The Language and Structure of Oppression, or . . .

Sex, the Universe and Everything

When Americans kept black slaves, it was not unusual for whites to view blacks as somehow less than human. They were seen as incomplete, unformed proto-humans. Not, in fact, much differently than many adults now view children. Along with that came the corollary that whites were entrusted to "look after" this supposedly inferior race and others as well (like the Native Americans), which is really just a dressed up form of racism. This racial noblesse oblige rang prettily in the ears of whites and sounded wonderful on paper, but in actuality it was often much uglier. Slavery was one aspect of the uglier side of that concept. Of course, there were "benevolent" slaveholders, meaning those who treated their slaves relatively well . . . most of the time. I mean, some didn't beat their slaves at all, and they were thought by others to be spoiling them. And then there were those who went through slaves like some people go through toilet paper, with just about as much regard. And a whole lot of people in between.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Here we are with a new population of slaves, and since this form of slavery has never been outlawed, we can see how slavery might've gone if the Civil War had never happened:

1. Slaves went from being entirely private property to being joint public and private property.

2. Slaves who aren't treated according to the state's specifications can be seized and redistributed to slave owners more to the state's liking.

3. Slaves can still be punished, even beaten, but only "within reason"--no physical marks left on them, and not too much emotional damage.* And absolutely, positively, under no circumstances are you to have sex with slaves! That's just evil. Because, I mean, they're slaves--they are unable to consent by design!**

4. Slaves must be educated by the state, or else educated at home with state-approved materials.^

5. Slaves can be pacified by the notion that they will some day be "free" and will be able to have slaves of their own.

6. Slaves are to be successfully acclimated by loving but authoritarian parents to their status as owned beings, thus conditioning them to be passive and accepting of the loving but authoritarian state that will own them as adults. Ideally, they will also be instilled with a healthy fear of an all-powerful, invisible and ever-present ultimate loving but authoritarian "parent," conditioning them to be passive and accepting of . . . well, you know the rest.

7. Adults, by having their own slaves, are thus distracted from the fact that they are simply slaves to an even bigger and more powerful slave master: the state.# Let's call him Big Daddy Sam.

8. Big Daddy Sam is a syndicate, made up of the handful of people who can affords to buy the most slaves I mean votes I mean press coverage during campaigns. Well, you know what I mean.

Anyway, in a sentence: we are doomed. Let's see, what were we talking about? Ah, yes, innocence. Why is that such a powerful concept? Anyone with even a modicum of intelligence knows that the 'blank slate' view of children is utter bunk. We have a genetic inheritance, and that quickly gives way to social conditioning. Though genes are like clearings at the start of paths; ultimately they are mostly behavioral markers, not absolutes. In other words, we might be plopped down against our will in a certain clearing in the wilderness, but it is up to us where we decide to go from there. Now, very early on you are going to be guided by external forces, and you really have little choice in the matter, because you aren't conscious enough to push guide yourself. But very quickly you begin to develop a will of your own, and I guarantee you it doesn't happen at age 16, or 18, or (age of majority in your country here: _______).

So that is the overall context. But more specifically, we are talking about sexuality, and to what extent children are aware/motivated by it. Well, the thing you have to remember is that sex is a very powerful motivator in humans, possibly the most powerful one their is. It is also a big honking sign of human evolution, and you know how religious folks feel about that. As we know, genes "want" to be replicated. Not literally, but in the sense that the most successful genes get passed on and on. Well, somewhere along the way we apes got to the point where we were too smart to be driven to procreate by instinct alone, and so we evolved this wonderful little thing where sex became pleasurable. Hardly a surprise in the context of evolution--I mean, if anything is going to make us want to screw (and thus pass on our genes), it's pleasure, right? So, that aspect got passed on and on, and over time it just got more and more powerful I suspect, because . . . well, we were unconsciously selecting for it, weren't we? The more pleasurable it got, the more sex we had, and the more of those genes we passed on. And the more of those genes we passed on, the more pleasurable it got, and so on and so forth. That's what I'd call an upward spiral. ;-)

Now, millions of years later, here we are, and we live to screw, and we screw to live, and there is no shortage of human beings on this planet now. Sexual pleasure is innate in us, and it's there from the beginning. It has to be. Maybe it's not as powerful as it is when we hit puberty and those hormones kick in, but the parts are there and they work. Kids masturbate all the damn time, but it's not something most people (read; parents) like to think about. Makes them feel all weird to think of their little babies as sexual beings, and all that that entails. On top of that you have the powerful anti-evolution crowd, and any evidence that sex wasn't designed by God to allow married hetero adults to procreate to add yet more worshipers to his existing billions (because God is just vain like that) is anathema to their way of thinking.

And, of course, the Church/Temple/Mosque/whatever Building-as-Metaphor-for-Supersized-Patriarchal-Death-Cult you prefer learned long ago that sexual guilt/shame was the best tool they had to control the masses. In fact, it was so powerful that political progressives soon realized that if they were going to be able to compete with the Patriarchal Death Cults, they would have to get in on that action. And voila! The Mind Priests and the Pseudofeminists and all their followers were born.

Now, let's get back to the concept of innocence for just a minute. You know how to tell it's bullshit without even having to observe the first child? Look at what the Church actually believes. They claim that children are born both super-innocent and instilled with Original Sin. In other words, kids are perfectly innocent and perfectly guilty at the same time! Talk about a schizophrenic worldview--not that utterly self-contradictory beliefs are unique to the Patriarchal Death Cults. But there you have it. And I only wasted two hours of my day to bring you to get to the point. ;-)

* In reality this is completely subjective and usually hinges more on how the slaves are treated in public rather than how they're treated at home. In other words, you can beat (or browbeat) your slaves all you like, as long as we don't have to see it, or see the results of it, as the case may be.

** This is de jure true, which is important, but it in reality, if you look at it closely, you'll see that it is nothing but circular reasoning.

^ This is not inherently problematic in my book. What is problematic about it really is that it is, in fact, a huge cultural red herring in which parents are mostly complicit, because they need some place to stick the kids whilst they are work8ing their 2.5 jobs to keep the family above water. Might as well teach them some crap while they're there. The problem is, the current education system's curriculum is based on one that was created for the male children of nobles a few hundred years ago, since at that time they were the only ones who had to attend school. Noble males might benefit from learning algebra, European history, the works of Shakespeare, etc., if for no other reason than to be charming conversationalists. But the vast majority of kids come from the working class and will never use any of what they learn beyond 5th or 6th grade. Ergo, the system is a huge fucking joke. It is also no accident that compulsory education ends at the same time kids hit age of majority.

# Unfortunately, there is really no escape from this system. In this day and age, overthrowing the state is not an option, nor is altering the traditional family structure. We are conditioned from childhood to be subservient. Always have been, always will be. The best we can do is get Big Daddy Sam to ease up on some shit, if enough people clamor for it. Just like some kids can get their parents to give in if they whine and pitch a fit long enough. So, go have a temper tantrum! ;-)