On Hoarding
The shortages are stressful. Hoarding isn’t the source of all the shortages, but they remind me of hoarding. And hoarding can be inhumane, especially during a pandemic.
I’m not necessarily referring to what’s called a hoarding disorder or compulsive hoarding. I’m referring to the everyday definition of hoarding—accumulation.
I also find the etymology insightful:
Hoard: “to treasure up, collect, and store; amass and deposit for preservation or security or for future use.”
Hoarding: “the act of getting and storing up.”
You already know where I’m going with this: Whiteness is hoarding. I think its origins are in hoarding; I think its motive is to hoard, and I think it is hoarding. I’m not saying that whiteness is worth hoarding. I’m saying whiteness hoards and whiteness is hoarding.
If so, based on the etymology of hoarding, whiteness is “the act of getting and storing up.” I think that’s true. And this “getting and storing up” has a purpose—it’s for “preservation or security or for future use.”
The word “preservation” points to the motive and the method. Whiteness is fragile, and the “preservation” of whiteness comes from its hoarding, and so long as whiteness can hoard, its future use is secure.
Polls show that whites—everyday whites, elite whites, and whites in organized hate groups—are paranoid about the future and their numbers dwindling. A lot of whiteness today (hoarding) is for the future.
I believe neither billionaires nor whiteness should exist. People and pundits talk about billionaires as hoarders. But I don't think people talk enough about whiteness as hoarding. Hoarding is the theme in my two recent pieces below.
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Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
Democrats, Don’t Nominate White Men After Joe Biden
This piece is open to patrons and paid subscribers. I worked on this piece most of last week before Obama and Warren endorsed Biden. Their endorsements were a confirmation to me that this piece needs to go out. The title says it all. And politics is another way that whiteness hoards.
Links:
1. Washington Post-Ipsos poll of Black Americans, Jan 2-8 (poll)
2. “How to Be an Antiracist” (book)
3. Who Leads Us (website)
4. “Elite White Men Ruling” (book)
Here’s the quote in the piece that still has me thinking:
Whiteness Is the Hoarding America Needs to Stop
This piece is open to everyone. I build on the argument that whiteness is hoarding, and the government needs to take action.
Links:
1. How the Business of Whiteness Is the Ultimate Antitrust Violation (essay)
2. Whiteness As Property (paper)
3. Justice Department will send seized medical supplies to New York, New Jersey (article)
4. Cartel (definition)
Here’s the quote that inspired the piece: