Like the issue with oppression isn't who's doing it vs who it's being done to. It's that the oppression is happening. To this fact, who's doing the oppression is purely incidental.

Like replacing the patriarchy with a matriarchy wouldn't fix anything it's just change the face of the problem. I feel like I'm explaining that grass is green right now, like why the fuck is this a thing that needs to be said?

Like yes, throughout history it has mostly been white men who have and currently are creating and benefitting from oppressive power structures. But the fact that oppressive power structures are bad and need to be dismantled doesn't chance if you replace all those white men with other people.

I’ve realized something about the way I think, something that used to make me feel “jumbled,” but now feels like clarity. When I look at the world, I don’t see isolated issues. I see patterns. I see systems and how everything ties together in ways most people never slow down enough to notice.

And lately, I’ve had to step back from a lot of online discourse, especially around capitalism. Not because capitalism isn’t harmful, it absolutely is, but because people talk about it like it’s the only villain, the singular root of all suffering. And that’s just not true.

Capitalism is not the origin. It’s the byproduct.

A modern mask worn by something much older.

We’re living in a time shaped not just by capitalism, but by consumerism, by class systems we carried over from centuries ago, by hierarchies we never dismantled, by patterns of exploitation that existed long before we had a word for “capitalism” at all.

People forget that.

They talk about capitalism like it appeared out of nowhere, fully formed, as if it invented exploitation. But exploitation existed in feudalism. It existed in ancient empires. It existed in early agricultural societies. It existed the moment humans learned they could hoard resources and control others through scarcity.

Feudalism had capitalism’s bones: supply, demand, labor, and exploitation, just without the branding.

And before that, there were wars over land, over food, and over water. There was the objectification of women across cultures and eras. There were systems built on the belief that one group was inherently superior to another. There were hierarchies enforced through violence, fear, and tradition.

All of that still exists today. It just wears modern clothes.

Consumerism is simply the emotional engine of capitalism. Influencer culture is the new aristocracy. Corporations are the new feudal lords. Nationalism is the new tribal superiority. Wealth accumulation is the new resource hoarding. Patriarchy never left; it just rebranded.

So when people say, “Capitalism is the problem,” I always feel this tug inside me, because capitalism is just the latest expression of a much older pattern.

A pattern of:

hierarchy

domination

scarcity

control

objectification

superiority

fear

These are the real roots. Capitalism is just the fruit.

And when you only blame the fruit, you never touch the tree.

That’s why discourse spaces feel so limited to me. People want a single villain. A simple narrative. Or a clean answer. But the world has never been simple. Human suffering has never had one cause. And the systems we live under today are not new; they’re inherited.

We’re living inside the echoes of every era that came before us.

And when you start to see that, when you start to recognize the continuity, everything suddenly makes sense. The puzzle pieces aren’t scattered. They’re connected. They always were.

Most people just don’t see the whole picture.

But once you do, you can’t unsee it.

Cruelty Learned Better Manners

-The Costumes of Power-

Human cruelty did not disappear.

It simply learned how to dress better.

For thousands of years we have told ourselves the same comforting story: that humanity evolves, that we learn from the past, that the worst chapters remain behind us.

But look closely.

The costumes changed. The language changed. The systems became more polished.

The cruelty stayed.

Slavery did not vanish. It reorganized itself into supply chains and production belts where speed is rewarded and exhaustion remains invisible.

Silence did not disappear. It became public relations, rehearsed statements, carefully edited news designed to calm rather than reveal.

Control did not fade. It simply learned to speak the language of order, stability, and progress.

And we accepted it.

We accepted it because we are taught from childhood that obedience keeps the world functioning, that rules exist for everyone, that systems are built for the common good.

Yet history tells another story.

Many of the doctrines we are told to follow are quietly ignored by the very people who benefit from them.

Power rarely lives by the rules it writes for others.

And while these enormous structures continue turning—markets, institutions, governments, narratives repeated until they sound like truth—something much smaller and more fragile happens somewhere else.

A person is wondering what is wrong with them.

Someone is asking themselves if it is safe to say what they feel, if it is acceptable to exist the way they naturally are, if speaking honestly will cost them belonging.

That moment has repeated itself across centuries.

Different century. Different language. The same doubt.

The tragedy of our species may not be cruelty itself. Cruelty has always existed.

