Untangling the Narrative

Yesterday I had another rude awakening in the long journey of untangling the poisoned threads of Patriarchy. Before I go any further, let’s establish once more that Patriarchy is a well-fed idea, whose systemic markers are expressing themselves within all of us. Dismantling the Patriarchy requires and inward gaze, as well as a recognition of its expression in society, infrastructure, classism, racism, and sexism.⠀⠀

Forward ho! So, I have an Instagram bookclub (#honeyreads) where I recommend books on bees, ecology, and the feminine. This month I recommended Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner's lectures on bees. I was vaguely aware of his racism, but felt his view on bees worthy of sharing. And that alone, irks me about the inherent nature of white blindness. Yesterday I discovered the extent of his racism and white supremacy. Here’s a quote from him: “If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will become increasingly dense ... Blond hair actually bestows intelligence.” ⠀⠀

I feel like the only thing I can do is dismiss all his work. I feel angry at all the times I’ve heard people say “he was just a product of his times.” I’m a product of my times, and I can either be supportive of concentration camps for children in the United States or I can fight against them. The times don’t justify your beliefs about superiority over another rare, gender or sexual orientation. I want to cut him out the way we cut out cancer, but is that the answer? I went digging. Wanna know who else fits the profile or either racist or sexist/misogynist?

So many (mostly white) dudes who greatly contributed to, well, everything. I mean obviously, right? But here’s a starter list anyway: Albert Einstein, James Watson, Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Jefferson, Mohandas Gandhi, Roald Dahl, T.S. Eliot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Charles Darwin. The cut-out-the-cancer model is one way to deal, but how do we address the whole body holding the illness? How can we recognise the uncomfortable, wrong, and unjust, and face it so that we can heal them?

 How do we tease out the fibers of value within the works of people who were/are deeply flawed and downright harmful?

How do we benefit from Einstein’s Theory of Relativity while also addressing his views on the Chinese? How do we celebrate the writing of Vonnegut while also looking at his beliefs that women can’t be educated? Or appreciate Steiner’s contribution to social reform (and bees) while untangling his sickening beliefs about non-white races. Perhaps it starts with looking at it. I wanna look away so badly. But looking at it and patiently examining how someone’s belief might just play into their brilliant findings/writings/philosophies. It becomes your job not to consume such works whole, but to ask: what is valuable? What is true? What is influenced by sexism/racism? What needs to be reworked here? What did I believe out of ignorance? How can I keep looking with more discernment? How can I take this work and bring more ethics, awareness, justice, and equality to it? Where are the resources that disrupt the passing on of nearly invisible systemic disease? Look it in the eyes. Nothing set out to sabotage the sovereignty of a race/sex likes to be seen with the curtains pulled back. It prefers to function in the subconscious corridors of conditioning. Keep being willing to look at it and ask the difficult questions. Not just about the oppressors, but about yourself as well.