I hate this. not least the irony of white activists harassing racial minorities for supporting white supremacy.
and the idea of protesting by going to lectures and holding up photos of dead black children.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/a ... ed/544682/
I wish there were safe spaces that were actually safe.
I just found this from a link on that, wtf: https://bullybloggers.wordpress.com/201 ... ment-13710
wtf is wrong with students these days?!
that movie was screened in a gender studies class I took. it was the first movie I'd ever seen with a trans male protagonist, and portrayed in a positive light at that. it was such a huge milestone in depictions of trans people in film, and that and the post-movie discussion in class are some of my most treasured memories from college.
A large part of my anger is also due to their complete lack of awareness that as a cis butch lesbian growing up in the time she did, Pierce likely experienced far more oppression than today's average trans college student in one of the most liberal parts of the US, and they need to check their privilege.
from a commenter there: "Thank you so much for this. I teach at Reed. I am intimidated by these students. I am scared to teach courses on race, gender, or sexuality, or even texts that bring these issues up in any way-and I am a gay mixed-race woman."
which is a fear I relate to a lot in trying to get my own writing published.
Reed College protests
Re: Reed College protests
Wow.
I'm starting to wonder if those RAR activists and the anti-Peirce crowd are really agents provocateurs working for the alt-right.
I find it hard to believe that anyone with a progressive mindset could really be that stupid.
I'm starting to wonder if those RAR activists and the anti-Peirce crowd are really agents provocateurs working for the alt-right.
I find it hard to believe that anyone with a progressive mindset could really be that stupid.
Common sense is another word for prejudice.
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Anakin McFly
- Ultimate Poster
- Posts: 1487
- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 5:40 am
Re: Reed College protests
They're definitely not stupid, just extreme and lacking in awareness. Calling them double agents for the alt-right gives them too much credit. Years ago I spent a term on exchange at the University of Oregon, which I loved and which isn't as liberal as Reed, but the seeds of this were already there. I remember feeling uncomfortable being the only non-white student in a roomful of white students at some queer student gathering that made a point of being all inclusive, and eventually I just left because it was incredibly awkward and everyone was ignoring me anyway. I also remember visiting the health centre and the intake forms had a preferred pronouns field; I could have done without, but since it was there I filled it in; then another student asked what it was for, and the clerk said "oh, we just need to be politically correct, you can ignore that," and I felt like crap. There's just this entire show of being extremely progressive and inclusive but it's such a performative thing that rarely goes beyond the surface and ends up hurting the very people they claim to want to advocate for. Often I would have felt better if they hadn't bothered and repeatedly given me false hope. Half the time they don't even think about the repercussions - like trying to make a point about anti-black violence by forcing people to look at pictures of dead black children, as though not realising how traumatic that could be to some black students.
Often their criticism is valid, but only in an academic way. But that's not how humans work. Ostracising and boycotting non-white lecturers citing their internalised racism isn't how you fight racism. I've always found it particularly cruel to attack people for their own internalised phobias. Those people aren't their enemies, and when it comes especially to lecturers who specialise in social issues of race, gender and sexuality, those are topics they have thought and read a lot about, and often issues that they have experienced first hand for longer than their students have been alive. They're likely to be open to dialogue - this isn't some random Trump fan on reddit - and should they disagree, I'd also question the arrogance of students assuming that they always know better.
But also - another large factor is how a disproportionate number of activists are on the autistic spectrum. This is especially the case within the trans community, where about a third of binary trans people and half of non-binary people are autistic, and the characteristically obsessive and perfectionist need for justice means they're often overrepresented among activists. The influence of that is clear in the rigid perfectionist absolutism of so many of the countless tiny rules they enforce on themselves and others, and the lack of ability sometimes in differentiating between satire and offensive humour that target opposite groups, and the stark black and white thinking where if you do one small thing wrong you're evil and everything you've said is worthless, and the lack of awareness of how neurotypical humans react to things, such as the fact that some of them consider things like memorizing 50 sets of gender pronouns to be completely fun and reasonable (which it is for them); and then they don't realize that people's inability to do all that isn't so much due to transphobia as how most people aren't autistic. (There's this meme saying 'if you can memorise 250 pokemon, you can memorise 50 genders', but most people can't memorise 250 pokemon.)
