On *Poor white* red herring
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This is a response to a comrade. See link for understanding the context.

Since I thought this is an important point that sheds light on common mythology built around a specific group of people from dominant segments of society, I moved this to a separate post so its importance is emphasized.

Comrade,

Although we both agree on the important role systems play in the fates of peasants, but I clearly see that we disagree about who the direct & chief beneficiaries of various forms of domination are.

Since I adhere to the thesis of systems of domination explanation & degrees of culpability, going from direct beneficiaries first to indirect beneficiaries later, focussing on both [visible] material gains & [invisible] non-material gains accrued to some groups more than others (as material gains can be clearly seen in only some situations than in other situations), since you took the example of *Poor Whites*, I thought we should take a look at the material reality faced by various segments of society.

Towards this, when you say:

> Surely you can see how absurd it would be to argue that the ones who benefit MOST from white supremacy are poor white people.

With that, to me it seems you are denying the material reality that the beneficiaries of white supremacy are not white people as a cohort, but the real beneficiary is the abstract system (or) that everyone benefits equally/near equally in a system thats designed to benefit some at others expense & there will be no losers in the broader target beneficiary cohort. But in my view, thats contrary to evidence.

We have to compare apples with apples, rather than comparing apples to oranges.

We need to look at Whites vs Blacks, Rich Whites vs Rich Blacks, Middle class Whites vs Middle class Blacks, Poor whites vs Poor Blacks, Rich Whites vs Poor Whites, Rich Blacks vs Poor Blacks, quality of life of people in those cohorts, most importantly, number of people in those cohorts at the top vs bottom within each racial cohort, material condition of those in those segments of society, how easy/difficult for the said Poor white man/woman to change that status within the white cohort — say by dating/marrying a rich person within white cohort, getting help from another rich white person who is willing to help them out, the likelihood of such help coming because of number of people in those cohorts that can help them and so on (vs) Same for black/brown people, and so on.

Also, we need to look at the median income, 90th percentile income, 99th percentile income & resources they consume relative to other groups. All of that forms the basis of material reality, to find the direct & as per your categorization *chief beneficiary*.

So, I came across this study that looked at the wealth owned by typical whites vs typical blacks. It sheds more light on the situation, to determine if the direct & chief beneficiary of white supremacy is white population or not (or) is it just ruling class (what % of ruling class are white vs people belonging to other groups, in societies where there is a sizable white population?).

Ruling class benefits from all forms of hierarchy they tolerate &/ enable, not just white supremacist form of hierarchy, but white supremacy served those who control the top quite well, for many generations, while also directly & chiefly benefitting those in that white cohort, relative to those who dont belong to the white cohort.

This is what that study says.

> In South Africa, the typical Black household owns 5 per cent of the wealth held by the typical White household. In the US, the typical Black household owns 6 per cent of the wealth held by the typical White household. In both countries, a racial wealth gap exists at different levels of education and income. The fact that the racial wealth gap in the US is similar to that of a country that recently emerged from apartheid is a sobering indictment. [1]

That clarifies quite a lot as to who the beneficiary of a white supremacist society are.

Also, when you say:

> So yes, the chief beneficiary of transphobia is the ruling class. The ruling class is using transphobia to distract and manipulate poor people.

If you see the *chief beneficiary* of transphobia to be ruling class, not transphobes, then we are trying to reduce *chief beneficiary* to larger machines, by reducing everything to *Well, those control the system benefits, not the transphobe who is imposing his/her will on trans people using that larger machine*. Since the material benefit accrued to transphobe is bit hard to quantify (even tho the will of transphobe is directly now imposed on trans person by the transphobe by using the system), your explanation is that the *chief beneficiary* is still *ruling class*, not the person/group that just imposed their will unjustly over others using the concentrated power of ruling class.

