Thread by @MongoSlade8

The problem with pan-Africanism is Africans aren't pan-African.
Africans are tribal.
They'll admit this, and don't care. You see it in their actions, too. Because they have a real identity. Some Blacks in the West are cosplay Africans. Its not cool. (1)

Some people have taken the concept of "knowledge of self" to mean knowledge of racial consciousness. I disagree. I take it literally, know who YOU are and then you can find out where you fit in the various competing groups on the world. (2)

Identity doesn't come from books. It comes from experiences. You learn the measure of your character from the decisions you make. Too many people don't see things this way.
Our society (western society) separated from large scale groupings over 100 years ago. (3)

The West posits a society where you are an adult based not on biology, or when society says you're ready to be, but because you've lived to an arbitrarily set age (usually 18).
Other societies require rights of passage. A proof of your ability to be responsible (4)

All the African socities I've studied had rights of passage. Boys were considered men at 14, they were forged through trials to be the men society needed (women had a separate trial). This wasn't always healthy, there was what we considered abuse, but it meant something (5)

When you had passed through your trial you had gained respect. Not just from your peer group but from your elders, too. You were now one of them and all the respect and responsibility due an adult was heaped on you.
Its unthinkable here in the U.S. even though Jews do it (6)

In the States, we perverted the right of passage. Gangs have initiations, so do fraternities and the military but nothing for civil society. Our kids are aimless, searching for identity among people (ususlly peers) who don't know who they are, either. (7)

So Knowledge of Self isn't race conscious to me. Its self-conscious. Too many people are looking to join groups to feel included or like they're apart of something big because they can't handle being an individual in this world. (8)

I get it. Humans are social animals, we need a tribe/group but we need a group that we choose to join because that's where we fit as an individual. There's no rights of passage to forge us into what the tribe wants, so we have to choose. (9)

"Blackness," as a political concept, has to be chosen. Chimamanda Ngozi CHOSE to identify as "Black" in U.S. and had to "learn" what it meant. Just like she had to learn "feminism." Is she cosplaying? In a way, yes. She wants to ingratiate herself to American audiences. (10)

Here's why its so important to Know Thyself as an individual, NOT as a race conscious concept:
Because it makes you impervious to cancel culture.

Cancel culture PREYS on your desire to belong. It weaponizes your attachment against you. (11)

Using Kanye for example: he spent years identifying one way politically, when he grew personally -- as a free thinking individual -- he was cast out of the group.
He was shunned, mocked, derided and his skin is the same color its always been. "Blackness" is political (12)

Leftists say race is a social construct, that's what they mean. They mean they have defined what "Black" means and you only get to be in the club if they like you. If you play the role they've decided you can play. And yea, the Right has a stereotype for you, too. (13)

Cosplay Africans are usually doing it wrong but they're harmless...until you don't meet their standard of "Blackness" then they, too, dehumanize and shame you.
Everyone has their own idea of what you're supposed to be -- but their ideas don't matter. Who do YOU want to be? (14)

What do you care about?
What/Who do you love?
What do you believe?
What are your hobbies?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What experiences do you draw on?
What do you want out of life?

All this makes you who you are.
It makes you a real person. (15)

Only after you've really mined your own thoughts on these subjects, found the answers can you approach any group and want membership. Only then are you of any use to them, or they to you.

But know yourself inside and out. (16)

Growth is important. Anything that's not growing is dying, and you need space to grow. Some of these groups are smothering, all encompassing, watching your every move and listening to your every word to make sure you stay on code -- fuck them.
Do you. Find you. (17)

I know it seems like I'm teetering on the LGBT+ logic but I'll say this:
They're right about one thing. There is no right or wrong way to be a man or woman. Biology is what it is. Can't change or deny that. But the Self is important, too.
(18)

This is just the libertarian streak in me. I don't believe in promoting or supporting gender confusion, or racial/ethnic confusion, those are harmful concepts. Globohomo socialism is naive and cringy as fuck. But I don't care what people do. (19)

A man in a dress or heels just means to me that he's not in my tribe. I don't associate with that shit. But he's still a man.
We have that in common, being in the universal human brotherhood of adult males but that's all. (20)

That's my attitude about Africans, too. We're related, for sure, but I'm me and they're them. We have commonalities but are more different than we are alike, which is healthy and understood. We can be allies, friends, countrymen, brothers but we can't be the same. (21)

Africans are African. They're familial, tribal, national first. They don't look to skin deep kinship. So why should I? Why should anyone?
Asians don't.
Whites don't.
Arabs don't.
Indians don't.
Indigenous people don't.

Blood, soil, values are some recurring social glues (22)

Being born/living somewhere
Being related to someone else
Believing in something
All routinely trump having similar skin color or even body parts.

We're tribal buts values which makes the tribe.

Thanks for coming to my Mongo Talk.

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