Hooks says that naming our pain can be the most difficult part of coping with said pain. For hooks it seems that naming this pain usually means citing power structures such as sexism, homophobia, class exploitation, racism, imperialism. Hooks claims that all real pain comes from our sense of power relations. Hooks wants us to make our pain a place for theorizing, to “create theory from the location of pain and struggle,” Next Hooks wants us to talk and interact with others who have experienced this pain as a way to collectively to address the power structures that effect us all.
As we discussed in class, these power inequalities are prevent us from connecting emotionally with other beings through our collective sense of consciousness that we all have deep within us. Society has fragmented us and left us scattered and alone but theory has given us the chance to reconnect with each other through our experiences of pain and inequality.
I think this is really prevalent in today’s world. Too often do we see the groups in tyrannical power talk about themselves as though they are perfect, and want to present an image as if no pain can be felt by these types of leaders. These same types of people also have little to no contact with the populace of the nation they represent, resulting in no collaboration between the collective and the system. In our nation today, we don’t often think about collaborating and assessing the needs of the collective, but rather how the system benefits the individual alone. If only America could learn a thing or two from other governmental systems of the world.