With your explanation, we have to assume the *chief beneficiary* of a misogynist society is not Male cohort, because a Poor man is also oppressed by the system as much as a Poor Woman, because there are larger systems at play. Going a step further, we can chalk up everything to, *Well, those systems are the *chief beneficiaries*, not those who want to impose their will over others & use the system to get what they want (or) keep the things the way they are*.

In my view, that approach simply denies material reality & complicates the world far more than it simplifies, for no significant gain in return.

I also took a look at the beneficiaries of Settler-Colonial terrorism of Zionist Jews in Entity.

Here is what I found — just on the dimension of material benefit, ignoring the benefits that accrued by land grabs — most of the Palestinian land is now stolen by & in the hands of Zionist Jews, not the abstract "system"; ignoring the material benefit that society — not just ruling class — gained from that by converting that captive Palestinian population into guinea pigs for testing the most sophisticated weapons & build a "industry" of slaughter in collusion with Western Empire, building other systems of larger scale spying & social control, exporting that "tech" to other repressive regimes and so on. Beyond that, we cant even measure the unquantifiable benefits of imposing one's will over others (even if it doesnt have any direct material benefit, its still a benefit for the group that makes use of it), and so on.

So, this kind of shows who the direct & *chief* beneficiaries of Jewish supremacist settler-colonial terrorism that we call Zionism in Entity.

> Israel median household income (PPP) hit $41,050 in 2021, an increase of 3.1% over the previous year. [2]

Compare that to Palestinian population (since this is GDP, avg Palestinian gets far less income than this, since its not even avg, this implies, median income will be significantly lower than avg income)

> West Bank and Gaza gdp per capita for 2021 was $3,679, a 13.76% increase from 2020. [3]

We can clearly see, who the *direct* & *chief* beneficiaries of Zionist terrorism are. Its not just the "ruling class". There are large segments of peasant cohorts who chiefly benefit from that settler-colonial domination.

In my explanation, I dont deny the role played by larger systems, but I dont deny the direct & *chief* beneficiaries of systems of domination when the system gives them what they want — whether the said gain can be materially quantifiable or not, whether they got the full benefit of the bargain they made, whether everyone in the cohort got the expected benefit or not.

Just because a poor white has lost within a white supremacist society, it doesnt mean white supremacist society is not meant to benefit larger white cohort as a group. We can identify the purpose of the system by looking at the results of the systems over a long period of time (in those cases where such data exists).

The *Poor white* argument is a red-herring & is meant to serve a specific end i.e Hiding the underlying reality that benefits that DO accrue to the white cohort in question, not to every individual in the white cohort.

Its akin to a Capitalist saying: Well there are so many bankrupt Capitalists who failed within a Capitalist system. That means, the beneficiaries of Capitalism are not Capitalist cohort, but the [abstract] *Ruling class*.

*Lost Capitalist* argument is exactly same as *Poor white* argument, that Capitalist can come up with. One can say, it too has some element of truth in it, but when we look at the broader trend, we can clearly see the beneficiaries.

This is not in anyway denying some people within a cohorts & some cohorts more than other cohorts benefit more than others in systems of hierarchy (its always a given), but simply showcasing *Poor White* as an explanation why a white supremacist system that beats up everyone far more, ensure relative gains for one group of people at the expense of other groups i.e benefits white cohort far more relatively speaking, only adds needless complexity to a much simpler reality we can observe clearly.

This is not to say *White Poor* are not oppressed by the system, like how, a much larger group of Blacks/Browns are oppressed by the system, but the beneficiaries of white supremacy are white cohorts, not mere abstract "Systems"/"Ruling class".

https://kolektiva.social/@CrimethInc@todon.eu/114150931137782343

Sources:

[1]: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09538259.2024.2318962
[2]: https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/macroeconomic/median-household-income-in-israel-2091327/
[3]: https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/PSE/west-bank-and-gaza/gdp-per-capita

@palestine @lebanon @iran @israel @syria #israel #palestine #gaza #lebanon #iran #syria #anarchy #anarchism