By Jennifer R. Farmer
(WIB) – Power is everything. Those who have it do not want to lose or share it with others. Naturally, there are methods used to hold onto that power.
If you’re wondering why you are struggling to get ahead, I offer you this: It’s not you. It’s the system.
Lately, I’ve observed a pattern in our current economic and political environment. The person with the least amount of power is blamed for their own demise. You see, powerful systems and structures intentionally point an accusatory finger toward individual shortcomings rather than look into their own mirror of systemic failures or barriers. In this arrangement, it is easy to place the burden on individuals for solving problems that powerful players, systems, and/or structures created.
I can think of three poignant, yet very different examples of where this is happening right now: climate crisis, personal finance, and literacy rates.
Corporations Pollute, Individuals Get the Blame
Think about the climate crisis. The United States accounts for 4% of the world’s population, but contributes to 17% of the world’s pollution. When considering discourse around the climate crisis, there is a lot of focus on what individuals can do and should do to ameliorate the problem. Recycle. Consume less. Use mass transportation.
Don’t get me wrong. We each have a role to play in creating a sustainable future. However, too often what is missing from the debate around pollution and global warming are the ways in which large corporations, and their powerful lobby, advocate for reduced accountability for how they contribute to the climate crisis. Drilling. Oil spills. Air pollution.
Corporations are meant to build wealth; if they can’t make money doing what’s right for the people, many opt for what’s beneficial for their earnings ratios. They will not take ownership of their hand in what harms us. Instead, the lot of the blame is placed on the individual for not doing enough — or worse yet, not “taking care of themselves” when their health is affected by climate-related hazards.
A Rigged Economy That Pretends it’s Your Fault
In another example, think about the whole industry of personal finance. When a person experiences financial challenges, there are a host of opinions on what the person is or is not doing to contribute to their struggles. There is tendency to tout the rhetoric of financial gurus or push vulnerable people toward courses on how to manage one’s money, how to invest, and how to grow rich.
There isn’t enough conversation around what happens when you don’t make enough money to get ahead. Going further, there isn’t enough conversation around the “Why.” Many people are thwarted from making more due to systemic forces like redlining, high cost of child care, unaffordable health care and costly education programs.
When the focus shifts from individuals to systems of financial exploitation, the players who actually advocate for people are deemed communist or socialist — dirty words in the lexicon of wealthy elites.
It doesn’t matter that in the United States, it is harder than ever for persons who were not born into extreme wealth to get ahead. It is not uncommon to see generation after generation born and dying in a cycle of poverty. This is more than an individual failure. If generation after generation cannot pay their bills, cannot afford to pay for their children’s education and cannot move from one social class to another, shouldn’t we consider blaming the systems that keep people stuck?
Yes, it’s important to know how to balance a checkbook, but if the ends don’t meet, the ends don’t meet. Without jobs that pay a living wage, benefits that allow individuals to keep more of their salary while meeting their family’s needs, many people will continue to struggle. The nation benefits when all people have resources to spur the economy, invest in their local communities and care for themselves and their families.
What’s more, we cannot talk about personal finance without also talking about the insane amounts of money spent on advertising and marketing in the U.S. Americans may well be the most marketed to consumers in the world. How does one get ahead financially when one is constantly bombarded with ads advising on what you need to be whole? It seems the nation is set up to get people to spend money they don’t have to impress people who do not care and to build economic empires for everyone but themselves.
Racial Justice, Literacy, and Technology
Personal finance is a good segue to race and racial justice. People talk about racial justice as though it is something that can be achieved in our lifetimes. But when we see policies that undermine the very possibility of advancement, we have to question how we’ll get past these powerful systems to a place where all people can thrive, regardless of their skin color.
There was a time in our history when it was illegal for certain individuals in the United States to learn to read and write. This should tell us something. There is power in knowledge. Take away access to knowledge, and power remains with those who control the narrative. In this 21st century, that narrative is technology.
To this point, even plummeting literacy rates should not surprise us at a time when manufacturers and developers push screens to our children from the cradle to the grave. Addiction to technology, including smart phones, and social media, is literally rotting our youngest minds, but also leading to a host of mental and emotional challenges.
No one should be surprised that children and young people are struggling to read and comprehend. However, who seems to be the blame? Parents and care givers. It is our fault for not teaching our children to read. As with the earlier climate crisis example, of course we are culpable in raising our children with literacy top of mind. Yet, how can this be accomplished in an era where parents and caregivers are working harder, and for less? They haven’t the time to read to their children when the most important task is to feed them — and keep them safe.
We shouldn’t be surprised that the love for reading and the ability to comprehend what one has read is waning! Rather than narrowly focusing on parents, policymakers, and concerned community members should also focus on reprimanding the greedy gadget companies that bring in psychologists and expert marketers to educate their teams on how to get children addicted to technology.
Stop Blaming People, Start Fixing the Systems
In the United States, there is often a tendency to blame the victim rather than focus on the systems that created the problems in the first place. By blaming the individual, powerful players can not only escape accountability, but also keep Americans divided.
As a nation, let’s move beyond focusing on individual challenges, and spend more time attuned to the structures that undergird societal challenges.
Jennifer R. Farmer is the author of “First and Only: A Black Woman’s Guide to Thriving at Work and in Life,” and founder of the social good public relations firm, Spotlight PR LLC.