James C. Scott, in his book “Seeing Like a State”, writes about the dangers of large-scale social engineering projects and the tendency of states to simplify and homogenize complex systems in the pursuit of efficiency and control. He states:
“The more ambitious the reform, the more likely it is to rely on gross oversimplifications of the phenomena it targets. These oversimplifications are then built into the very design of the reform and become part of its logic. This is because the more complex the reality being reformatted, the more difficult it is to get a grip on it. And so the reformer is forced to reduce the complexity of the phenomena to a few manageable elements.”
When I read this, I was struck by how it seemed to capture the hole at the heart of Dr. Ibram Kendi’s scholarship, especially as articulated in his book ‘How to be an antiracist.’ Though I’ve discussed my beef with his work in other formats, it is precisely the totalizing nature of Kendi’s work that I find most damaging. The notion that all “inequity between racial groups” (as measured by unequal outcomes between groups ) is the product of racism is an oversimplification that obscures many key distinctions, perhaps especially within black America itself.
After all, black communities in Atlanta, Georgia are not the same as black communities in New Orleans, Louisiana, and these are not the same as black communities in Brooklyn, New York. These communities are diverse in their own right and have different needs in terms of accessing resources, opportunity and the like. To propose top-down policies for a mass abstraction write large instead of co-creating solutions within specific communities — solutions that will emerge organically and be informed by the unique, unrepeatable dynamics of said communities — is arguably an act of colonialism.
We can also see this tendency on the other side of the political spectrum. This tendency to totalize — which is marked by the decline of communal life and the growth of the state — was a symptom of the rise of Donald Trump.
In his book ‘Alienated America,’ author Timothy P Carney records how the more alienated some predominately white rural communities felt, the more likely they were to vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 primary. He notes that the “story of the past several decades is one of civil society withering and the state growing. We've gone from a society with a mix of intermediate associations and a limited government to one where the government is the dominant player, responsible for solving all problems.”
These communities, in other words, were already animated by policy approaches that Ibra Kendi proposed would help heal disparities. The outcome was more disparity. And in such an environment, it is easy for a politician with a strongman personality to persuade folks that he, like the government, will be able to solve all their problems.
This abdication of responsibility, whether it appears in the individual or the community, is a function of alienation. That feeling of alienation is precisely the feeling one has when one is not whole. In a most basic sense, an alienated person is someone who is out of touch with herself, who does not know herself, who is not in right relationship with her own complexity, and who can not feel the fullness of her own spirit. She instead feels fragmented. I have felt this way many times. It is not an easy thing to bear.
One of the results of attempting to destroy evil is precisely this kind of fragmentation, this feeling of being cut off from aspects of one's self, which includes shadows of the self that have been onto another in attempt to be perceived as perfect.
On a personal and communal level, in order to rectify this situation, one must commit to the practice and habit of shadow work.
In the next chapter, I’ll delve more into what this means and how we can begin to practice this.
Small Bite: For a simple yet powerful insight into the human condition, listen to Rihanna and
Drake’s pop ballad, ‘Take Care’
Big Bite: Seeing Like a State by James C Scott
Up Next: Chapter 4 - The Shadow
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