Innate Traits Are Neither an Achievement nor a Stain

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As a proud white heterosexual man, I proudly present the latest ruminations of my immensely fertile brain.

The above sentence is a joke, of course, but only partially so. I’m not a proud white heterosexual man. Pride is the offspring of achievement. I didn’t do anything to achieve my white heterosexual male status. Those are just the traits I was born with. I am proud, however, of my ability to compose a bevy of sentences that are grammatically correct and cogent. I wasn’t born with that ability. And if you saw my verbal SAT score, and weren’t acquainted with this blog, you would reasonably conclude that that ability would be forever beyond my grasp. But well into adulthood, I decided to address my poor writing skills, and I’m very pleased with my progress. Going from a semi-literate scribbler to a renowned blogger who delights his followers with exquisite prose is quite an achievement.

Pride and Prejudice and Traits

Unsurprisingly, our woke overlords have a different understanding of pride. Pride, in their minds, has little to do with your actions—with successfully doing something that is praiseworthy and hard. Pride is mainly the offspring of your innate traits (i.e., the accident of your birth). If you were born with the “right” skin color, ethnicity, genitals, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or susceptibility to group-think, you’re awesome and you should be beaming with “pride.” If you were born with the “wrong” skin color, ethnicity, genitals, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or susceptibility to group-think, you’re not so awesome and you should be cowering in “shame.”

Now a question: who do you suppose our woke overlords regard as having the “right” innate traits, and who do you suppose our woke overlords regard as having the “wrong” innate traits? If you answered those with the “right” innate traits are those who our woke overlords like (i.e., blacks, Hispanics, women, gays, those born poor, and non-binary people) and those with the “wrong” innate traits are those who our woke overlords dislike (i.e., whites, men, heterosexuals, those born rich, and binary people), go straight to the head of the class.

Beware Fake Pride and Fake Shame

Here’s an experiment: write down five things you’re proud of. For me, doing this experiment resulted in the following:

1. I’m a good husband, son, brother, uncle, friend, and neighbor.
2. I’m a good steward of money.
3. I invented alternate-month street sweeping for the highway department that once employed me and it dramatically improved the quality of the sweeping service the taxpayers received.
4. I had a post that was picked up by Market Watch and featured on the home page of Real Clear Markets.
   
5. I welded a life-sized bison out of rebar, cold-rolled steel, and discarded fasteners, hand tools, and eating utensils.
   

Notice how none of the things I’m proud of pertain to my innate traits? If your primary accomplishments in life are the traits you were born with, you’re doing something wrong. You’re wasting your life.

Now let’s flip the experiment. Write down five things you’re ashamed of. Here are my five things:

1. I was a total bum during my first round of college. I got accepted to a fine engineering school (Buffalo University), and rather than challenge myself and pursue an engineering degree, I capitulated to my basest desires and majored in sociology. It was far easier to drink, sleep, carouse, and skirt academic probation with a fluff major than with a hard major.
2. For the first half of my public service career, I did little to make the taxpayers proud. Rather than do my best and provide the taxpayers with excellent service, I happily conformed to the pitiful norms of my workplace: two hours of moderately conscientious labor for every eight hours of pay.
3. Between the ages of 16 and 30, I drank way too much. And sadly, this outrage was accompanied way too often by an infinitely greater outrage: drunk driving.
4. I didn’t learn the fundamentals of personal finance until I was in my 40s. Young Mr. Groovy not only made life harder than necessary for himself but also made life harder than necessary for future Mr. Groovy.
5. I wasn’t a player by any means in my bachelor days, but I was reckless with a few hearts—especially when I was under 25. I wish I could tell those sweet girls, who are now on the cusp of 60, how sorry I am for my caddish behavior.

Again, notice how none of the things I’m ashamed of pertain to my innate traits? If you’re ashamed of yourself because someone with your skin color or genitals did something cruel last month or last century, you’re a patsy. Our woke overlords aren’t sowing trait-based shame in the hearts of the people they don’t like because they want to make those benighted souls better people. They’re doing it because they know that those who internalize trait-based shame are psychologically neutered and unable to stand up for themselves. In other words, our woke overlords sow shame in the people they don’t like because they want those benighted souls to happily accept second-class citizenship—to willingly vote for a regime of Woke Crow that will not only visit unequal treatment upon the most consequential aspects of their lives but will also visit unequal treatment upon the most consequential aspects of their children’s lives.

Final Thoughts

Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. What say you? I believe trait-based pride and shame are a diabolical ploy—something concocted by our woke overlords to advance socialism and make sure the people they don’t like are under the thumb of the people they do like. But maybe I’m nuts? Maybe pride and shame should be unrelated to your actions? Maybe pride and shame should be something you inherit at birth and follows you to your grave? Let me know what you think when you get a chance. Peace.