It's a mindset I'm intimately familiar with, since I'm likely somewhere on the spectrum, which is also why it gets me so mad. I used to think the same way when I was in my teens, but I learnt pretty quickly the hard way (mostly people yelling at me) that that's not how humans work, and the same goes for most of my autistic trans friends from that generation. We're not even that old, and it's frightening how fast things have moved. But the ones in this generation aren't learning those lessons, thanks to the echo chamber of social media that's making every position more extreme, and I'm angry at how the obsession with making every space safe and 100% unproblematic is firstly making them incredibly unsafe for anyone who doesn't like to be constantly bracing themselves for criticism, but also directly reducing everyone's resilience and ability to cope with a world that is extremely problematic. I'm angry because they think they're protecting marginalised people when they're doing the exact opposite, and the consequences are already spreading - anxiety and panic disorders are at an all time high among youth, and the slightest provocation triggers genuine mental health crises. I have LGBT friends in their 30s and older who have been physically and sexually assaulted multiple times, disowned by parents, left to starve on the streets, but fought their way out, and it takes a hell lot of effort to hurt them after all that. I also know LGBT kids in their late teens and early 20s who get traumatised because of some really minor insult that I casually mentioned encountering, not expecting it to be triggery at all, but they were all horrified and upset and I was like wtf this is nothing
i'm angry because i care
I hate that the very groups of people I care about who need to be strong in this world are the very ones being made extremely fragile by the overprotective paranoia of their own actions. and that they're creating a reality that forces you to be angry all the time, which is exhausting, as is the need to be constantly aware of and instantly apologetic for the implications of every tiny and supposedly innocuous action, rather than realising that no one is perfect and all of us are always learning. I can't live like that. Most people can't. Most won't want to, and they shouldn't have to consider the false dichotomy of either being super perfect all the time or being an evil pawn of the white supremacist capitalist imperialist cisheteropatriarchy.
I desperately want there to be actual safe spaces where marginalised people who have been hurt can quietly heal, and find comfort, and understanding, and peace. and find ways to be happy even in darkness. I need that, not a place where I have to be angry all the time as a measure of virtue, and see malice in every friendly action. it's tiring to be angry all the time. Right now the closest I have to such a safe space is church, but it shouldn't just be church.
Often their criticism is valid, but only in an academic way. But that's not how humans work. Ostracising and boycotting non-white lecturers citing their internalised racism isn't how you fight racism. I've always found it particularly cruel to attack people for their own internalised phobias. Those people aren't their enemies, and when it comes especially to lecturers who specialise in social issues of race, gender and sexuality, those are topics they have thought and read a lot about, and often issues that they have experienced first hand for longer than their students have been alive. They're likely to be open to dialogue - this isn't some random Trump fan on reddit - and should they disagree, I'd also question the arrogance of students assuming that they always know better.
But also - another large factor is how a disproportionate number of activists are on the autistic spectrum. This is especially the case within the trans community, where about a third of binary trans people and half of non-binary people are autistic, and the characteristically obsessive and perfectionist need for justice means they're often overrepresented among activists. The influence of that is clear in the rigid perfectionist absolutism of so many of the countless tiny rules they enforce on themselves and others, and the lack of ability sometimes in differentiating between satire and offensive humour that target opposite groups, and the stark black and white thinking where if you do one small thing wrong you're evil and everything you've said is worthless, and the lack of awareness of how neurotypical humans react to things, such as the fact that some of them consider things like memorizing 50 sets of gender pronouns to be completely fun and reasonable (which it is for them); and then they don't realize that people's inability to do all that isn't so much due to transphobia as how most people aren't autistic. (There's this meme saying 'if you can memorise 250 pokemon, you can memorise 50 genders', but most people can't memorise 250 pokemon.)
It's a mindset I'm intimately familiar with, since I'm likely somewhere on the spectrum, which is also why it gets me so mad. I used to think the same way when I was in my teens, but I learnt pretty quickly the hard way (mostly people yelling at me) that that's not how humans work, and the same goes for most of my autistic trans friends from that generation. We're not even that old, and it's frightening how fast things have moved. But the ones in this generation aren't learning those lessons, thanks to the echo chamber of social media that's making every position more extreme, and I'm angry at how the obsession with making every space safe and 100% unproblematic is firstly making them incredibly unsafe for anyone who doesn't like to be constantly bracing themselves for criticism, but also directly reducing everyone's resilience and ability to cope with a world that is extremely problematic. I'm angry because they think they're protecting marginalised people when they're doing the exact opposite, and the consequences are already spreading - anxiety and panic disorders are at an all time high among youth, and the slightest provocation triggers genuine mental health crises. I have LGBT friends in their 30s and older who have been physically and sexually assaulted multiple times, disowned by parents, left to starve on the streets, but fought their way out, and it takes a hell lot of effort to hurt them after all that. I also know LGBT kids in their late teens and early 20s who get traumatised because of some really minor insult that I casually mentioned encountering, not expecting it to be triggery at all, but they were all horrified and upset and I was like wtf this is nothing
i'm angry because i care
I hate that the very groups of people I care about who need to be strong in this world are the very ones being made extremely fragile by the overprotective paranoia of their own actions. and that they're creating a reality that forces you to be angry all the time, which is exhausting, as is the need to be constantly aware of and instantly apologetic for the implications of every tiny and supposedly innocuous action, rather than realising that no one is perfect and all of us are always learning. I can't live like that. Most people can't. Most won't want to, and they shouldn't have to consider the false dichotomy of either being super perfect all the time or being an evil pawn of the white supremacist capitalist imperialist cisheteropatriarchy.
I desperately want there to be actual safe spaces where marginalised people who have been hurt can quietly heal, and find comfort, and understanding, and peace. and find ways to be happy even in darkness. I need that, not a place where I have to be angry all the time as a measure of virtue, and see malice in every friendly action. it's tiring to be angry all the time. Right now the closest I have to such a safe space is church, but it shouldn't just be church.