GATR Essay #0: Hypocrisy Matters

on Classism, Nihilism, Existential Crises and Empire

Art by Vanessa Marquez of Jaguar Haus

Something that gets lost in the media's sensationalism is that the “far right” isn't a united front. Our news media and social media globally, but especially in the USA, want the numbers of a Hollywood blockbuster and dramatize news that would be better delivered with actual regard for the human species.

Contrary to popular belief, our issues are neither new to humanity nor untested by thousands of generations of our species.

Just because the KKK, Neo Nazis, QAnons, Trads, Incels, Reptilian conspiracists, etc. are agreeing to disagree with more socioculturally progressive people does not mean they are aligned on their issues. They disagree amongst themselves on fundamentals! One only has to research the ethos of each philosophy to be assured of that.

These groups are just uniting to disagree with those they dislike more than each other—for now, which they call "The Left," Snowflakes, the Woke Mafia, Low Value (Gender), or "transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison," etc.

But the call that is alarming them is coming from inside their house.

Where “they” and their beliefs are their “homes” and where what alarms them is their existential crises, fears, and hatreds. Their existential crises, fears, and hatreds are projections of their doubts, self-loathing, and nihilistic social conditioning.

The “far-right”—though let’s not pretend like nihilistic projections are exclusive to any one demographic of people—won’t stop blaming people or things outside of them for the fact that they, too, exist.

How could they when they don’t know how to stop blaming themselves for the fact that they also exist?

Whatever our inter-species issues may appear to be or even are, we cannot afford to lose track of the fact that we are all human beings navigating epigenetic and intergenerational human problems. There is no one sphere or demographic of humanity having these problems, which is why murdering any one demographic of human beings has never actually resolved the issues that led to the bloodshed.

These intergenerational human problems BECOME systemic issues that humanity incorporates into our socialization, governance, and spiritual practices. Because “wherever you go, there you are,” we are dealing with ourselves, each other, and our problems until we resolve them within and for ourselves.

These groups have united to project their insecurities and existential crises on others, which guarantees that they’ll turn against each other at the earliest opportunity.

Do you think if the KKK managed to get rid of every Black person alive they’d just settle down, relinquish their hateful and murderous tendencies, and go about their lives happily and peacefully? If they aren’t practicing happiness and peace, they will never experience either.

Any distraction outside of the “far-right” that allows those who hold such beliefs to avoid reflecting on their need for those belief systems will be highly attractive to them. The unwillingness to face their existential dread and doubts is why the “far-right” creates so many hot-button issues.

Once they get rid of one hot button—assuming they ever could—they'll create another hot button issue to justify why they can’t just be okay with the fact THAT THEY EXIST AMONG A DIVERSITY OF EXISTENCES.

It’s Easier to Condemn than to Resolve

Ridicule is easy, understanding is complex. Understanding isn’t the popularity contest that current internet culture makes it out to be.

One doesn’t choose to understand something because one likes what one comes to understand; one chooses to understand something when one recognizes its reality.

Having to like something to choose to understand it is not a survival skill. Condemning the tide will not hold it back from our shores.

So, rather than categorizing those with this age-old psychosis—which has been passed down epigenetically from generation to generation—as “the enemy,” a more honest way to describe them would be:

“People who have no idea how to cope with Existence-At-Large, let alone their existence or anyone else’s.”

Such people—also known as our fellow human beings—are desperate to “figure out” how to exist without dreading every second of it. Paradoxically, to dread your existence is to dread your death. Thus, such people are also desperate to “figure out” how not to die.

Underneath that endlessly futile argument with Existence-At-Large is insecurity, doubt, fragility, a lack of faith, untested resilience, dread, and an existential rage at the Universe, God, Existence, or whatever you may call all that is.

This level of existential crisis is not new to humanity of any culture, of any time, or on any continent. These are human issues, passed down from generation to generation.

I believe we can resolve these issues if we truly want resolutions. Resolution doesn’t mean being right or wrong, it means being understood. But does humanity want to understand itself? Or are we terrified of that responsibility to ourselves?

Because I am human, you are human, people of the “far right” are human, and every human being is a human, humanity is uniquely equipped to deal with its own issues. If we create the problems—and we do—we are also the ones to create the solutions.

When we take people’s ignorance personally, even if it is willful, we lose track of the existential understanding needed to move through and past ignorant situations in general. It is easier to write someone else off as “existentially wrong” than it is to recognize how they became how they became.

Rather than believe that a KKK member hates me because I’m Black, I recognize that they believe they hate me because they hate whatever part of themselves that I remind them of. I understand that they believe they hate me due to their ignorance, lack of trust, and lack of resilience to navigate the Universe.

