I grew up in traditional black patriarchal culture and there is no doubt that I’m going to take a great many unconscious, but present, patriarchal complicities to the grave because it so deeply ensconced in how I look at the world. Therefore, very much like alcoholism, drug addiction, or racism patriarchy is a disease and we are in perennial recovery and relapse. So you have to get up every morning and struggle against it.
Interpretation
Patriarchy is a deeply ingrained issue that requires constant effort to overcome.
In this quote, Cornel West asserts that patriarchy is akin to a pervasive disease that affects one's worldview and needs continual vigilance and effort to confront and overcome. He draws parallels to addiction, emphasizing that just as individuals in recovery must grapple with their challenges daily, so too must society actively resist and dismantle patriarchal norms ingrained in culture.
In practice
In a discussion about gender equality, this quote can emphasize the importance of recognizing and challenging ingrained societal norms.
King's response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.
You've got to love yourself enough, not only so that others will be able to love you, but that you'll be able to love others.
Profound music leads us beyond language...to the dark roots of our scream and the celestial heights of our silence.
And when I talk about love, I'm talking about something that's great, though, brother. I'm talking about something that will sustain you.
Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists.
I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'
The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.
There has never been an 'original' sin: each is quite banal.
If princes and kings could follow it (Tao), all things would by themselves abide, Heaven and Earth would unite and sweet dew would fall. People would by themselves find harmony, without being commanded.
I'm an atheist. But I absolutely love religions and the rituals. Even though I don't believe in God. We celebrate pretty much every religion in our family with the kids. They love it, and when they say, 'Are we Jewish?' or 'Are we Catholic?' I say, 'Well, I'm not, but you can choose when you're 18. But isn't this fun that we do seders and the Advent calendar?'
Everything is full and pure at its source and precisely there, not outside.
People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.