it's impossible to "fix racism" until people stop profiting from trying to "fix racism." nobody tries to actually fix anything regarding racism, politicians etc. use it as a talking point. 99.99% of the country isn't racist and doesn't like racism and wants it gone, everyone's on board, but somehow nothing ever improves, and, in fact, it sure seems like things just get worse. profit motives need to go, no idea how to accomplish this though.
> it's impossible to "fix racism" until people stop profiting from trying to "fix racism."
Would you say that it's impossible to fix climate change until people stop profitinng from trying to fix climate change? Is it impossible to fix infant mortality while doctors profit from saving infants' lives?
There is something to what you're saying. There's a process that goes like:
1. People who dislike X want to fix X.
2. In order to put a lot of time into fixing X, they seek out work that pays them to do it.
3. In the process of that work, they build up a lot of expertise.
4. Now they have a natural incentive for X not to be fixed so that they can continue to make money from their expertise.
This is a real thing. A perverse incentive that arises basically in all cases where bad things require deep expertise to fix.
I see very little evidence that this incentive is powerful enough to dwarf the massive desire to fix X for most problems.
Most oncologists are not out there blowing cigarette smoke into people's faces to ensure their job security. Dentists are not plying kids with candy. Most people fighting against racism are not so callous as to completely undermine their own deeply held convictions just to keep themselves employed.
> in fact, it sure seems like things just get worse.
Things looking worse is often a sign of them getting better. You never saw news articles about the environment in the mid-1900s when pollution and industrialization was at its worth. It didn't become visible until people cared enough and had enough power to make it visible.
The "me too" movement isn't about sexual abuse becoming more prevalent, it's about victims finally having enough power to be able to shine a light on it. If we weren't hearing about Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Bill Cosby, that wouldn't mean they weren't still abusing. It would mean they were continuing to abuse with inpunity.
people want to fight for change, but if they got the change they wanted, then there would be nothing more to fight for. politicians and other powerful people (I realize I'm speaking very generally here) recognize this and use it to create a perpetual motion grifting machine. people enthusiastically donate money to causes and the money ends up largely going nowhere near the people it's supposed to help. we elect the First Black President of the United States of America, thinking that surely, at some point in his eight years of Presidency, he'll do something to directly help black Americans... and then nothing happens, and, well, maybe the next guy will do it. I'm 30 and I've seen this cycle repeat for at least the half of my life I've been vaguely conscious about politics. at some point we have to recognize that the politician-promised solutions that are always around the corner are not in fact ever coming, and we need to hold them thusly accountable. until then, there is no grift more personally profitable than paying lip service to the desire to fix major societal problems, then doing jack shit about them for elected term after elected term, only to go right back to the useless lip service around re-election time. we need some kind of serious political movement that holds elected officials to task for what they claim to want to accomplish. until this happens, we're going to be stuck in the same endless cycle of not-getting-shit-done forever, with people re-electing the same people over and over again solely based on how good their ideas sound when vocalized.
