Ethnicism is a very real abstraction. It exists in the minds of millions throughout the world. It exists among those that are called white, black, Mexican-American and virtually every ethnic group on the current scene. The United States of America, the freest country on earth, the most intellectually and economically advanced country in the history of the earth, is the only nation capable of eliminating the negative aspects of ethnicism. This is because it is a nation of basically free individuals capable of drawing their own conclusions on moral issues – and of independently acting upon those conclusions. However, as long as current leadership and current political processes dominate, ethnicism will never be defeated. A clear rethinking by our intellectual leaders and an almost complete revamping of our political processes are necessary in order to effectively eliminate ethnic conflict and group warfare as a factor in American society. This is because our intellectual leaders and our political institutions do more to foster this conflict than to eliminate it.
Were the author to use currently popular “multiculturalist” jargon he would say that he is a Mexican-American. However, I reject such terminology because I believe the emphasis on my territorial origins is ethnicism. It is an implicit tag, a label that fosters preconceived judgments about my character and individuality. I live and work in this society as an American. I am an American in every sense and meaning of the word. Certainly I have encountered prejudice and discrimination and will encounter them in the future. But I feel that an emphasis on certain basic attitudes can make it easier for those that have been labeled as ethnic minorities to live and prosper as Americans rather than as de facto foreigners in the United States.
What attitudes will allow the ethnically-branded Individual to better live in society as an American? Is it even possible for an ethnic minority to prosper and live as an American? The answers to these questions provide a foundation for a very important principle that many ethnically minded youngsters might find beneficial, and it might help us as a society (and as individuals concerned over the issues of ethnicity) to find a way out, to answer the more basic questions: What keeps an ethnically-branded Individual in ethnicity? What keeps him from developing as an American? What can an Individual do to prevent being limited by ethnicism, not just the ethnicism that exists outside, in society, but that exists inside, in his own mind?
Early definitions of the word ethnic pertained “to or (were) characteristic of a people, especially a group (ethnic group) sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like”.[13]
An ethnic group was a group of "heathen(s), pagan(s), and having that sense first in English; deriving “from Latin ethnicus, Greek ethnikos, from ethnos ‘band of people living together, nation, people,’ properly ‘people of one's own kind,’”[14] (Parentheses mine)
And
“Ethnic conflict is an outgrowth of social insecurity. Tribes with more dictatorial political structures tended throughout history to view the arrival of a new group as a "theft" of their land, as a warlike act, and acted accordingly. Those of more individualistic character, tended to view other tribes as prospects for trade, as more "workers" to produce abundance. It is this basic difference that has created some of our history's most monumental changes. The creation of the United States and its early openness to immigrants was an outgrowth of the latter belief. The result was a melting-pot of abundance, cultural tolerance, and Individual rights (the experience of the American Indian and African-American notwithstanding). On the other hand, Nazi Germany, being a dictatorship, had, by 1938, stretched human resources to the breaking point and needed land to exploit and bodies to enslave.
“One can conclude that, since there is no such thing as race, most racial conflict is ethnic conflict. If we take this perspective, we begin to see a more realistic process in "group" relations. When you consider that one of the major components of ethnic conflict is territorial protectionism, we begin to understand that racism is, in reality, ethnic exclusion.”[15]
Ethnicity is a trap which a person falls into when he in branded, by himself or by society, as a member of a particular ethnic group. It requires or entails that he be identified and dealt with not as an individual, but as a member of that group. This trap creates a whole series of entrenched policies and attitudes which are exhibited by the culture and by the Individual in relation to himself. When an Individual is trapped in ethnicity he finds it difficult to assimilate into the mainstream culture and necessarily finds it difficult to prosper as a member of the dominant culture.
Ethnicity is an aspect of racism. However not only is it exhibited by the culture in general, but by the individuals who are trapped within their ethnic group. I submit that the ethnicity within the individual, the racism which the Individual feels toward his being a member of the ethnic group, is the dominant and pervading influence which keeps him in ethnicity.
Culture Shock
A citizen of another country who decides to give up that country and ask for the freedom and opportunity available in the United States is often the most obvious victim of culture shock. For many immigrants, the differences found in the United States are a liberation and prove to be highly beneficial. But for some the shock of a new culture is too much. Some are more accustomed to their old culture and had become complacent in accepting the standards, morals and attitudes of the old culture. They found upon entering the United States that great parts of that culture ran counter to the American culture. Language differences, economic competition, the work ethic, money transactions, credit, new technologies and many other issues are often quite new to a member of another culture.
