I don’t hate "White People" (British/English, French, etc)

Commonly seen MEME containing quote attributed to Thomas Merton

I have seen this quote in many places. I understand the sentiment, but it doesn't match my personal observations.

In my observation, the problem isn’t that people who incorrectly believe I am criticizing them accept or identify with the systems I’m critiquing, but that they have been so deeply indoctrinated in Individualism (a moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook) that they are unable to see the systems around them.

They can see individuals and they can see a species, but never anything in between.

I understand why some people want to point away from themselves and suggest that the problems they observe are caused by “some other” individual. It is so much easier to believe the problem to be “them” and not “us”. They believe currently living individuals are all that exist, and thus some individual or group of living individuals must be responsible for anything they observe. They narrowly think in terms of short human lifespans, and are unable to observe multi-general aspects of the world around them. They don’t see how decisions made centuries ago by long-dead people continue to impact how certain groups of people think today.

While the MEME is generic about which system is being discussed, the most extreme miscommunications I’ve observed are around the social construct and social hierarchy called Racism. Racism is often confused as being primarily (or even only) about individuals (myth of objectivity, myth that race relates to biological traits or some natural science, that it relates to self-identification and personal identity, myth of “reverse racism”, individual “racial” bigotry, etc).

I don’t have any evidence to suggest these individuals “accept the system and identify with it”. My belief from observations is that they are thus far oblivious to the system.

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I’ve written a bit about my own ancestry, and how my ancestors of Western European descent were (are?) treated by the British Empire.

A call to action for fellow French descendants in "North America"

I see Canada as a set of systems (institutions, laws, culture, practises, etc), not a place or a group of people. Canada continues to be a proud part of the rebranded British Empire, as seen with the “new” executive branch inviting the hereditary British figurehead of the institution known as the British (and “commonwealth”) Monarchy to Canada to read the colonial “speech from the throne”.

The institutions/systems of Canada have a specific origin that remains relevant today. That origin has created a hierarchy among those claimed as citizens by the Canadian government – as well as a hierarchy in Canada’s foreign policy.

Canada’s core ancestral/cultural/etc hierarchy

1. What is often called “Old Stock” British colonists

2. “Old stock” Western Europeans who fully assimilated to British culture, values, etc

3. “Old stock” French colonists who did not assimilate to British culture, values, etc

4. “Old stock” Western Europeans who assimilated to French culture, values, etc

5. Other Europeans who at least speak English or French

6. Non-Europeans who assimilated to British culture, values, etc

7. Non-Europeans that assimilated to French culture, values, etc.

8. Other Non-Europeans who at least speak English or French

9. …

and so on… with Indigenous peoples who did not assimilate being forced to the very bottom. This isn’t only encoded in Canada’s culture, values and norms, but within Canada’s Constitution, Charter, and all laws below that which must conform to the Constitution and Charter.

This is a hierarchy that exists even before we add in racialization.

"Music Theory", "Canadian Values" and the Department of Canadian Heritage

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A common dynamic I have experienced is discussing Eurocentrism in the context of Canadian policy, especially by-colonialism by Britain and France, and then having someone believe/claim I dislike British, French or other people of European descent.

This apparently includes myself, as my critiques somehow suggest to them that I’m self-hating in some way.

I have a few past social connections (some that I considered friends) that have disconnected in the last 5 years because they believed I hate “English” people, hate “French” people, hate “White” people, and other such things which make absolutely no sense to me.

They see colonialism not as an ongoing ideology baked into current Canadian law, culture and practice, but as an imagined “event” that happened in “the past” that has nothing to do with anyone living today. If I appear to be critical of current Canadian policy, including Canada’s Constitution and Charter, then I’m supposedly being critical of individual Canadians living today.

It is very prominent with individuals in the second and third group listed above to somehow believe they have been the most oppressed of any people (oppressed by the “Old stock” British?). Some notorious “White Rights” terrorists have even offensively compared themselves to kidnapped Africans who were brought to this continent as slaves. This is even though they are near the top of this social hierarchy. They won “silver” or “bronze” in what could be considered a privilege olympics, only to believe they hold gold in some victim olympics.

Any discussion of any group lower in that hierarchy is interpreted by them as a dismissing of any hardship they or their ancestors had. I see the dynamic as the opposite, which is any narrow focus on any hardship they had as being a dismissal of everyone forced lower in the hierarchy who have been systematically treated worse.

The same is true of discussing any other culturally specific policies, laws, countries, etc. I’m supposed to identify with and never question Canada because I was claimed by the Dominion of Canada government (as it was branded then) as a citizen at birth. Since I’m a Canadian I should automatically blindly support the Anglosphere (UK+CANZUS = England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States), France, other Commonwealth countries, other French colonies, and so-on down a hierarchy regardless of any policy or activities.

I’m told I should be blindly loyal based on Canada’s social hierarchies — Canada’s systems — not because of anything to do with individuals (including me).

There is a hierarchy built into these systems, which really has nothing to do with individuals or their own beliefs. If you question those systems, the odd assumption remains that you could only be talking about individuals or groups of individuals because – in their mind – the systems they are blindly loyal to don’t exist.