America Was Never Great, It Was Rich, and it Got Rich Through Genocide and Slavery

Help me keep saying the thing that need to be said. I appreciate you! Upgrade at 30% off!Hello Friends,People can be blind to the fact that they're in an abusive relationship. I know this from experience because I was born into one. My father was extremely abusive, but I didn't have the context to even recognize inappropriate treatment.So what happens?It's sad to say, but you make the best of your situation. I'm like most kids of my generation. There would be days when my dad came home and he was nice and we could hang out. There were other days that he came home in a rage and you had to stay out of his way. If, for whatever reason, he fixated on you, you had to weather the storm.He'd scream. He'd humiliate me. He sometimes became physically violent. I was a kid, so I had no alternative but to wait it out.I have many memories of my dad exploding, and in those moments I thought he hated me. It was painful to go through my day knowing my dad was furious. So, I'd try to approach him later and smooth it over.He never apologized or talked to me or anything like that. I knew that was too much to ask for. Instead, I'd wait for him to make some kind of gesture that I could choose to interpret as a sign of affection. For example, he'd allow me to sit in the living room with him again. That meant we were good.Of course, reflecting on this as an adult makes me sad. I look at it now and see that he made no gesture. He just stewed in his rage. He cared nothing about me. But I had no power. I had no way of providing for myself, so I had to take what I could get. I was in survival mode.When he finally left the family, it took me a long time to get to a place of mental health. I'd spent all my life waiting for the blows to come. If you walk around defensive and emotionally cringing all the time, you drive decent relationships away. It took me decades to make the transition to a normal state of mind.Upon reflection, the strangest part is that I might never have started that journey if he hadn't left. That was the moment of catalyst that awakened me to the reality that life could be a whole lot better.As I look around the United States, I feel as if our nation has entered a moment of collective awakening. We've realized that much of our cultural ideology is not sustainable. We've all been indoctrinated to make excuses for our abusers, but the spell has been broken. The illusion isn't working for us any more.In my own personal development, it took me decades of exploration to rebuild my own psyche. I think the process took so long because I did it alone. I went to college and sought out new father figures in the form of my professors. Some of them became close friends, even if the relationship wasn't particularly healthy.None of my relationships were healthy back then. Not my friendships, not my romances, not my relationships with my family. But little by little, they started to get better. I didn't need perfection, I sought out improvement. I tried new things. I treated people in ways that I'd never been treated.To be honest, I didn't start to feel good until I was around 30. That was about 10 years after my dad left. He still tried to subject me to his programming through emails, but I think I've only been in his physical presence a couple times since he left the family.It took a decade to be able perceive all the things that were wrong because I had to seek out different experiences.This is what the United States of America currently faces.We've all been pacified and manipulated with stories of our greatness. It's intoxicating to indulge in patriotism. We look at carefully selected events and we perceive an idealized representation of what our nation has meant to human history.The crimes and tragedies that contradict our mythology are censored, denied, and met with hostility.I've been through this before. Growing up, I sent my mind away when my dad abused or humiliated me. I pretended it didn't happen. I pretended the horrible moments weren't the “real” moments and I placed them in a part of my brain that was sealed away.But they did happen, just like the transgressions of our nation.We like to look at the United States and perceive great wealth. The corruption of Christianity known as the Prosperity Gospel indoctrinates our nation to believe “God is on our side” because we've accumulated so much wealth.When we study history, we leave out the part that the American continent was rich in natural resources. We like to give ourselves a pat on the back for creating a government that thrived, but the fact is that there was so much wealth laying on the ground that any system would have functioned here.The first thing our forefathers did was commit genocide. Then they moved on to building their own wealth by stealing the labor of human slaves.You might recoil at the idea of describing the history of our country that way, but it's truth. Americans are so brainwashed that they will tell you vague generalities like, “People always abuse each other,” or “Racism has always existed,” without ever recognizing they're repeating indoctrinated lies designed to prevent them from perceiving the truth.It's difficult to make progress towards understanding. When you try to have honest conversations, cognitive dissonance rises up and blocks the effort.I know that feeling too. If a kind soul had tried to tell me when I was 10 that my dad was abusive, I would have gotten angry.“He is not! He loves me! How dare you say that!”But that response was a consequence of survival mode. Were they going to take me from the house? Were they going to protect me? Or were they going to leave me in an abusive situation robbed of the delusion that enabled my survival?“I'm not going to do anything for you, I just want you to know that you're being abused the next time the abuse happens.”How is that better?The awakening happens when a line is finally crossed. It's easier to go through life pacified by the false comfort of your denials. But we have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. The unconscious mind will not let you die. If your delusion leads you to the precipice of destruction, the unconscious mind takes over and forces a change.You feel it. It's like a membrane snaps in your mind and then everything looks different. Those of you who have experienced this will know.Essentially, this is what happens when the floor is taken away from beneath your feet. When your world is destroyed and you're disoriented, you don't know how to look at your reality in a way that supports your delusion. The facts slip through, and your inquisitive mind sets to work to construct a new perception of reality.We're at the point in our history where the floor has been taken away.Since November 5th, we've been spinning. There are many people in our society who perceived the reality of our country before then. My wife, who is an immigrant, was not at all surprised by the result of the election. That result conformed with the mistreatment she's received since she got here.She was living in reality.I was trotting around with my head in the clouds like an abused kid who couldn't face the reality of what was being done to him.But I know now.The Black community has always known this country is abusive, so have Native Americans, the LGBTQ+ community, the Spanish speaking community, women, and many others.All the innocent, hardworking people who have had their labor, wealth, land, identities, and lives taken in order to fulfill the twisted delusions of entitled white supremacists have always known. There have always been many people in our society who were awakened to the crimes of this nation.The only thing different now is that there are many more who have awakened. It's up to those that see to help lead the blind. We have to talk about the crimes. We have to hold the transgressors accountable. We have to make amends for the stolen land, labor, and life that created the illusion of superiority.This nation has never been great. It has only created an illusion of greatness to cover up an even greater crime. Thus is the nature of all wealth. Consolidation of power is oppression. Distribution of power is prosperity.One thing I know to be true is that those that have seen the truth will never go back. What once was a matter of survival is something that you'll never submit to again.Some people fear it's too late to fight.They're wrong.What does that even mean? Are we going to give up on our convictions and allow evil men to have their way with the innocent?For me, the greatest test came when I became a father. When I had children of my own, I knew I couldn't subject them to the things I'd endured. I don't raise my hand against them. I don't scream at them. I can't go back.Now it falls to me to ensure my nation cannot abuse them either. That will be my fight until the end of my days. I give no consideration to any option other than victory.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe