Long time no see FBT readers. I thought it was time I posted another article. Sitting here today, on the day of the inauguration, I find myself a bit pensive. Due to the watershed nature of this moment, a concept I’ve been thinking about for some time comes to mind. Throughout my time talking to people regarding current events, I have picked up on a fascinating phenomenon. Like a mild cough, it has entrenched itself in our psyche, and without thought, we have gotten used to it. This mass psychosis is not limited to the few, but to all of us, myself included. I call it historical singularity. Essentially, people believe in a teleological view of history wherein the happenings of history are not dynamic, contradicting events, but static and uniform. In other words, they see historical events as nothing more than words on paper, all in service toward a general goal of progress, and that said progress always occurs because it is unstoppable. This creates an illusion that progress comes without strife or friction, that something that is polarizing should not be classified as progress because it is not widely supported. In this view of history, one sees history as a train rolling down a track – without bumps or delay, this train is guided and geared in a single direction. However, history is not a train; there is an inherent level of randomness, rudderlessness, and intense conflict that dominates the real movement of progress. History is not driven by an invisible hand, it is driven by people. Like all people, history is contradictory, hypocritical, and can be viewed as one certain thing to one person, and the polar opposite to another.
Allow me to further explain myself. I distinctly remember the anti-genocide protests of not too long ago. On our own campus, we saw the cowardly mayor Bowser blink in the face of threats from the more odious grifters of MAGA politics. We saw our own school allow the city to deploy jackbooted thugs at four in the morning to arrest and beat our own students for the ‘crime’ of exercising their First Amendment right to protest an active genocide that our own nation and school was promoting. I know this interpretation of those events may be considered inflammatory; however, there is really no other way to view such a spineless display from the leaders of our school and city. In the aftermath of such an event, I was quite confused to hear the views of others on the protests. Some, mostly Zionists, celebrated the crackdown as a win in the war against anti-semitism (even though many of the protesters were Jewish themselves, and legitimately antisemitic people who are staunchly pro-Israel for their own nefarious goals are propped up as the gold standard). Others, like myself, were appalled by the events that took place, and only had our resolve to seek change hardened. However, many took pride in what they felt was a ‘nuanced’ view, but was rather the ultimate bystander mentality of a pacified population.
These people expressed their support for the cause but disapproval of the methods. I found this view common and confusing. One person told me that “though I support the cause, you cannot block public areas of transportation.” They claimed that they were all for protesting, but when you block roads and sidewalks, then action must be taken. I’m sorry, but if you find this approach reasonable, then there might be no hope for you at all. It seems that the retroactive whitewashing of the civil rights movement has achieved its longstanding goal of diluting the cultural definition of protest. I wonder, what would these people and their ‘nuance’ say if they were alive in the ’60s? Would they condemn the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge as ‘for a just cause, but unjustifiably blocking transit’? What a disgrace to our country the people who have these views are. It is a particularly depressing stage of late-stage capitalism when a piece of concrete has more rights than the person standing on it. People seem to be of the view that any disruption at all should automatically invalidate a protest movement, that if property is disturbed, then whatever brutality inflicted upon the demonstration is deserved for such a transgression. To those many people who prioritize property over progress, I ask these questions: how do you think change occurs? Independently? Just out of the good grace of our government and corporate overlords? How do you think protesters make themselves heard? By protesting silently in an isolated area so as to not disturb or disrupt anything? How do you think oppression ends? With a whimper on its own accord? The fact that I know more people than I care to admit who unironically believe such nonsense is well and truly indicative of the reality that our education system has failed, or perhaps, according to the more cynical individual, it has succeeded. People seem to forget that Nelson Mandela was on the US terror watch list until 2008, or that MLK was not a universally popular hero who faced no opposition or brutality from the establishment.
How does one think the wheels of history move? By themselves? Via a great man? No – Action. Action moves the wheels of history. People seem to be under the impression that things just happen, and that one is only meant to take a passive role, bearing witness, and nothing more. In other words, the passive approach to history has embedded a passive approach to reality within our society. Much like how we are often rather content to avoid examination of why we do what we do, we have lost interest in figuring out why the world is the way that it is. In this past election, we learned that many are so lethargic that they are willing to accept scapegoats and the bread and circuses of culture war over real and rational explanation. The vast majority of people don’t care how or why society functions and would rather stick their head in the sand than ponder or analyze existential questions and historical happenings. The veil has been lifted on our world. Young generations have dismantled the veneer of exceptionalism only to find a deeply troubling reality, and instead of viewing the prospect of fixing such a situation as a daunting but required task, they have opted to attempt to forget what they saw. This is no worthwhile solution; much like growing up, no matter how hard one tries, you can’t go back to being a naive kid again.
The point of this article is not to sit here, berating and lecturing the reader on the importance of studying history beyond dates and facts. Such an article would make me no better than one of the many grumpy professors that populate the departments of GW. I am merely here to point out a societal phenomenon. If you fall in the category of the people I am describing, don’t feel shame or despair. It is easy for anyone to get caught up in day-to-day concerns and distractions, or waste hours scrolling through their phone. I myself am often guilty of all of these things. Martin Heidegger would describe us as ‘verfallen’ – having lost touch with our authentic potential of being via absorption in the daily minutiae of modern life. As a result, our society has exposed ourselves to being not only complicit but welcoming of oppression and injustice. By ignoring where we have come from, we have lost control of where we are going.
If this article has ruined your day, or instilled a sense of hopelessness, I am sorry. However, even my glass-half-empty self finds obvious silver linings in our current predicament. Though we have been thoroughly convinced of an illusion that the people have no power, and that the only acceptable popular movements are those that align with capital and the status quo, this reality is only that – an illusion. The people have not lost power, they have simply just forgotten they wield it.
People are afraid to expose themselves to risk and unknowns; it’s understandable, we are naturally risk-averse. However, I challenge the reader to think about one of the great movements fueled by people throughout history. In every one, there is much risk to those involved, much uncertainty, and much on the line. When the sans-culottes took to the streets of Paris to dispose of the only system of governance they had ever known, they did so unsure of the future but committed to their idea of right and wrong. I am not saying that all it takes is a popular mob to enact complete governmental change; if this was true, January 6th would’ve been much more effective and less funny to watch. Leaders and institutions have learned from the popular uprisings of history; government and capital interests are much more entrenched. Nevertheless, protest movements have evolved with the times as well, and social media – as seen in the Arab Spring – presents modern opportunities of mass mobilization that previous revolutionaries would’ve only dreamed of.
As I close out this article, I would like to issue a goal to the reader. This goal applies to myself as well – I am supremely guilty of observing but not partaking in protests. However, the next time there is a protest on campus for a just cause, rather than walking by and giving them side eye on your way to class, perhaps stop for five minutes, and talk to the protesters themselves – that way you can break through the lies of mass media coverage or the ever present battle of rhetoric on people’s instagram stories. Decide for yourselves who is right and who is wrong, and maybe, one step at a time, consider becoming a part of history yourself by joining the demonstration.
As a brief aside, I had lofty goals when I created FBT. I wanted to cover a lot. However, for the time being, this website will mainly play host to the politically charged rants of a crazy man (me). Nevertheless, I would still like to expand coverage, so if you would like to write for FBT, shoot us an email.