Post Traumatic Slave Owner (Sexual Oppressor) Syndrome/Disorder
As a middle-aged white American male living and loving inter-culturally, I have discovered something profound: Most white Americans and mostly men, especially those over the age of 18, currently and unknowingly suffer from one or both forms of PTSOS/D. This is possibly both life and society saving diagnosis to overcome white supremacy based on over 400 years of white male supremacy in America and is also based on living the last 20 years of my own deprogramming. These silent soul killing twin afflictions have been passed down onto each unsuspecting untreated generation of white American people (mostly males) and will not, cannot, be healed unless we, all people, especially white people and specifically white men, truly, honestly deal with what it fully means to be white and/or a man living with PTSOS/D.
How It Works
PTSOS/D is like a poisonous gas that is odorless, colorless and too hard to detect until it is right beneath your nose. That is how PTSOS/D works. Each lethal noxious breath we inhale engulfs us, each individual U.S. white person, especially if you're male, inoculating us from birth so most of us never even know it or see it. It is invisible, omnipresent and always there attempting to guide us like Big Brother, trying to control us like an Orwellian racist overseer.
But it is a lie. And always has been.
The myth that being white and/or male makes you superior is pure insanity. The truth is white men are not destined to always be in control of everyone or stand at the head of the privileged life line. Being white and/or male doesn’t automatically make us rulers of the world.
The truth is we are just like everybody else.
Human beings.
Human beings.
And understanding how others perceive and see us is a big part of being human. And the deep universal truth of our human oneness is revealed more and more to each generation as consciousness evolves. Education, organizing, and technology are smashing old ways of thinking and destroying the crumbling white supremacist system and it is happening whether we, white people, white men, like it or not.
Of course, Frederick Douglass said power never concedes without a fight.
Although, something tells me this ill-tempered racist fever is about to break. It is breaking down fast and being exposed quicker than ever as simply the insane lie it always has been.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
So, what can be done to help generations and generations of the majority of white people in America, who have ignored, never have, and frankly never ever really want to deal with our "whiteness"? How can we come to terms with our history, racial identity, and raw emotions connected to our racist past? Why do so many turn away and shun healing?
Fear.
And because we don't know how to deal with fear nor possess the tools needed to dismantle it.
Well Buck-a-roo, a thousand mile journey begins with a single step.
Our first step to healing ourselves is to diagnose our affliction or illness which means first, admitting we are conscious beings, and secondly, understand that it is possible that many white people, especially white men, are suffering and have been living with this callous on their soul for far too long.
This first step is, by far, the biggest and hardest step you'll ever have to take. And sadly, refusing to take this step only leads to more denial, leaving us trapped right back in a white and/or male supremacy status quo society.
This is where self-awareness of the importance of PTSOS/PTSOD comes in.
If ya DON'T CHECK yo'self, ya WRECK YO'SELF.
See if you or someone you love might be suffering...
PTSOS Symptoms:
1. Entitlement without awareness (Examples: Tea Clanner's chanting "Keep your government hands off my Medicare." People who assume safe neighborhoods are a given. Companies that sell "Nude" pantie hose for everyone. And thinking that the Oscars, Emmys or Hollywood reflect everyone in the diverse U.S. society.)
2. Deny racism is widespread (Thinking racism has ended because of President Obama or exceptions like Oprah, Micheal Jordan, & Will Smith. See prison industrial complex or medical care.)
3. Re-write history (Examples: Text books, movies, TV, Media, images, art, music, culture. See Birthers or Glenn Beck or the "new" Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.)
4. Colorblindness (Some people say they don’t see race, and believe all people are equal and just need to work harder and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Read Colorblind by Tim Wise.)
5. Superiority Complex ( Strong belief in American, racial, or regional exceptionalism. And people who think men are superior and natural leaders. Read Nell Irvin Painter's The History of White People.)
6. An un-rational fervent love of guns, weapons, and violence.
Of course, if PTSOS goes untreated, it leads to the disorder.
PTSOD Symptoms:
1. Isolation (Interaction exclusively within one’s own group or ideology i.e., country clubs, cops, military, GOP, Tea Party. This leads to an us vs. them mentality. See George Bush. Believing the world is literally 6,000 years old or evolution is not true. See 2008 & 2012 GOP Primaries.)
2. Illogical hatred of non-whites/liberated women (LeBron James, Micheal Vick, Mr. & Mrs. Obama, Muslims, Latinos, and wise Latinas. See Uncle Pat Buchanan, Morning Joe Scarborough.)
3. Hypocrisy (Do as I say, not as I do like opposing gay rights while being secretly gay or a cheating pro-family values politician while impeaching a President for same thing. See Newt Gingrich.)
4. Actively seek ideological reinforcement and validation (Corporate Media consumption to validate beliefs and perpetuate white supremacy. See corporate news beasts like CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and especially FAUX NEWS.)
5. Finally, HATE becomes/is modus operandi (Anger, paranoia, closed-mindedness, & complete lack of empathy. (See the alarming rise in the number of hate groups and mass shootings in America. Southern Poverty Law Center as an excellent source for research.)
A Few HONORABLE CHOICES For TREATING & CURING PTSOS/D
Overcome stereotypes. (Start with an oldie but goodie)
Become new friends with somebody new outside of your culture every year. (Real friends and with people that really are different - i.e. religion, race, economic class, sexual identity, or nationality.)
Know what you're talking about. Learn your his/herstory, facts, and try to understand how your his/herstory looks, feels, and is from the "other" point of view.
Listen more than you talk. Easier than it sounds:-)
Learn a second language. (Start by watching a foreign film. Your choice.)
Take an authentic cooking class from another culture. (Your choice)
As far as the sexual oppressor aspects of PTSOS... I have one giant FIRST step.
This is the NEXT big step.
We must change the nature of our government: Help pass an amendment making the United States Senate 50% male and 50% female. And make it happen now.
How did women ever get the right to vote? They kept fighting for over a century. But we can't wait that long.
Women of color NEED to save us from ourselves.
More to come on the sexual oppressor aspects of PTSOS/D later :-)
WE CAN DO THIS.
PEACE FOR NOW:)
