Is Fighting The System The Way To Go?
Exploring the motives behind wanting to fight the system, and what an alternative to that may look like
I was scrolling through Netflix, desperately trying to find a movie to watch when I stumbled on the following category: “Fight-the-system Movies”. Huh? As I took a closer look, I spotted titles such as Erin Brockovich, 13th, Gandhi, and many other militant movies made to inspire viewers to do as the category implied: fight the system. I must’ve blankly stared at my screen for like five minutes. Now, instead of comfortably escaping reality with the help of a brainless rom-com, I was stuck with quite the conundrum: What does it mean to “fight the system”? What system are we talking about here? Why fight it? And since we are fighting them, naturally there must be a person or a group of people responsible for these systems so, who exactly are we pointing the finger at?
What Do You Mean, “Fight the System”?
I don’t mean to be flippant when I ask this question. I am completely aware of what is meant when we say fight the system. It means to dismantle or go against the oppressive structures that thrive off of keeping people down. Its cousin, “Fight the Power!” for example, is also a popular rallying cry birthed by Public Enemy in 1989 (for Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing soundtrack), to encourage young Black folks to take an active stand against anti-Black racism in America. So yes, I understand the revolutionary and emancipatory sentiment of that phrase and I am not trying to downplay its impact. The point of asking that question is to seriously ponder the implications of what it would mean to fight the system in this day and age, to consider the philosophical implications of what it would mean to fight the system in 2022. Because there is a lot to consider.
In essence, the idea of fighting the system is a noble one. It is a cry for revolution, a cry for change, the urge to do better.
The System can look different for each and every one of us, depending on what pulls at our heartstrings the most. It can be patriarchy, capitalism, White supremacy, the government, etc. If you’re all about intersectionality, you can be fighting all of these systems at the same time. For my creatives, another popular word for the System is my personal favourite: “the Industry”. Whether that be for music, cinema, fashion, beauty, etc., “the Industry” is another honorary term used to describe everything wrong with the world. Whatever it may be, we are determined to dismantle and replace these structures and organizations in order to replace them with something better.
In essence, the idea of fighting the system is a noble one. It is a cry for revolution, a cry for change, the urge to do better. I would even say that without that idea, we wouldn’t move forward. It is important to continue to strive for more for ourselves, each other, for the world we live in. So again: in essence, nothing wrong. But let’s take it a step further.
The Motive
The sentiment behind the phrase Fight the System, in 2022, I think is far too tainted with a sort of disdain for a historical past, a White capitalist patriarchal past, from which our current social circumstances supposedly derive. So, the structures that we have come up with to organize our lives are deemed to be inherently bad because they are believed to only benefit a minority of people, and control the rest. The idea that we must fight the system stems from the presupposition that we are under its iron fist, we are its subjects, its pawns, hence why we must break free from it.
That view only holds so long as you perceive yourself as a victim. Because perceiving yourself as a victim will make you see a system.
However, the general idea that we are prisoners who must break free from the “capitalistic-patriarchal legacies of Whiteness” to me, seems to be a consequence of two things: viewing the world from a deterministic point of view, and misunderstanding history to be the sequence of the privileged dominating the rest (a sentiment echoed in the Marxist view of history). Adopting such viewpoints would imply that there is no room for agency, the individual is crushed by top-down relations in which external forces have all the power, and society is predicated upon class/race/gender struggles.
But here’s the catch: that view only holds so long as you perceive yourself as a victim. Because perceiving yourself as a victim will make you see a system. The kind of victim I’m talking about here is a very specific kind: I’m talking about the Noble Victim1. The Noble Victim has a very interesting profile, so let me paint a picture. Naturally, they operate from the framework described above, which encourages them to perceive themselves as the opposite of privileged whatever that may be (rich/White/male, etc.). As much as they claim the contrary, they seem to understand class/race/gender in strict black and white terms (pardon the pun). Either you are with them, or against them. Consequently, the Noble Victim stakes claim to moral high ground and thus believes they are “fighting the good fight”, being the victim naturally makes them the most virtuous. Anything that goes against what they think is right, is automatically wrong and must be destroyed — or fought. …Picking up what I’m putting down?
The Alternative
The Who? What? Why? is clear if you are operating within the framework described above — which is the case for the majority of people nowadays. But if you don’t identify with that way of thinking, these questions have yet to be answered. I want to offer a solution to that. Let’s continue to use the Noble Victim as our reference point. The alternative (or direct opposite; that way, we can consider these two archetypes as being two ends of a spectrum along which one can move along) to that would be what I would call the Empowered Realist2 (™). For them, what matters most is personal agency, an open mind, and critical thought. But mainly, personal agency is number one. Because when you start off by firmly believing that you — and only you — have the power to determine your own condition, you become unshakeable. Navigating life from an Empowered Realist standpoint means you are able to form a healthy detachment between who you truly are and who you are socially or politically. Rather, your individuality/humanity overrides whatever your social/political identity may be.
The Empowered Realist doesn’t condemn the past but rather accepts it for what it is and doesn’t hold any grudges against its legacies such as institutions and systems. Instead of fighting the System, they are more interested in creating new ones that build off of the old ones.
Unlike the Noble Victim, the Empowered Realist doesn’t resent the past for having (supposedly/allegedly) created stifling categories of class/race/gender because the Empowered Realist perceives the world beyond these terms. Unlike the Noble Victim, the Empowered Realist is capable of avoiding an “everything is happening to me” mentality and thus doesn’t carry themselves with an air of entitlement and judgement that noble victimhood breeds. The Empowered Realist doesn’t condemn the past but rather accepts it for what it is and doesn’t hold any grudges against its legacies such as institutions and systems. Instead of fighting the System, they are more interested in creating new ones that build off of the old ones. There is space for nuance, space for more than one truth to exist. The Empowered Realist is capable of considering that although a system can be outdated, it can also have some benefits that need not be discarded. And when it comes to differentiating between the Noble Victim and the Empowered Realist, that is the key. Fighting the system for the Empowered Realist becomes a non-issue because they understand that although the System may need tweaking, fighting it is not the answer. Learning from it is, and through these lessons, new Systems can be born.
Final Thoughts…
It is easy to get swept away by the emancipatory sentiment that the exclamation “fight the system!” is charged with. It has become symbolic in its own right and as mentioned earlier, has some merit to it. Yet beyond that, it is important to remember that fighting the system is no small feat. Remembering that we have the power to fight the institutions and structures that be is of the utmost importance; keeping these systems in check is essential and we should never stop doing that. But focusing one’s energy on constantly fighting instead of accepting and innovating seems counterproductive. It’s like fighting one’s shadow. By peeling back the curtain, we can better examine the motive behind fighting the system and explore its alternative(s). Reconnecting with our personal agency allows us to reconsider the implications of fighting the system, and realize that what we resist persists.
Food For Thought:
Would love to hear your thoughts!
The idea of the “Noble Victim” has been eloquently developed by John McWhorter, Shelby Steele, and Jordan Peterson; not a term I coined!
The concept of “Empowered Realism” is my own personal invention, and I will be developing it in a separate article at a later date.