In Between the Lines of White Supremacy
From the beginning of the 1500’s to present day America, the white polity that controls the government also controls the media and the rest of American culture. They establish ideologies to the youth of America and even its own citizens. With the rise of the terms “white people,” “oppression,” and “white supremacy” comes in control of mass media and public opinion. Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher and politician, writes that hegemony is about leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others (involves a continuum of coercion and consent). He says that “supremacy of a social group manifests itself in two ways.” One of those ways is domination and the other is intellectual and moral leadership. The American government uses both the two-step model of social influence and the hypodermic model for commercial power under hegemony. White people have been in power and, although depressing, will continue to be in power through mass media and public opinion.
White people control the American people, both white and nonwhite people, through mass media and public opinion. Edward Bernays, a pioneer in the fields of public relations and propaganda, has said that the “engineering of consent” describes the importance of manipulating the public mind to support the status quo and advanced ways to do this including government policies, commercials and advertising, and promoting social conformity. Edward Bernays can be thought to be describing the way that the American government would naturally change and shape the public mind to inhibit “the American way” amongst the American people. This can be done through media outlets, (which is the two-step model of social influence), and the schooling of young individuals (which is the hypodermic model of social influence). Both lead the American people to believe that white people are the hegemony. For example, news outlets may not cover stories about certain topics if a white person were involved in deviant behavior. Rather, if a non-white person were to be involved in said behavior, the media would label that person as a “violent criminal who should be stopped.” If, in which case, a white person were to be involved in deviant behavior, the media would label that person as “mentally ill,” or “not right in the head.” This has been done countless times in the American society today.
White people will continue to stay in power because the American people are lead blindly into believing a certain way -- this is because of the American education system. Teachers are only allowed to teach children a certain curriculum under the United States government. Any deviation from that, they may be in line for termination. These teachers and professors are what as known as “adjuncts” and are not allowed to have free speech unless tenured. If, for example, a professor wanted to teach white supremacy without backlash, the university or college would not allow it due to them meeting outside curriculum. In an abstract for Race Ethnicity and Education, Bree Picower, assistant professor at Montclair State University in the College of Education and Human Development, says that “in keeping with the tenet of critical race theory that racism is an inherent and normalized aspect of American society, [I] found that through previous life‐experiences, [teachers] gained hegemonic understandings about race and difference. [Teachers] responded to challenges to these understandings by relying on a set of ‘tools of Whiteness’ designed to protect and maintain dominant and stereotypical understandings of race – tools that were emotional, ideological, and performative” (Picower, 197-215). She explains in her article that teachers, predominantly white teachers, will only teach a certain way that will adhere to the power of the white polity. She advises against this and tells the reader to understand how these “tools of Whiteness” may be protecting dominance and hegemony and provides details to teacher education programs on how to change the ideologies of white teachers. All of this is important because education shapes the future of young Americans. When they are taught a certain way, they will be taught to feel inferior if they are non-white.
The people of the United States are naturally naive. Walter Lippman, political commentator for the United States government believed in the “innate stupidity of the masses.” He referred to the people of the United States as “ignorant herds” and that the public “must be put in its place.” This is important because in order for us to not become consumed by an overarching white power, we have to realize we are in that situation. A tiger cannot get out of quicksand if it does not know it is sinking. The United States has to be aware of the situation and ask themselves why the way things are in today’s society.
The people of the United States are blind to the hegemony that controls them. Today’s society was shaped by the white polity and unless we realize that we are, the control is inescapable. Other things that contribute to the ruling class is what makes it hard to take head point. These may include black exceptionalism, the current racial caste system, and the new Jim Crow laws. These things prevent societies of people of color from succeeding and taking control of America’s current state. We can ask for equality amongst race all we want, but if nobody of non-white decent takes power, we will continue to be controlled. Mass media and public opinion like news outlets, American education, and the naivety of the American people, especially the non-white populations, will continue to be controlled by the white polity. This can be changed, not by time, but by action.
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