In lieu of recent events, I think it important to discuss human beings tendency to objectify individuals and groups, while also using them to personify emotions and things. Both of these tendencies are detrimental to society, and us the people who compose this world, and more specifically the United States of America. I must whole-heartedly admit that I am deeply grieved by the recent events in Charlottesville and the steps backward we have taken as a Nation. Furthermore, I am horrified by the news and social media’s usage of the term “White Nationalists” to describe people who have always been referred to as “White Supremacists”. How can they be dignified with the term ‘nationalist’ when they oppose everyone that is not a straight white American man who supports white supremacy? I am 100% certain that statistics would support the belief that the majority of Americans do not fall under this description. Moreover, it us who support all individuals residing in the United States, whom deserve to be referred to as ‘nationalists’ and the growing majority. A case in point, the United States now chooses to include Italians in the white category, although we were once considered colored under Jim Crow laws.
In essence, white America has had to extend its view on what is white, since year by year, all sorts of minorities are growing in number; thereby, if unified we would be the majority. I highly recommend that we stop referring to White Supremacists as “White Nationalists” because these people are not fostering growth in our nation. I don’t like the propaganda that is being employed by white supremacists who have money and power. JFK’s clever word choice prevented the Cuban Missile Crisis and what we have now is play on words that will propel a crisis in America by fueling hate. Call them what they are… white supremacists. They are also dwindling in numbers, causing this silly and also dangerous retaliation. They are not nationalists, they are a group of people that choose to objectify people, while promoting the personification of hate. To me, personification and objectification, cycle and feed into each other as a circle. As they exist in a circle, there is no end or beginning to this entrapment. White supremacists in Charlottesville, same as the KKK and all other hate groups throughout history, objectify groups of people. That is, they turn them into something that is inanimate and then impose or personify a particular emotion(s) that is self-motivated. For example, Southern Plantations in America objectified the enslaved, while also personifying hate and greed. It was through objectification and their attribution of falsified notions of the enslaved that these slave owners were able to sleep at night, coveting their greed in sacks of gold that swayed in their pockets. That’s just one illustration, but there are so many. For example, think about the drug dealer who objectifies a client. The drug dealer must turn that person into something without emotion, family, thoughts, and more in order to make a profit through drugs. Again, a living and loved human being is objectified for the sake of greed. Or how about the frequently used term ‘object of my desire’, and I would add to that ‘object(s) of lust’. People will objectify and personify lust in other humans, including children, and most often these are one-sided attractions. The sex slave trade of girls and women, something that should not even exist in the most horrendous of nightmares, is a reality because of lust. Each day people are molested, harassed, kidnapped, and raped. Why? This happens because they are turned into objects, having no temporal existence, in the mind of their aggressors. Sometimes, it’s not aggressors, but everyday people forgetting that all humans think, and therefore they feel. It is personified feelings leading to the objectification of people that torments us as a race. Not a single person is an object, we all are very intricate fragments of one larger whole…the human race. There is no color or gender or anything assigned to the human race, making it inclusive of us all. In closing, I want to tell a story about the man who inspired this blog the other day. I was walking my dog, Leo, in Cleveland’s cultural gardens. Now for those of you who don’t know my dog, he will turn vicious in a second if he senses that my well-being is in danger or is suspicious of someone. I did choose my dog because he was the first on the list to be killed and I didn’t want him to die. Needless to say, I was afraid when a gentleman in the Italian garden called over to me and asked if he could pet my dog; I didn’t know what would happen. I took the risk as this man seemed genuinely interested in knowing my dog. Leo ended up loving this gentleman, Nick, and enjoyed being petted by him. While Nick was petting my dog, he told me about a time when he had to walk home in the pouring rain with his son, carrying bags and bags of groceries. He said, “There was so much rain and not one person stopped to offer us a ride. I never felt like such an object before. It was like me and my son, were nothing.” His words really resonated with me, remembering times where I too had been made to feel like an object, without emotions. I realized that objectification affects us all negatively. As I stare lovingly right now at the dog that caused me to have such an eye-opening conversation, I feel pity for those that choose to objectify others. I never saw my dog as an object, but as this living creature, deserving of life and love. This has always molded our interactions, and he rewards me by never leaving my side when I’m home, taking me for walks, and giving me his paw when I say “friends forever”, (it’s a deal we shook on many times and will never be broken). He also profusely scolds me with his barks when I’m gone too long. It's the same with my cat, who also shows me love in so many ways. She was the reliant writing alarm clock and at times literally nudged me to finish my dissertation and keep going. She watches me sleep, her own way of protecting me. If dogs and cats have such capacity to feel, then simply imagine what humans think and feel. No one needs to be personified. No one needs objectified. What we need are actions that reflect the depth of human nature. That is, we all need to be treated like subjects, possessing a ranges of capabilities because of our complex thoughts and emotions.
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