Existence gets to include things we don’t like or relate to. That is Existence’s right. Rather than trying to edit Existence’s choices, I edit how I respond to Existence.

If I must encounter people I don’t prefer or agree with—which, I’m never seeking these people out—I utilize every opportunity to plant doubt in their projections. I do not force my company on people I don’t prefer or agree with. Why would I center people I don’t like in my life of my own accord?

However, if such people choose to seek me out, I am myself with them if they get any response out of me at all. I’m not a proselytizer. I do not thrive on coercion. It’s too much work to be anyone but myself and it’s too much work to convince others to be anything but themselves.

I’ve learned to lead by example and not insist on anything. I do this out of unconditional love and respect for my humanity and humanity in general. If people want to learn, they always can and will. People need examples to justify their reason for learning what they choose to understand from their experiences.

A thing of integrity is its own proof of concept. I hold space for myself by holding people who choose to go out of their way to oppose me accountable for their belief systems—when I encounter such people. I don’t go seeking them out and, really, you don’t need to. Haters need targets and they’ll always find you.

The “far-right” is desperate for interaction. That’s why they made what they claim to hate the center of their lives and belief systems. If I claim to hate you and your people and I claim to not want anything to do with you, why would I choose to show up in your country, in your neighborhood, on your lawn, or in your house in my free time?

If Existence leads me or someone who opposes me into an interaction, that’s on Existence. If I lead me or someone who opposes me into an interaction, that’s on me. However, because I trust Existence, I also trust that it’s not bringing me into interactions with people who may oppose me for no reason.

That reason is not mutual destruction. Existence is not capable of mistakes or redundancies. Why would Existence “create” something it needed YOU to “uncreate.” If Existence happened to me, there’s something for me to get out of my own experience of my aspect of Existence. I’m who chooses what that something is.

The following fact seems to rub humanity the wrong way: Death doesn’t need our help. Death is a consummate professional and has its job FULLY ON LOCK. Isn’t it presumptive to show up to someone’s house uninvited and unannounced?

Yet, humanity continues to send our species to Death’s house before we’ve been invited.

Et tu, Servius?

How do we stop choosing mutual destruction as the solution to our differences?

In my opinion, we consistently turn the mirror, the questions, and the burden of proof on those who defend their existential dread and internalized nihilism by projecting it on others. Such people make their doubts and insecurities “about” the fact that others exist because they won’t face their doubt and insecurity about the fact that they exist.

Remind such people that if their beliefs were “capital T” True, the ends they claim their beliefs will bring about would be self-evident and inevitable. Tell them that an “all-powerful” thing is its own evidence because what is, IS. Or ask them how they define the concepts and terms of “is,” “all” and “powerful.”

If the “far-right” is on the side of that which is “all mighty, all-powerful and all True,” then ALL people with such beliefs have to do is sit back, tend to their traditions, and be faithful. If such people require proof they don’t have faith. That is actually at the crux of their issues.

If the words they choose do not mean what they think those words mean, that is also on them. They are their own responsibility. Their ideas and their beliefs are also their own responsibility.

Consent is the language of faith. Behavior is the language of belief.

If someone believes they have to force their will on others to make their faith true or known, they’re not motivated by faith or belief, but instead by doubt, fear, and desperation. Faith and desperation are criminalized under capitalism, feudalism, oligarchy, monarchy, etc. Doubt is the bread and butter of those systems.

All those systems need hierarchy and existential dread to thrive. If we’re going to do away with those systems or the tools and methodologies those systems rely upon, we have to stop creating new types of classism to punish people with.

As I said in my last GATR Digest, “classism begets impostors.”

Classism as we know it, as Marx knew it, and as the Romans invented and modernized it, is rooted in othered people clamoring for a better place in society:

Every time people credit Marx for our modern understanding of Classism I know Servius Tullius is rolling his eyeballs and rolling in his grave. First, what a feat. There are many very stunning moments of “Right Placing Right Timing (RPRT) History” where people of those times who found themselves in the right place at the right time somehow rose to the occasion and the challenges and DID SOMETHING.

Many, many, many of them died unnaturally. Mostly prematurely. Sometimes, self-inflicted, but most times not. It is no small thing to be a harbinger of what is or is to come. So often in history, what people brought forth or out ate them right up. For an interesting lot of humanity, we will make our mark before history reclaims us.

Servius Tullius may know that better than anyone since modern-day classism can be traced back to his hypocrisy. About 800 years before the height of the Roman Empire—the Late Latin/Classical Latin era—Rome was a land ruled by Kings who enslaved people and a land made possible by enslaved people who wanted to be Kings.

