What even are bootstraps? I’ll keep this brief. I’m particularly fond of this tidy explainer from Etymonline, a language etymology website:
bootstrap (n.)
also boot-strap, tab or loop at the back of the top of a men’s boot, which the wearer hooked a finger through to pull the boots on, 1870, from boot (n.1) + strap (n.).
To pull (oneself) up by (one’s) bootstraps, by 1871, was used figuratively of an impossible task (among the “practical questions” at the end of chapter one of Steele’s “Popular Physics” schoolbook (1888) is, “30. Why can not a man lift himself by pulling up on his boot-straps?”). But it also is used to suggest “better oneself by rigorous, unaided effort.” The meaning “fixed sequence of instructions to load the operating system of a computer” (1953) is from the notion of the first-loaded program pulling itself (and the rest) up by the bootstrap. It was used earlier of electrical circuits (1946).
Yes, I’m fully aware of the context. The turn of phrase is meant to be a compact epithet that can be tossed at will towards those the tosser casts at persons asking for assistance with getting life off the ground. The Tosser will claim, with wide sweeping motions of their arms, that America is the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave and that all are equal.
NAY, they crow, if you are not a success then you have not engaged in sufficient effort and/or sacrifice. The opportunities are all around us! All you need do is stretch out your hand (and give all of yourself to Capitalism) and take it for yourself. Grab, grab, grab that bootstrap and PULL, and you too can join the ranks of the American Elite!
Or something to that effect…
Of course, we’re not stupid, the 99%. We know that’s an open lie. The only equality in America is for the 1% and those whose performative sycophancy allows them to remain in the Amerigarchy’s good graces… at least until they are no longer useful. How many “bodies” has Donny J. left in his wake? There are so many names you could use them for several rounds of Indictment Bingo.
The reality is that there are roadblocks up everywhere, and those who work to make these hurdles have been doing so for literal decades. Unless you are white and own property, good freakin’ luck, with varying degrees of potential success depending on where your “race” falls on the “Acceptable Immigrants” list. Black and Brown? Just no.
And you don’t even have to be an immigrant! You can be native-born American BIPOC and still get the same level of “respect” we offer our foreign guests merely seeking to “…breath free”.
So, yeah. Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps and all of the similar ideologies is utter bullshit. It’s gaslighting on a National scale.
How to fix endemic, structural racism
Stop it. Just stop. Stop discriminating. And stop lying about it, as well. It’s one of those open secrets. We all know that’s how it works, so just stop. You’ve been fuckin’ around and found out, as it were.
You might infer that I’m being glib. I can assure you I am not. There is no way on any version of Earth that a short piece proclaiming the existence of something we all know exists is going to fix our woes. In the end, however, we still need to stop the discrimination.
The best way to do that is to recognize every human as a human. It’s not that hard. All you have to do is not kill them or make society work any differently for people who may not look exactly like you.
They’re still people, whether you like it or not.
For comments, please post one single, simple thing we could all do collectively that would work towards ending discrimination. Think of it from the perspective of a long-term project… because it is.
A very, very long project.