Essay One
The Sublime Art of Making Reparations
Kintsugi, Psychoanalysis, and the Sublimation of Disturbing Realities
Part V.
At this point, I feel that I ought to state for the record what I regard to be the deeply disturbing realities of genocide and chattel slavery.
Above all esle, the wishful fantasies of white supremacists and the defensive fantasies of liberal globalists try to convince us that there is a divine plan, a natural order, or a historical accident beyond pleasurable and profitable cultural artifice that could explain genocide and chattel slavery in America. As I know it, however, the extermination indigenous peoples and the enslavement of black peoples was not a part of God's plan, nor was it a part of the natural order, nor was it a historical accident. Much to the contrary, genocide and chattel slavery are both forms of pleasurable and profitable cultural artifice, and Americans exterminated indigenous peoples and enslaved black peoples for pleasure and for profit. In other words, Americans proposed, perpetrated, and perpetuated the cultural artifices of extermination and enslavement in order to get off and to get rich.
Going further and digging deeper, the cultural artifices of extermination and enslavement did not emerge in a vacuum, but were constructed atop other, pre-existing cultural artifices in order to enhance pleasures and profits derived thereby. Indeed, as I understand it, (i) the pleasures enhanced by the cultural artifices of extermination and enslavement were, first and foremost, the pleasures derived from the cultural artifices of patriarchy, and (ii) the profits enhanced by the cultural artifices of extermination and enslavement were, first and foremost, the profits derived from the cultural artifices of capitalism. It follows from this that the wishful and defensive fantasies that disavow the deeply disturbing realities of genocide and chattel slavery are but secondary elaborations of the wishful and defensive fantasies that disavow the deeply disturbing realities of patriarchy and capitalism. Just as there is no divine plan, no natural order, and no historical accident beyond pleasurable and profitable cultural artifice that could explain genocide and chattel slavery, there is no divine plan, no natural order, and no historical accident beyond pleasurable and profitable cultural artifice that could explain patriarchy and capitalism. What’s more, it also follows from this that the sublime art of making reparations as practiced by those calling for abolition and decolonization is a secondary elaboration of the same art as practiced by feminists and anti-capitalists.
Indeed, the reality of the matter is this: if reparations are to be made for the horrors genocide and chattel slavery, reparations will also need to be made for the horrors of patriarchy and capitalism. It is no wonder that the liberal globalist wants to repudiate white supremacy without making reparations for it: making reparations for genocide and chattel slavery would call capitalism into question. It is also no wonder that the white nationalist is also a misogynist: the pleasures that they take in oppressing peoples of other races are built on the pleasures that they take in oppressing women. The example of the battered wife that I used to introduce wish fulfillment and defense earlier was not chosen arbitrarily. As I see it, the deeply disturbing character of men who dominate women using threats of deprivation and violence are at the root of capitalism, genocide, and chattel slavery.
Capitalist oligarchs are, above all else, men endowed with the means to take advantage of women threatened by poverty. Some capitalist oligarchs use their endowments for their own direct pleasure. Others take indirect pleasure in hoarding and lording their endowments over men who are not so well endowed, brandishing their stockpiles of wealth as if they formed an oversized phallus.
Genocidal murderers are, above all else, men endowed with the means to take advantage of women threatened with extermination. Some genocidal murderers use their endowments for their own direct pleasure. Others take indirect pleasure in hoarding and lording their endowments over men who are not so well endowed, brandishing their stockpiles of weapons as if they formed an oversized phallus.
Slave masters are, above all else, men endowed with the means to take advantage of enslaved women. Some slave masters use their endowments for their own direct pleasure. Others take indirect pleasure in hoarding and lording their endowments over men who are not so well endowed, brandishing their retinues of docile bodies as if they formed an oversized phallus.
Before making any meaningful reparations for slavery and genocide, we will need to uncover the reality that so many of our customs and institutions are cultural artifices that enable men to take direct and indirect pleasure in the domination of women. Again, it is not enough to “see through” the wishful and defensive fantasies that cover up this disturbing reality: this disturbing reality must be uncovered and exposed for us to see. Going further, we must recognize that the uncovering of disturbing realities is but a first step. The art of making reparations must go beyond uncovering disturbing realities concealed by wishful and defensive fantasies; it must also enable fantasies that (re-)integrate and (re-)frame disturbing realities.