Unfortunately for the 5th King of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, he was assassinated by the sons of his predecessor the 4th King of Rome, Ancus Marcius. Tarquinius politically sidelined Ancus Marcius’s sons to become King even though Ancus Marcius died from natural causes.

Ancus Marcius’s sons did not appreciate this sidelining and so they murdered him, but unfortunately for them, Tarquinius Priscus had enslaved a Roman man called Servius Tullius who made himself beloved to Tarquinius' daughter, Tarquinia, and his wife, Queen Tanaquil.

Queen Tanaquil concealed the death of her husband, presented Servius as her husband's temporary agent, helped him legitimize by marrying her daughter Tarquinia, and, in time, the Senate recognized Servius Tullius as King even though the free people of Rome were not involved in his election. Amongst the Senate, this was the least of Serviu’s problems.

Yes, Servius was the first King of Rome that wasn't elected by free people and—ironically or appropriately—he was also the first King of Rome to descend from the “underclass” of the enslaved population. Though he was approved and included in the “upperclass,” his rule upended the influence of the aristocracy.

His rule was not without controversy or hypocrisy:

"Servius Tullius . . . is credited with the Servian Constitution, which divided citizens into five classes according to wealth." (Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Apr. 2024).

Before Servius there was only Feudalism in Rome. After Servius, classes were determined first by “class” (title, family, name, aristocracy), then by wealth, then by land ownership, and lastly by voting power.

The more wealth and land a free man had, the more voting power he was allotted in the Senate and in political assembly. Underneath Servius’s 5 Class system, there was an even more vast underclass that encompassed women, the enslaved, and foreigners.

Servius was enslaved by Tarquinius Priscus and technically should have had no route to leadership let alone Kingship. If Classism was legitimately all-encompassing, all-powerful, and all-True, Servius could have never found a way.

History implies the way he did find still deepened classism (as we understand it today). By attempting to give lower classes more access to property and political influence through further legitimizing Classism, Servius perpetuated a system that usurped him.

Servius was murdered by his daughter and son-in-law, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. Lucius became a tyrant, his son became an infamous rapist, and Servius’ lineage was cast out of Rome in 509 CE.

Lucius was the last King of Rome. Servius' family's exile instigated the abolishment of monarchy and establishment of the Roman Republic, where Classism remained alive, well, and more entrenched. Hypocrisy matters. So does being a good parent, a good person, and—in the case of Patriarchy—a good dad.

Classism is a philosophical belief. If you believe that how a person acts or is should determine the extent of the human rights that person is afforded, then you believe in Classism.

You don’t have to be rich to be a Classist. You only have to believe in the legitimacy of Classism to be Classist. Unfortunately, because people rarely read past Marx on Classism, many people can’t get to the root of humanity’s issues from their beliefs about class systems.

When we say, “The only war is class war,” we are agreeing to be at war with ourselves, we are agreeing that war is “necessary,” and we are agreeing with the “upper class” about reality.

Someone can be at war with you and you can still mind your own business until they take action—if they ever take action. Once they take action, you decide not only how you are going to act yourself, but also the standard of behavior you are going to reflect back to them and anyone who witnesses your interaction.

We socialize and culture each other with our beliefs, our interactions, and our responses to our circumstances.

If you don’t like how someone acts towards you, I presume you would also not like acting in the ways they acted towards you. Giving people “a taste of their own medicine” is obviously doable so long as you can also stomach their medicine. But underneath your willingness to stomach their medicine, you are forgetting who is sick.

There are infinite ways to respond to illness. When someone mistreats, abuses, or assaults us—once we’ve secured ourselves and our lives—we can announce, “I didn’t like how you/that person acted towards me and I’m no longer going to engage with people who interact with me in that way.”

The perpetrator or people in general may not listen to you, but that’s not a given and that’s not why you’re stating your position. When we learn how to socialize people in reflective, accountable, and autonomous ways from a young age, we socialize them without moving outside our integrity.

If we point out how a person is responsible for their state of being from an early age, people will take accountability for their feelings and state of being at an earlier age.

Even if some people don’t choose to take accountability for themselves ever—as we witness so many generations of humanity do—HUMANS GET TO EXIST ANYWAY. Because humans already do exist, the whole whopping spectrum of us. Existence gets to include things we don’t like or relate to even if those “things” include ourselves.

If human beings choose to hate ourselves and each other, existing is still our existential REALITY. Existence determines this ultimate reality, not human beings. That being acknowledged, we all have the freedom to suffer our existence as much as we want.