After a time, two wrong attitudes may develop. Either the Individual takes on an inferiority complex or he rebels against the new culture. Both attitudes serve to block and hinder further advancements. In effect, they create a self-destructive bias in the immigrant that is not necessarily found in the culture as a whole. The Individual then begins to look for aspects of the dominant culture which he can criticize and ridicule in an effort to rationalize his own shortcomings. Not only does the Individual develop a bias against the culture, but because of his cultural limitations, as a member of an ethnic group, he also develops a bias and a racism toward himself and toward other members of his ethnic group. He begins to require that others in his group empathize with his condition and his attitudes.
But most ethnics in our country are born within the United States. They are U.S. citizens and cultural shock takes a much more devastating toll upon them. Because of the fact that the inferiority complex and the rebellion are filtered down through the generations, ethnic loyalty has a tendency to be assimilated in the Individual from early childhood. Realization that the ways and attitudes of his ethnic group are not the ways of the American culture often comes too late, leaving the child or the young adult in a situation where his own attitudes keep him from prospering in the dominant culture.
Cultural Loyalty
Certainly there is nothing wrong with being proud of the culture from which one's roots sprouted, for there are many interesting cultures and subcultures in the United States today. The colorful traditions and the uniqueness of each serve as points of interest for all Americans. And there is a certain element of loyalty that must inevitably be part of an individual's pride. However, that loyalty can and must be limited primarily to the intellectual level. The goal of any immigrant or ethnic minority is to become assimilated into the main stream of the dominant culture; the culture that one has chosen as one’s intellectual home. An excessive focus upon a past culture or an inherited culture only serves to inhibit an individual's dedication to the process of assimilation, and it serves to set that Individual apart as one who rejects the dominant culture. This often changes the behavior of others in society toward that individual. Functioning as a businessman, or as an educator, or as a leader, or as a parent, or a worker, require standards of action, and those standards tend to be laid down by the dominant culture. To act differently in relation to those standar
ds, or with allegiance to other standards, is an act that can serve no long-term benefit. A staunch cultural loyalty often hinders attitudes and can turn an Individual into a racist or multiculturalist. This creates unnecessary ethnic tension, bitterness, and often times subtle or open retaliation by members of other groups.
Communication
Standard English is coming under increasing attack today and there are many arguments for the elevation of ethnic jargon as an acceptable communicative medium. But common sense dictates that a common language spoken in an established fashion with firm rules is a benefit to communication. English is the International Language and there are many good reasons for this. If the member of an ethnic group in America does not make an effort to speak English and develop a vocabulary that is competitive with the vocabulary of other English speaking Americans, then he loses the competitive edge. Many professions require a clarity of expression, and indeed, almost any profession will generally promote that Individual who is better able to express himself. If a person allows peer pressure to become an obstacle in his life, culture shock and cultural loyalty often serve to drive him away from a development and mastery of English skills. This can only harm the Individual no matter how much he feels he is justified in his loyalty. To expect the entire culture to alter its progress and bend to the whims of those who would prefer not to learn a common language, and to insist that the general culture learn many sub-languages, is asking too much. Communication is too important in a free society and a common language is important for communication. One of the strongest ways that a person can escape ethnicity is by the development of English skills.
Ethnic Inferiority Complex
The combined effect of culture shock, cultural loyalty, and communication problems tends to encourage in one who is trapped in ethnicity a feeling of ethnic inferiority. His inability to hurdle these obstacles, to deal with them effectively and to succeed in living on a par with current standards, creates a feeling that it is his ethnic identity that is the problem, and further that it is this ethnic identity which has made others put obstacles in his way. The feeling that one is somehow and in some way inferior may have absolutely no scientific or logical base, yet many individuals can suffer the feeling of ethnic inferiority in spite of this and can hold a grey, numb feeling that there is something wrong with them. Often the Individual colors his relationships with other people and interprets the actions of other people toward him as indicative of his own racial inferiority
If an Individual discovers that he or she thinks he is inferior in some way, he can deal with it in one of two ways. Either he can rethink his reasons, re-identify his past experiences and compare them to reality, or he can form various rationalizations and defensiveness.
The obvious correct solution is to rethink one's own attitudes. Defensiveness and ethnic backlash only limit the Individual in dealing with the world. They keep him responding to his feeling of racial inferiority and leave him no possibility of success. His only hope, and it is a faint impossible hope, is that the rest of the world begin to believe that it is totally corrupt. And of course, this will not happen.
In spite of all the efforts undertaken by racial politicians, and in spite of all the extorted and guilt-ridden Americans, and in spite of privileges and preferential treatment accorded select members of minority groups, the free world will never fully accept the notion that it is totally corrupt. Such an attitude only creates an obstacle toward a true elimination of racism and ethnicism. Since it is impossible that the rest of the world will respond in this way to an individual's own feelings of inferiority, a massive rethinking would serve better.
