especially vulnerable, as they are barely out of childhood and eager to embrace an active role in the adult world. They desperately want “to know” things, and simple black and white answers are appealing.
Generational guilt is not a new concept.
Consider the violent, multi-generational Hatfield-McCoy feud in Appalachia, rooted in Scots-Irish traditions of kinship and family honor. Or Romeo & Juliet being saddled with generational guilt, at the moment of their birth, leading inevitably to their tragic deaths? Who can forget the blood libel campaigns hurled against Jews for centuries? The legal enslavement of light-skinned, blond, blue eyes children in America – merely because of a black grandparent? Or, centuries of terror on the high seas, as Barbary Pirates (also known as Ottoman corsairs) hunted those born as “infidels” at sea and along coastal towns and villages (mainly in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Ireland, and Iceland)?
I have fair skin, white/blond hair, and blue eyes. What does that make me? A near-perfect blend of Native American and Irish. My grandmother (Southern Cheyenne & Cherokee) was born on the reservation in Oklahoma. My grandfather was born to poor Irish immigrants who immigrated in the late 1890s. Several decades after the Civil War.
My ancestors were “victims” of the Great Hunger and the European arrival to the new world. Begging the American question, what exactly is a “stereotypic white person?” Like all bigotry based on appearance, the argument fails. But, it sure is popular!
Now, imagine a girl or young woman who looks in the mirror and hates her freckled, cream-colored skin? The one with flowing golden locks or blue gray eyes who says, “How can I make up for my whiteness? I want to be an ally! How do I wash this stain of generational sin from my body?”
To her, I would say, “Dear child, you are not the people of the past. You are not even the people of the present. You are nothing but yourself. Just you. And you are only responsible for the life that began when you became a self-determining and self-aware young person, making decisions for yourself. You have no obligation to pay for the sins of anyone, including your parents, your grandparents, or the many hundreds of millions of complete strangers who happen to share a few genetic traits with you.”
On Earth today, there are malevolent forces seeking power through the alchemy of fear, shame, and guilt. They want to turn us against ourselves, steal what we’ve built, and gain power over us.
I suggest we decline the invitation. I suggest we slow down and take time to talk to one another. And, that we view with extreme skepticism the maelstrom of propaganda swirling around us. Yes! Face true dangers, honestly and bravely. But also, be careful what you allow into your heart.
Be the light in the darkness. BE the anti-storm.
