Welcome to F**k Em’ Fridays, where every Friday, I attempt to cut through the noise and write about a few things that I learned the past week that have left a meaningful impact. When you’re trying to make your mark in a world full of noise, sometimes, you gotta say F**k Em’:

White Guilt

Let me start this off by saying that I am open to the concept of reparations.

If a group of people, like black people, was largely cut off from acquiring wealth over generations, it seems reasonable to attempt to repair that imbalance of wealth through financial means. How to carry out those reparations in a way that would most benefit black people and that would be fair to other groups of people is an entirely separate conversation.

What I want to talk about is a new, confusing concept I was introduced to recently: White people alive in 2021 taking responsibility for slavery, a practice introduced to America over 400 years prior.

Here’s an excerpt from an article published in Forbes:

Many argue that the time for reparations is past due, and that present-day citizens should not be responsible for paying America’s past debts. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, especially for white Americans who don’t fully grasp the full benefit and privileges they have received. By having a national conversation about reparations, and by ultimately paying them, the United States can right a historic wrong while building a stronger and more equitable future. That shouldn’t be something only advocated by Black Americans —it is time for white Americans to join the call as well.

I agree with the author of this article as far as reparations being something we should strongly consider. Where we differ is why. I, in no way, hold myself “responsible for paying America’s past debts.”

Let’s break that down for a second.

As an individual, I am being asked to take ownership over the actions of other people who lived hundreds of years before me. Actually, it’s thousands. Evidence shows that most non-hunter gatherer civilizations had some form of slavery dating back to 3500 BC.

So, some guy settled down, grew some crops, did work around the house, and said to himself: “I don’t really feel like doing all of this work myself, and I don’t have money to pay someone to do it. Let me force someone to do it.”

Then that caught on, people realized the potential of human value extraction in the form of slavery, built pyramids and entire cities on the backs of slaves, and Voilà! Slavery became a mainstay in humanity.

I’m simplifying of course.

But imagine that.

Some guy thousands of years ago decided to force someone to work, that evolved into various slave trades around the world, eventually lead to Africa which leads to slaves in America, and I’m a white baby that pops out of the womb in 1993 anointed with the debt of Western Slave Trade with ties all the way back to Hector in 3000 BC Mesopotamia! (If your name is Hector, I’m sorry, you’re now the genesis of all of slavery).

I do enough fucked up shit in my own life that I need to take ownership of before I even think about taking ownership over the most profitable and fucked up trade ever to exist!

Actually, fuck it.

I’ll take credit for slavery.

And while we’re taking responsibility for trades that people invented thousands of years before we were born, why stop at negative trades like slavery?

You can’t ask me to take responsibility for only the negative things White people did.

That’s not how responsibility works.

When you take responsibility for actions, in this case, the actions of every white person ever to exist, you accept the repercussions of those actions whether they have negative or positive outcomes.

That’s extreme ownership babayy!!

Give me all of it.

You don’t get to pick and choose.

So, put the entire slave trade on my tab for $1,000,000 per month for the rest of my life.

That’s right, a milli.

I’m responsible for slavery and the trading of slaves of every white person who came before me.

BUT, I’m also taking credit for:

The soft beverages trade (invented by a white guy) - $1,000,000 per month paid to me
Software trade (you guessed it, another white guy) - $10,000,000 per month paid to me
Apple (Thanks Steve!) - $100,000,000 per month paid to me
And the semi-conductor trade (another whitey, put it on the books!!) - $1 billion per month paid to me!!

Wow!

I actually need to thank the people who believe it’s my responsibility as a white person to take responsibility for the actions of all white people who ever existed.

I never knew that reparations could make White people so much money!

While I owe a million dollars per month slavery, I’m owed over $1.1 billion per month for the other trades that White people started.

That’s insane! Show me the money!

If you’ve read this far, of course, you know I’m joking.

I wanted to make the point that if you’re going to ask every white person in America to take responsibility for their white ancestors, it’s ALL or NOTHING.

Built into the definition of “taking responsibility” is that you don’t get to pick and choose which actions you become responsible for.

I accept the outcome of all of my actions and actively take responsibility for them, positive and negative.

Every podcast, argument, interaction, that’s on me. So if you’re going to ask white people to “take responsibility for slavery,” think about the hypocrisy of that statement before you mindlessly espouse it on Twitter.

To be clear: I am open to reparations, not because I’m taking responsibility for my white ancestors, but because it seems like the right thing to do and would make the world a better place.

If my time, money, and energy go towards a historically disenfranchised group to help them flourish and to have access to similar opportunities that have allowed me to flourish, I’m all for it.

