You don't want to be rich, you want to be free & there is a difference
Featuring my "get out" story + ANIME, show, movie, book recommendations!
You may have watched “Get Out” by Jordan Peele or the more recent “The Menu” or “The Invitation” which are the very few of their kind in the political horror genre. These are stories of racialized and/or working class people being invited to briefly dip their toes into privilege, wealth and opulence as they get a terrifying glimpse at how the “other side” lives. The initial invitation seems sketchy & shady but alluring & tempting nevertheless because it seems like a chance to momentarily transcend our class limitations & taste luxury but eventually the characters learn the insidious reasons they were invited. These movies speak to real sociopolitical horrors even if they tend to be individualistic and not fully “hit the point home” that these colonial/ capitalist systems needs to be abolished— largely due to the artistic restrictions of operating within Hollywood. At best, these movies tread a careful line in catalyzing audience discomfort about the status quo & provoke some critical thought but do little for the revolution in practice. Granted, they were not created for that purpose.
Today I’ll share my own real-life “get out” story which is a warning but also a celebration & love letter to working class/ poor folks, racialized folks (esp from the Global South) & migrants.
In my writing, I want to consistently bridge the personal & the political because they are one & the same. I want to be honest about the things we may not talk about— the things the cop/ capitalist/ colonizer whispers in our head that we may be ashamed off be our deepest desires that have been bred into us by an empire that we were manipulated into believing were our own. For us to to divest from capitalist/ colonial norms in niches of our life where we may have more agency, we need to BELIEVE that our happiness is not contingent on our success or ability to amass wealth.
PS: You can now sign up for the March Community Care session here! Theme is “Connecting with the Land: Ecological Relationship Building” inspired by my recent trip to the mother-land which I will share more about in my next newsletters! Paid subscribers: your 100% discount code is at the bottom!
BEFORE I dive in into the story… here’s some takeaways to brew on:
When we’re raised to aspire to opulence & wealth while being deprived of dignity & the right to live, it is only natural to fantasize about the “bougie” life. But when I take a big step back and ask what it is we are actually looking for— it is clear that we all desire safety, community & connection (to land & each other). I think we all want a chance to be happy but happiness is inextricably tied to moving thru grief, sadness & suffering WITH support. However, all of this is co-opted by capitalism and we’re told that our happiness is contingent on success within oppressive systems & our nonconsensual participation in cut-throat competition with our kin for the crumbs thrown at us instead of community building.
Capitalism persists by dangling a tempting carrot in front of the middle class who are told that they MAY have a happy/ stable future if they work hard, climb the ladder by exploiting or dominating others “below” them & accumulate wealth. This enables countless middle class folks to be loyal to the system that is killing them a bit more slowly than it is decimating the poor. Money may give us SOME access to SOME survival resources that are bought as products but no amount of money will replace our need for community & connection to land.
Capitalism operates on the principle of grotesque, endless accumulation & hoard. I think it’s critical we ask ourselves- to what end? In this story, I want to strip the illusion that accumulation of wealth or power will bring us happiness or safety. Rich people are the best proof that capitalism is a failure because they can never stop accumulating, growing, expanding. The world’s richest 1% have an absurd amount of money that goes well beyond any desire for comfort but they can’t stop! Billionaires— egotistical, self-centered, isolated, lonely, lacking genuine contentment or connection to anything real, miserable by all accounts… will rob, exploit & pillage the Earth to no end and they keep hoarding to fill the deep void within them that no amount of money, domination, or attempt at ownership of the planet will fill.
Story time…
A few years ago, I crawled my way thru academic medicine, buying into the bs, somewhat “succeeding” in graduate school, eventually rejecting the opportunity to “climb the ladder” & divesting from the rat race the best I can to focus my healing efforts outside the system. In this hellish journey, I’ve had a chance to rub shoulders with some absurdly rich doctors. This tale is of one fancy dinner I was invited to hosted by the head of a department at our university. It was an offer I literally could not refuse no matter how uncomfortable accepting it made me. In these situations, people like me (living “hand to mouth”) have no choice but to fake gratitude with all the power dynamics leveraged over us. We’re told we should seize the opportunity to dip our toes in the spoils they’ve hoarded by exploiting us. I was confused about why I was even invited since all the other guests were other wealthy couples in the same class as the host and here I was- just a new trainee with a stipend that put me right at the poverty line. Why did they want ME there? What could they possible have in common with people like me?…
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