there have always been empires, but there have been people for even longer than that
sketchbook edition of a casual essay from discord DMs
I think a lot of Asian conformist culture is about not making ripples that disrupt group harmony, prioritizing the wellbeing of the group (as an extension of the way within a family a member is taught to prioritize family needs over the individual).
this directly contradicts the hyperindividualism of western economic competition where it's "dog eat dog," a zero sum game. if you have "something," then I can't have any of it. thus, you are "taking something away from me," so for me to have "something," I must ensure you don't have anything, so I'm not left with nothing.
someone once described it as a social ladder where you step on people beneath you, in wealth or status or resources.
but in the hypercapitalist world, turning everyone into an enemy and pitting people against each other means that corporate conglomerates wield even more power bc there's no risk of a coherent rebellion against the status quo of a divided people who are taught to prioritize self-interest.
but at the same time, a catch and a frustration I have with other racialized people is that some people do the whole I'm queer so I can't be transphobic but with racism.
a conversation I had with a Black friend was once that he was telling me his sister makes a lot of anti Asian "chink joke" comments but I was telling him that anti blackness is huge in Asian communities
and Asian communities are further divided by wealth class, immigration history (how far back did your relatives move to the west), and region of Asia, and country, and your family's location within the country
I as a gang viet have nothing in common with the type of viet american that proudly says yeah I'm going into a political career in public policy
and even with other viet americans it's:
is your family Buddhist or Catholic?
were you raised sheltered and wealthy? (or did you become someone who can now be sheltered and wealthy?)
are you from the north or south (or central)?
can you even speak viet?
are you on speaking terms with your parents?
but assimilating or crushing difference to create a monolithic solid ("solidarity") isn't the answer. creating a false uniformity of opinion by suppressing dissent only assists those of the most common and lightly privileged experiences, not those of the most fragile vulnerabilities.
the answer is listening to voices beyond your own of experiences of oppression you can't imagine.
and acknowledging ways that you have been fortunate that others have not been.
it's not "I AM THE MOST PITIFUL! WOE IS ME!"
because everyone has different strengths and weaknesses upon many different axes of oppression
only by listening and respecting to the experiences of violence (systemic or individual) others have been thru that may not pertain to you personally can there be any effort to unite and support each other under the stranglehold of a deeply suffocating world
there have always been empires and there always will be. but there have always been people, for longer than there have been empires.