If you don’t believe that life is a human right, then you are being nihilistic and you’re critiquing Existence. Or, “Critiquing God,” as I like to say. If you think death is a punishment and that some people deserve that “punishment,” then you have been successfully indoctrinated into nihilism and the Cult of Deniability.

Life is inevitable and Death is inevitable. That’s not a punishment, it’s just our reality.

Dead people are fine. They are free from our human ideas. The living on the other hand? We have problems, perpetuate problems, and create problems.

Classism was the 1st “ism”

Classism is a philosophical and social belief system first. Those beliefs then give power to political and economic structures. If people can be “othered” in a system that encourages better treatment based on where one is in that system, it will always create an othered class.

When we justify Classism through othering, we create people who will seek a more equal level of influence than they’ve been assigned within the class system they are in. Our species tries to combat this, but humanity attempts to eradicate Classism through homogenization.

People do not need to be, look, or think the same to not be assigned an othered class. People just need to be accepted as human beings regardless of how they are, look or think.

I know it's futile to attempt to force your will onto others because I am the historical result of how unsuccessful attempting to control the existence of other people ultimately is. I'm the being, living, looking, thinking evidence of 400 years of ancestors that Existence continued to create despite human desires of oppression.

It’s a uniquely patriarchal and “Northern Hemisphere” perspective that someone needs to be likable to be worthy of the same rights as those who are better liked.

Either human beings are worthy of dignity because we exist, or we aren’t. Any exception negates the rule.

Oppression, force, exclusion, and coercion are neither sustainable nor reliable methodologies. Do you know this? Do you act like you know this? Do you conduct yourself like you actually know this? Trust this by existing in the knowing of this!

Why would anyone continue to follow the instructions of an incompetent person if they KNOW THEY ARE COMPETENT? People can instruct you in whatever way they choose. Listening is not the same as doing.

If you know better, you do better! It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. I will trust people to not participate in foolery of the highest order BECAUSE I KNOW it doesn’t actually and sustainably benefit them. What I know is inevitable, I don’t worry about happening.

Just because someone who doesn't know the difference between a competent choice and an incompetent choice tells someone else to do something doesn't mean that someone else actually has to do it.

How would an incompetent person even be able to tell if you did a competent job? THEY LEGITIMATELY DON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE! Just do a competent job and keep it pushing. An ignoramus will be none the wiser! They will just assume obedience in the absence of knowing better.

In anticipation of, and in anxiety about, human beings choosing to do their worst, people rush to dramatically sound off on how much of a self-fulfilling horror story humanity is.

That is the most shallow investigation of our story.

Unreliable narrators pick up mics or video cameras and broadcast their most dramatic and reductive predictions of humanity out to the world. Not to educate, decondition, or caution people, but out of their own projected existential dread. Scared people, scare people.

Something being possible or even likely DOES NOT MAKE IT AN INEVITABILITY. Backseat narrators chomping at the bit to tell you galvanizing tails about what "will happen" in and with the world and how it will affect you are not EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING IN THE WORLD!

We’re inundated by hot takes and reads on the nature of humanity, BUT ARE WE ALSO CHOOSING TO TALK TO PEOPLE THAT WE INTERACT WITH ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS? Are we nurturing our collective betterment? Are we neighborly? Are we kind? Are we communal? Are we getting to know our fellow human beings?

Because it's all of us who we are relying upon to make competent or incompetent choices ON THE GROUND, as a society, with each other in community, and in the trickledown of our governments. If we condemn humanity, we condemn each other; thereby revealing that we assume our worst human characteristics to be the core nature of our species.

I do not think Existence is so basic as a project.

Let's socialize each other to not be trigger-happy, trolling doomsdayists, or naysayer narrators who don't talk to the people we're talking about because we're too busy judging, avoiding, or blocking everyone who may need to witness more COMPETENCE so that they know the difference between what it is, what it looks like, and how it feels vs. what it is not?

We’re entering the Age of the Oligarchs. A time when the few will try to control the many through every division. Not trusting people, assuming everything bad you can about them just because humanity is capable of acting badly, and needing humanity to “win” or “lose” to feel justified in your beliefs does not a new world order create.

The far right isn't a united front. You know what humans are like. You are one.

Are you aligned with everyone you have ONE issue in common with? No.

Understand we are dealing with our fellow human beings. NOT boogeymen, NOT demons, and NOT horsemen of the apocalypse.

Or do you need to center those negating and othering beliefs for you to want to be the kind of human you choose to show up as?

Asking for Humanity,

Sanyu Estelle

P.S. We’ll get into the etymology of Hypocrisy and Feudalism in GATR Digest #7!