All Lives Ideology

Let’s face it:  there would be no “All Lives Matter” movement without Black Lives Matter” .

All Lives Matter is a reaction that demonstrates the power of mainstream culture, mainstream systems, and established mainstream norms in the United States.

It is a less than kind rebuke, like a parent saying ‘No, child, you’re wrong to be upset; other people have been hurt too.”  This is an ideological mindset.

“Ideology” is often bogged down with material interest and compromise  (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011), which some might call “corruption.”

When our laws and traditions which structure our actions are at odds with our stated values, we create dissonance.  When our actions don’t align with our values there is no harmony; no “vibe”; no resonance with the spirit of the thing.  It is inharmonious.  Out of balance.

Disturbing, for some, on a spiritual level.

And we are left with a choice:  change our values, which we can do; or change our actions to match the values we have (lower our standards, some might say).  Changing one must eventually change the other…

 “Our beliefs about ourselves, our relationships, and our societies influence our action, which in turn may validate (or refute) a…perspective” (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2011).

 “All Lives Matter” is an ideological response that says the mainstream knows more than the oppressed. 

“Our voices are louder.”

It’s usually a cry of reaction and backlash from angry white people. 

“My life matters too!” 

These are the same people who buy the idea that white people, Western European Americans and Anglo Americans will be a minority in America by 2050 or so:  this is only true if you count Caucasians against all the other minorities lumped into one.  Latino, Asian, Native American, African American…This is an “Us against them” fallacy which refutes any point of view that does not support the “us” part first and foremost.  I say this kind of point of view is damaging to the spirit of any innocent born on this planet and lucky enough to be born into the American system because it immediately singles you out if you weren’t born of Western European or Anglo descent, and allows the system and its apologists to continually punish you for it, subtly and overtly.

Dissonance happens when our actions don’t match our values. 

Our actions or our ideals must eventually change.

White supremacist ideology has been trying to become an established value in US culture since its inception and before. 

Howard Zinn said the color line was drawn to help establish a buffer between rich and poor:  they called it the middle class (Zinn, 2003).

I lived among the middle class for a while when I was younger:  they are the ones (and again, not everyone because I met some people whom I consider in my limited view to be some of the greatest people I ever met) who shout the loudest when their place in the hierarchy is threatened by cries that other lives matter too.  When non-Anglo and non western European types are allowed to partake of the benefits of this society, they scream!  Apparently they believe that they, as Anglo's and western Europeans work harder than anyone else and deserve everything they have.  No one else deserves any benefit; not in this system.  It’s mine, mine, mine!     They are afraid of property values going down, paying property taxes, and anything that infringes on their right to private property.  They are afraid non Anglo and nonwestern European types haven’t worked as hard as they have had to.  Again, Zinn diagrams the idea of giving property (making it easier to acquire) to some as a way of incorporating them into the existing system and making them staunch guardians of it.  Enfranchising a middle class in the American colonies and throughout US history has always been a racial endeavor:  from allowing European indentured servants to gain tier freedom and become property owners while not allowing same for African slaves, to zoning laws during the Black migration from the south from the 1880’s through the 1950’s which created restricted neighborhoods and slums.

“All Lives Matter because we’re going to be a minority in thirty years…”

This is the dissonance greed and fear produce; this is the disharmony.

Change your values or change your actions?

Our system isn’t bad.  In fact, the US system is one of the best theoretical systems that allows class mobility and the free discussion of ideas in the history of the world!

But any system which allows its personality to be influenced by values based on fear and greed and thereby limits the amount of input and feedback it gets from others in the environment must stall; will stall; will cease to be a functional part of the environment. 

Systems come and go; lives come and go.  I say we still have an opportunity to allow our system to refresh itself if we take in the feedback of others instead of refuting it.  Human capital is valuable.  Feminist standpoint theory says everyone along the spectrum has potentially valuable input for the system.  We can consider the perspective of others and thus figure out how to better align our actions and our values.  We can say “Black Lives Matter, and yes, All Lives Matter Too.”  Or we can acknowledge “Black Lives Matter” and ask “why would you say that?” I think curiosity about one another would serve us better than fear.  But of course this approach requires an admission that the fear exists.  That the reaction “All Lives Matter” may be more fear based than altruistic.

And it requires a leap of faith:  Anglo or not, it doesn’t hurt to consider another person’s perspective, historical experience, and point of view when forming your values.