Hierarchy is actually dying a very messy death right in front of our eyes. This is Part 2 of a larger piece about how all this crazy, cuckoo bananas stuff happening right now in the U.S. is because fascism is being deployed to prop up the existing class hierarchy… the good news is it is doomed to fail.
Christianity and Judaism are both dependent on maintaining hierarchy. They are also the main reason that many people in Western society accept the validity of hierarchies. Many of us have an unconscious bias for accepting hierarchies because our religious upbringing conditions us to believe in hierarchy.
Chapter 1 of Genesis begins with God over creation and places man over everything on earth, quoting the Lord Himself: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
Then Chapter 2 of Genesis kicks off patriarchy in Western society by placing Adam over Eve. Genesis Chapter 15 kicks off Zionism by making the Jews God’s chosen people. These are the first words of the bible we’re talking about, the most popular book of all time. These are some of the most basic, bedrock beliefs of Judeo-Christian culture. Hierarchical thinking is baked in from the jump. Many organized religions depend on hierarchy.
Hierarchy is a pecking order, the belief that some people are inherently more valuable than others. Zionists believe that Jewish people are worth more than Palestinian people. Christians believe that only some will go to heaven. Jingoists believe that American lives are worth more than anyone else’s. Chauvinists believe that a man’s life is worth more than a woman’s. Racists believe that white lives are worth more than black or brown lives. Bigots value straightness over queerness. Rich people believe that their lives have more inherent value than the moneyless. Workers are supposed to believe that the boss has more value than everyone else.
And remember what I said before... these are frequently unconscious beliefs. This means people can hold these beliefs and not even be aware of it. Many people unconsciously accept the dominant outlook of their society.
Yet these beliefs can be challenged and overcome. Especially once a person attains class consciousness and begins perceiving their unconsious beliefs.
Equality is the enemy of hierarchy. The idea that every human life has equal value is a threat to all hierarchies. Equality demolishes hierarchy by saying no, this life is not worth more than that one. Equality means every life has equal value.
It so happens that equality is as much a core part of the American identity as freedom. Equality is an ideal that we have kept since the American Revolution. We haven’t always lived up to it. The Constitution enshrined the three-fifths Compromise which said black slaves were only worth three-fifths of white residents. That’s a very mathematical hierarchy. We had a Civil War to get rid of that.
The Civil War ended the slave system, an economic system just like capitalism is an economic system.
Equality is part of the American Dream. That anyone could be president. That anyone can become rich. That anyone can become the biggest sports star in the world. That anyone can become the biggest pop star in the world.
We know that women can do basically anything a man can do. We are all human beings. The distribution of genetic gifts is spread equally amongst all men and women. Men are not superior because they generally have more muscle mass.
We know that black and brown people can do anything white people can do. We are all human beings. White people get the same distribution of genetic gifts as everyone else on earth. White people are not superior because they happen to be at the top of the hiearchy at this moment in history.
Christians and Jews hold no moral superiority over Muslims or Hindus or any other religion. Nobody’s hands are clean. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Rich people are no better than anyone else. The Epstein controversy is important because it threatens to expose the rottenness of our ruling class. Important figures from across the entire spectrum of entertainment, finance, politics implicated in horrible crimes against children.
Hierarchy is dying a very messy death right now.
Authority depends on hierarchy. Authority means follow the leader. (The leader supposedly has more inherent value than others.) Do what you’re told or be crushed. Authority uses force to maintain its number one status.
But authority is supposed to reflect majority support. Authority is power conferred by popular support. Individuals are given the power to make decisions because they have the support of the public behind them. When authority loses public support, it loses power.
This Declaration of Independence called this the “consent of the governed.” When you lose public support you lose authority. “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...”
Authority exercised without public support is tyranny. Ending tyranny was the animating concept behind the creation of the United States.
Assuming authoritarian control of the United States the way President Trump is doing it is tyranny. It is illegitimate.
Women do not believe that men should have authority over their lives. Black and brown folks do not believe that white people should have authority over their lives. Plenty of us do not believe that Christians or Zionists should have authority over our lives. The rich should not have authority over our lives. Our bosses should not have authority over our lives. Hierarchy is tyranny. Hierarchy is dying a very messy death right now.