The deeper tragedy is how easily human beings can be trained to accept it.

We learn to look away. We learn to repeat what we are told. We learn to protect systems even when those systems quietly grind people down.

All for stability. All for order. Sometimes for nothing more than a paycheck.

And so the world continues as it has for centuries—refined, efficient, technologically advanced—yet still capable of leaving human beings feeling unseen, unheard, and alone.

Civilization did not erase the old injustices.

It simply modernized them.

The chains became contracts. The silence became policy. The obedience became culture. The currency became worth.

And somewhere tonight, a person sits quietly believing something is wrong with them — because they think differently, feel too deeply, refuse to trade compassion for advantage, refuse to move through life guided only by greed.

For centuries we have been trained to call this difference a flaw.

But perhaps it was never the flaw.

Systems do not examine themselvesThey don’t question. They just functionWhen in doubt (if a System can doubt itself)They lean into what they know So it was and always soEnshrined via cultural normsLanguage and institutional memoryDeviation is dangerousSystems are risk-averseTo those standing on the outside, questioning Thinking they can come in and change things You’re up against policies,…

According to these scholars, politics and racism are so deeply intertwined that they cannot be fully separated when analyzing how power and resources are distributed.

1. The Core Argument: "Race is a Political Construct"

Race studies professors, such as Michael Omi and Howard Winant (authors of Racial Formation in the United States), argue that "race" itself is not a biological fact but a political tool.

* The Theory: Race was created by political and legal systems to justify who gets rights (citizenship, voting, property) and who does not.

* The Conclusion: Because race was invented to serve a political purpose, all politics that involve the distribution of resources (like housing, healthcare, or education) inevitably have a racial component.

2. Systemic vs. Individual Racism

A key distinction made in ethnic studies is that politics doesn't have to involve "hateful" people to be racist. This is often called Institutional or Systemic Racism.

* Neutral Policies, Unequal Outcomes: Professors point to "facially neutral" laws—laws that don't mention race—that still produce racialized results.

* Example: Property tax-funded schooling. Because of the history of redlining (political/legal segregation), Black and Latino families often live in areas with lower property values. Using property taxes to fund schools is a "political" choice that results in what scholars call "educational racism," regardless of the intent of the voters.

3. Key Statistics Cited by Scholars

To support the idea that the political system functions in a racially biased way, scholars often point to disparities in the outcomes of political "neutral" systems:

| System | Metric of Disparity |

|---|---|

| Justice System | Black Americans are incarcerated at nearly 5x the rate of white Americans. |

| Wealth Gap | The median white household has roughly 6-8x the wealth of the median Black or Latino household, often attributed to 20th-century housing policies (like the GI Bill and FHA loans). |

The bullies

Wealth comes from land and labor.

Factions harboring wealth seek social power as society grows, and form laws and reign the land, taking it by popularity and fist.

Rulers colonize and conquer to exploit wealth from land and labor.

They decide what's right and wrong, use propaganda to affect the cognitive cycle at early age until families are raised to believe it.

Will control you

Laws establish wealth transfer policy. The laws are written to promote the interests of the ruling class. A social class pyramid forms.

Companies are allowed to exist, with the purpose of making money.

You are born.

And you will think yourself friends

You inherit some money. Propaganda and your middle-tier social class says you are better.

Companies slowly chip away at you and each other.

Companies are sold, and acquired. The good companies roll over to corporations. Board members rule for profit over people.

Until you learn the hard way

You are born.

You inherit nothing. You rent at high cost. Propaganda makes you feel powerless and tells you it's not worth fighting.

Companies are highly conglomerated. They are ruthless. Even politics begins to bend. What was a convenience for the ruling class has become all of society's cancer.

The worst part? Scarcity only makes everyone hoard more, share less, and stay aggressive. Even the good companies can't afford generosity anymore, and what's given is sucked up indirectly as the consumer's money is taken by the aggressive conglomerates.

And then

Iske alawa mujhe aur kuch na to kehna-likhna hain, aur na hi kehne-likhne ki zarurat hain.

Credits: Dacait (1987) Full Hindi Movie (4K) | Ultra Movie Parlour (YouTube) News Article | The Times of India The Times of India Logo | Wikimedia Commons Vande Mataram Flute Audio | Travel Diary (YouTube)