Thread by @wrong_speak

Recently, there has been quite a discussion amongst black conservatives about what black culture is and I think there are missing points to this conversation. *thread*

At the essence of this debate, we are discussing individualism versus collectivism. In regards to black people, we are discussing if black people should make being black or black culture more or less important. There are pros & cons to both.

The pro for individualism is that when the collective shifts in a direction that is unhealthy or is swayed by people who are negative, then it's easier to avoid this collective wave.

The con for individualism is that when there are efforts that really need to done on a larger community based effort, people are so separated from each other that positive progress is either slow or impossible.

The pros and cons for collectivism are the inverse as to what I stated before. What we need to understand is that we need both but we need a healthy balance between the two.

Now that we understand the two mindsets of those who are arguing, we can understand why there are disagreements. Individualists want collectivists to identify what black culture is to prove a point that it's not a real thing. Let's break this down.

What is black culture? Simply, it's anything people think it is. Does it exist? Well, people believe it does, so it does. Everyone is going to have their own interpretation of what black culture is, & this is completely normal. No culture is uniform & people don't write it down.

I will give an example. Use Germans for example. You could say there is a German culture possibly but ask a German from the north & the south if they believe in the same things, they'll likely tell you they're of different cultural beliefs. The same in America to be honest.

The point I'm making is that black culture will obviously have overlaps with other parts of American culture. Black people from different parts of the country will have slightly different variations of what black culture is.

It will never be uniform & asking for pure definitions will be impossible. The worry from individualists: If there is a solid definition of black culture & they differ from it slightly, they are concerned their identity will be attacked. Fairly enough, this happens already.

For the black conservatives who are more individualistic, they already have their blackness challenged, mainly from collectivist leftists, so they are gun-shy about collectivism, even if it's coming from the 'right'.

I think if conscious black conservatives understood this with good faith, they will understand the pushback a bit better. Now, from the perspective of conscious black conservatives, they are okay with there being a black culture & find no issue celebrating it.

It is possible to celebrate being black and not use it as a means to hate someone who is not black. I am more individualistic but I understand people wanting a culture to celebrate regardless of its basis. We are tribal creatures & we like group association, even if we think...

...we are avoiding it. As long as collectivism doesn't go in the direction of hatred, then I have zero issue with it. Now, let's get to the ultimate missing point between the two factions: Our objectives are generally the same.

Whether you're a individualist or collectivist, we want similar things. No one wants black people to stay poor, we both want families to reunify, we both want a strong culture to be proud of. We are arguing over the road to travel but we ultimately end up at the same destination.

It's great to battle ideas but we need to do it in a way that's constructive & not in bad faith. When @LeonydusJohnson talks about black on black crime, he's not doing it to chastise black people, he's doing it because he doesn't like this aspect of the culture. No one does.

At the same time, associating collectivist-minded conservatives as automatically being racist leftists is not correct either. There is a difference between being proud of your ethnic background and being a hateful separatist.

If we are going to continue these conversations & inspire change, then we should attempt it from a place of good faith. Throwing shots at each other is unproductive but if that's what you want to do, by all means, knock yourselves out.