And it doesn’t need to be tied to slavery for me to want to do it.

Stop trying to guilt-trip me into lashing myself and bowing before you.

I’m a king and I serve others like a fucking king.

That means being proud of who the fuck I am, helping other people gain access to opportunities I’ve been afforded, and apologizing for the things that I do wrong.

Not others.

Not my ancestors.

Me, motherfucker.

And any person with self-respect knows that the roots of slavery run much deeper than a white hipster tweeting “I’m sorry for slavery” from a coffee shop while he’s wearing a beanie made from child labor.

Who the fuck do you think you are believing that you could possibly bear the burden of what the people went through who came before you? Especially slaves.

I’d bet every person who tweets out that “white people need to take responsibility for slavery” are the same people who don’t take responsibility for treating people like shit in 2021.

But, I digress.

For reparations, of course, I’d need to thoroughly examine the specific plan and how it’s being implemented, but in theory, reparations sound like something that could be a net positive for all people, not just black people.

That is what I’m saying.

So, if you want to have an honest, open conversation about reparations and racism, please reach out.

If you want to attack me for not taking responsibility for all white people, kindly, go fuck yourself;)

Are Smart Phones The Source Of Anti-Social Behavior?

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This past weekend, I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. It’s a great insight into the genius and tragedy of Vincent Van Gogh, and I highly recommend walking through the exhibit.

One of the paintings by Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters (pictured above), particularly stood out to me. At first glance, I saw what looked like a hard working, peasant family covered in the day’s filth trying to enjoy dinner and conversation. Then, I looked a bit closer.

No one in the painting is actually looking at each other.

There’s a guy passing coffee to his wife who is looking at the cup of coffee she is pouring. Then, you have another women looking at her husband who is either staring off into the distance or staring at the other wife. Finally, you have the girl with her head pointing down looking at the food.

It’s hard to imagine Van Gogh spending dozens of hours on a painting and not being intentional about the eye direction. I have no idea what was going though his head at the time of painting so I can only guess that he wanted to convey a sense of disconnection.

Was this something Van Gogh noticed in his own family?

When he went out to dinner with friends?

The entire family sitting down for dinner, one of the most social parts of the day, and he chose to paint the moment when none of them were making eye contact.

Which begs the question: Did smart phones create a spike in anti-social behavior? Or was this type of behavior always present at the level it presents today, and phones are just another outlet for it?

All the time, I hear:

Phones are bad!

Screens are the devil!

Delete all social media!

I’ve even been guilty of saying these things myself without looking deeply into the science.

Are phones really the reason for distraction? Or are they the scapegoat?

Is it really us?

If we took away all the smart phones, tablets, and laptops from the world today, would we all of a sudden become more curious about our neighbors?

Or would we just be a phoneless society looking for other distractions and ways to avoid making social connections?

Oh look! Coffee’s ready, gotta go!

Shit I hate parties, let me pretend to be fascinated by this painting any time someone comes up to talk to me for the next 2 hours.

What’d you say? I can’t hear you over the sound of my water running!

Maybe we give phones too much credit for the onslaught of anti-social, anxiety related problems that we constantly hear about in the media.

Maybe phones and social media didn’t create anything. We had this beast in us and Instagram awoke it, fed it, and grew it.

I actually do a lot to limit my phone and app use, and I’m not suggesting that these two technologies are completely blameless.

What I’m saying is that they aren’t the only ones to blame. Limiting phone usage is one tool to cultivate more connection. When you put down that phone, delete that app, or close the laptop, you still have to be willing to engage in human to human interaction.

That takes strength, curiosity, and a willingness to experience slight discomfort. Limiting phone use can open the door to that, but only you can walk through.

So, next time you yell at your friend or kid for being on their phone too much, ask yourself: How many social interactions have I had this week? Or month? Or year? Has your lack of phone use allowed you to live a more fulfilling and connected life, or are you simply finding less technological ways of feeding the beast of distraction?

The Potato Eaters came way before smart phones and I’d describe that snapshot as anything but social.

I’m still going to keep my phone use at relatively low levels (4 hours or less per day, on average), and I’m also going to ask myself more: What now? I’ve put my phone away, what’s the best way I can connect with another beating heart or fall deeply into my work?

I’m not a scientist. I haven’t studied screen usage or social media usage in a lab environment. If you’re interest in the science behind things like screen use, check out Dr. Andrew Huberman.

I’m simply a podcaster sharing his thoughts on a painting.

Cheers,

Zach