論工業社會及其未來-29

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Here is an illustration of the way in which the oversocialized leftist shows his real attachment to the conventional attitudes of our society while pretending to be in rebellion against it. Many leftists push for affirmative action, for moving black people into high-prestige jobs, for improved education in black schools and more money for such schools; the way of life of the black “underclass” they regard as a social disgrace. They want to integrate the black man into the system, make him a business executive, a lawyer, a scientist just like upper-middle-class white people. The leftists will reply that the last thing they want is to make the black man into a copy of the white man; instead, they want to preserve African American culture. But in what does this preservation of African American culture consist? It can hardly consist in anything more than eating black-style food, listening to black-style music, wearing black-style clothing and going to a black- style church or mosque. In other words, it can express itself only in superficial matters. In all ESSENTIAL respects most leftists of the oversocialized type want to make the black man conform to white, middle-class ideals. They want to make him study technical subjects, become an executive or a scientist, spend his life climbing the status ladder to prove that black people are as good as white. They want to make black fathers “responsible,” they want black gangs to become nonviolent, etc. But these are exactly the values of the industrial-technological system. The system couldn’t care less what kind of music a man listens to, what kind of clothes he wears or what religion he believes in as long as he studies in school, holds a respectable job, climbs the status ladder, is a “responsible” parent, is nonviolent and so forth. In effect, however much he may deny it, the oversocialized leftist wants to integrate the black man into the system and make him adopt its values.

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這裡來展示一下過度社會化的左派對於我們社會傳統觀念實質依賴的同時又要假裝對其反抗的樣子。許多左派推動積極平權運動，支持讓黑人從事高聲望的工作，支持改善黑人學校的教育以及提升經費；他們認為黑人「下層階級」的生活方式是社會的恥辱。他們希望將黑人整合到系統中，使他變成企業主管、律師、科學家，就像中上階層的白人一樣。左派會說他們最不想做的事就是將黑人變成白人的翻版；相反地，他們想要保存非裔美洲人的文化。但是保存非裔美洲人的文化是什麼呢？不過是吃黑人風格的食物，聽黑人風格的音樂，穿黑人風格的衣服，和去黑人風格的教堂或清真寺。換句話說，它只能在膚淺的事物中表現自己。在所有重要的層面上大多過度社會化的左派想要讓黑人和白人中產階級的理想相符。他們想要讓他學習技術學科，變成行政主管或科學家，花費一生在社會階梯向上爬以證明黑人和白人一樣優秀。他們想讓黑人父親們「負責任」，他們想要黑人幫派放棄暴力等等。但這些正是工業-科技體系的價值。這個系統才不在乎一個人聽什麼音樂、穿什麼衣服或相信什麼宗教，只要他去學校學習，有像樣的工作，攀爬社會階梯，是一個「負責任」的家長，不訴諸暴力等等。事實上，不論過度社會化的左派如何否認，他們想要將黑人整合到系統中並讓他接受系統的價值。