The perk of sticking around somewhere that earks you long enough to get past the shock of new affronts is that you get to see, first hand, the inner working of the minds of people that you don’t generally agree with. You don’t have to wonder, speculate, or test theories from the outside in a vacuum, the mannerisms in question are right before your very eyes, every day.
The most recent instillation of this series is the tried and true, one and only: The White Savior Complex.
Quite complex indeed. On paper it seems like the classic case of one group “the Savior” believing that the “other” group “the Meek” are not educated, high tech, cultured, proactive, inspired, strong, etc. enough to do what needs to be done to save themselves. On the surface this makes sense.
But when you see it played out right before your very eyes, it’s a little more nuanced than that. Some key parts include:
- Group think
- Desperation
- Tunnel vision
- Lack of checks and balances
Let’s break it down.
Group Think
An idea might come up that one person thinks is good. In a group of like-minded individuals, no one is there to think outside of the group and challenge the initial sentiment, so the concept then travels very far, unchecked.
Desperation
Image the scene: One is pressed to meet a goal or deadline. Then, out of nowhere one golden goose-egg of an idea presents itself. You present this golden idea to the powers that be and they bite after an agonizing and long period of silence and disinterest. At this stage, any idea is protected.
Adding an impossible time constraint to increase desperation just serves to usher the idea faster through the goal. Any quality vetting processes – that may or may not have been in place – dismissed in the shuffle.
Tunnel Vision
This one idea, the idea that can get the powers that be into the proverbial gingerbread house to then sample your other goods, this idea is guarded. Fiercely. Any obstacle on this path is ignored because it could not just jeopardize this one idea, but every possible opportunity that could in theory come from this one concept.
Lack of Checks and Balances
This idea has been percolating for months and without the proper systems, gatekeepers, or diverse representation in place to vet (and veto) certain ideas the date of execution on an idea looms dangerously close before anyone has time to question the validity of the golden idea.
And because of group think, perhaps no one ever will question it. At least not from the inside.
These aspects blend in with one another and overlap, they are mixed together and create a big old mess that has many names. “Cultural appropriation”, “white savior complex”, “misguided intentions” and most damning in a PC society “racist products, programs, or services”. Yes racist, the golden idea can be racist even if it wasn’t intended to offend anyone.
Sometimes even if one is not only in place but also empowered to point out the shortcomings of the Golden Idea, they can be chastised for going against the group. They can be told by “the Savior” that: “They don’t see anything wrong with this” or “you’re just being overly sensitive.”
And while in 2020, in a perfect existence, everyone should know better by now, the “woke” Savior is not all to blame, they are just an indicator of a larger issue. These little idiosyncrasies are so baked into U.S. culture that they are hard to detect by those who have attended a few events as allies and are determined to “do good”.
To most effectively correct and truly change mindsets, each affront must be individually stripped down to its parts and looked at from different points of view. What is “right” must be flipped on its head and analyzed because the concept of “doing good the right way” must be built up from a more inclusive foundation. What is acceptable must be reclaimed by those who have been wronged by a system and what is just must be reintroduced to a culture.
Time and the proper learning environment are not luxuries that are afforded to or accessible by all Saviors. So the Meek and the Offended must be patient when describing all the ways in which patriarchal ideas are offensive; why some ideas are inherently racist and unhelpful because they were developed on a foundation of inequality; and why a Savior’s whole concept of an idea or principal might be completely wrong. Yet another burden and cross that the Meek must bare.
The current culture in many ways aggravates this situation. Those quasi-terrorist, perpetrators who don’t care to correct their offensive ways and actively seek out ways to harm are silenced by the Saviors in an effort to protect the Meek (from what I’m not sure because systematic ills still exist in abundance whether the Savior chooses to acknowledge them or not). This unintentionally self-destructive act places those Saviors in micro-communities of like minded individuals who preach inclusivity and acceptance while excluding their own version of “the Other”.
Though algorithims and filters may protect us from those who don’t think like us, they are still there. Injustice and inequality still exist even if you block and unfollow people on social media. Those who live to hate are still out there – beyond the walls of social insulation, biding their time until they can one day rise again with vengeance (e.g. hate crimes and the current extreme populism administrations). The manner is not changed, nothing was fixed, just dismissed.
Socially enforced political correctness – while good for preventing some murder, feelings of inadequacy caused by hate speech, and many a socially awkward conversation – does not fix any of the -isms. Just hides them. It creates a false sense of security, safety, and cultural progression.
One cannot see how an idea might, though well intended, be inherently offensive if a shroud of political correctness has be placed over the offences in society to burry them deeper into the social psyche. These offensive acts become inherent, and the norm because they keep getting pushed aside and are never dealt with in the first place.
So if you can’t see what’s wrong with an idea that someone is telling you is offensive; if you can’t see what’s wrong with filling up your office spaces with those people who think just like you, those who aren’t able to challenge your ideas because they only know the same lived experience as you; if you refuse to wade through the ugliness of injustice and discrimination to see what’s really wrong with our systems; if you aren’t willing to let go of your ego, get out of your own way, and listen to those who would dare to question your determined forward trajectory then we will continue to be stuck in a progressive limbo having changed nothing at all.
If you’re ready to admit that something may wrong even if you can’t see it right now, especially those things that were done for the right reason but landed wrong, then congratulations! You may be ready to do the work to create authentic change.
Caia Rose 