What are the facts relating to racial and ethnic prejudice in our society? What is the nature of our society and how does racial prejudice fit in? An examination of this issue will serve to help us see just what obstacles actually face the ethnic minority. In her article "Racism" Chapter 17 of The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand defines racism in the following manner. "Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's genetic lineage-the notion that a man's intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors.
"Racism claims that the content of a man's mind (not his cognitive apparatus, but its content) is inherited; that a man's convictions, values and character are determined before he is born, by physical factors beyond his control. This is the caveman's version of the doctrine of innate ideas-or of inherited knowledge which has been thoroughly refuted by philosophy and science. Racism is a doctrine of, by and for brutes. It is a barnyard or stock-farm version of collectivism, appropriate to a mentality that differentiates between various breeds of animals, but not between animals and men."[16]
The key words in the above quotation are "primitive" and "barnyard." The reason I want to emphasize this is because Miss Rand has put her finger on a very important aspect of racism; that racism is primarily engaged in by the most unworthy.
Racism represents a very low philosophical level. A level of development engaged in by people whose minds are primarily passive and incapable of abstract reasoning. Such people are not worth associating with. They huddle in their own groups and prefer its safety to the challenge of coexisting with the world. The point is this: racial minorities should attempt to elevate the level of their philosophical thought, rather than be part of such primitive notions like racism and ethnicism. Most importantly they should avoid approximating it in reverse. They should attempt to call the shots of prejudice and discrimination for what they are, identify the issues for what they are, and show the wrong thinking involved. Given the nature of this thinking it should not be difficult to do.
Today most minority leaders do not attempt this. They attempt to either 1) use racism in reverse and 2) manipulate government and act as pressure groups for privilege.
In effect, the minority leader is engaging in power politics, to gain, by whatever means possible, a level of power which enables him to dictate the terms of his own advance. All such leaders require racial and ethnic divisions and do all they can to promote them. They encourage what Ayn Rand has called injustice as justice; they encourage a table-turning and a political battle against the barnyard racist by unfairly portraying our whole society as being made up of such racists. In effect they create an open hostility toward all aspects of society, interpreting any aspect as being racist.
If minority leaders were concerned about the rights of minority individuals, they would not clamor for privileges and welfare. They would do everything they could to show that they are worthy of membership in a society which recognizes Individual rights. And they would also (more than any other group) recognize Individual rights in their actions and speeches. They would show that they, above all others in society, deserve to be treated as American citizens by means of respecting the rights and property of American citizens. And this applies especially to the despicable act of encouraging, directly or indirectly, the use of violence in our streets.
If minorities want rights and respect, how could they possibly justify the destruction of rights and property? It is they, above all, who should demonstrate their belief in rights and property. They should strive as individuals, rather than through group power, to become members of the elite of American society, an elite that includes anyone and everyone who recognizes the rights of all men.
An acceptance of the American culture, a denial of ill-founded cultural loyalty, and an effort to obtain communication skills, as well as a determination to stand as an American who demands his rights and recognizes the rights of others will help anyone escape ethnicity. A rejection of racism whether of a positive or a reverse nature, an acceptance of education and success, are the attitudes that the ethnic minority should attempt to achieve in his person. Certainly it is true
that when one is different one will always experience some sort of discrimination, be it racial or otherwise. But it is also true that a descent to the intellectual level of those who discriminate only reveals that one does not deserve to be different in the first place. Escaping ethnicity is an individual, not political matter.
Government and Racism
Progressives foster a government of controls wherein the economy is strapped in a cycle of favoritism benefiting their favorite groups, orchestrated by a massive and wasteful government bureaucracy, the academic and business world, and ending with the luxurious life-styles of political leaders. Intellectually, they tend toward the welfare-state as the solution for centuries of oppression.
Some more radical progressives insist that every encounter between black and white is tinged with racism, that the whole history of white men proves they are an evil race. They turn the idea of racial theory upside down, practicing it as reverse racial theory, while proclaiming that a historical victim of racism (even the children of the victims), cannot be guilty of it, even though they practice all the elements of it.
Some progressives would ride out the storm of racism, using it to advance their careers. Their sensitivity to the plight of the poor is nothing more than vote-counting. They have grabbed onto the device of racism and are willing to use it to advance their careers for as long as they can. Do they want to make it go away? No. Do they want to create a political climate where it can be eliminated? Look at their actions. Do they want to educate people about the virulence of racism, to the devastating impact it has had on the lives of people? If it will get votes, but until it does not, do not count on it.
Individualism Page 13
