Did you notice? A thing happened yesterday in America....

[geminiwench]

You may know I love haunting onotheydidnt on LJ,
just for the fun of it.

They're an excellent source for who is racist,
sexist, violent, harassers... etc.

I don't need to comment on yesterday,
although I have plenty to say.

What I will do... is repost just a single thread from onotheydidntabout Kevin Sorbo's tweets about yesterday

Comments

[geminiwench]

I think its pretty hilarious that the Trumpers can watch what happens at BLM rallies and then they storm the capital and make ALL ACTIVE SENATORS actually physically afraid for all of 1 hour just by being PRESENT... and then they're surprised that the entire Congress calls them 'violent radicals'. They can't see the irony at all.

Just like the BLM and the 99%ers are having trouble having empathy for those Trumpers who feel disenfranchised because they are poor AND white and therefore white privilege is a lie and their struggle isn't validated and they don't know what HAPPENED.

Me.... I am just musing about how many of those giant American flags, Don't Tread on Me, and Trump 2020 flags are printed in China and how they would not see that irony, EITHER.

The thing about racism as I know it, and understand it as a white lady who has never had to deal with its negative impacts on personal/professional/economic/etc/ levels.... is that racism and racists... are usually unaware and NOBODY likes being called a bigot. White Separatists are really common 'round here... and they will tell you they are NOT White Supremacists... they don't think they're better than brown people, (they say), they just don't believe in 'mixing races' socially/sexually/personally/professionally/etc. Like... most misogynists don't know their misogynists... because their misogyny is SO ingrained, and so... socially validated... they can't see it. You don't have to be a wife-beater to be a misogynist, and you don't have to pay dues to the KKK to be a racist.... its more subtle, and more sinister, and more SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE than all that... and yet being CALLED OUT as a racist, (or a wife beater) is a huge PROBLEM, now. It didn't used to be, but it IS now. And so now you have this issue where it is socially UNACCEPTABLE to be labeled a 'racist' and yet it is still socially acceptable TO BE racist. And this no-man's land is where the VAST MAJORITY of Western culture seems to live.

My friend the liberal anarchist who was a crusty punk 30 years ago was saying, "They took the capital! THEY HAD IT! And then what? NOTHING! They did what they wanted, and apparently all they wanted was to say they did it. Just another form of pushing over statues when they claim to want to push over the system itself. What a joke."

[amw]

I generally dislike the tendency of the past few years to ascribe everything to racism, or homophobia, or whatever... Even though i do personally think these are still strong forces in society. I understand the point of view of people who feel they are being unfairly branded with some kind of original sin, and why they feel it's unfair to be made to repent before anyone will even take them seriously. There are a lot of folks who compare "woke" moralizing to Christian moralizing, and i have to admit it's easy to see the similarities.

Someone deep into social justice issues would probably argue that the difference between their morality and Christian morality is that theirs is based on observable fact, or on social research. And that's fair. But it's still not a set of morals shared by everyone - even if there is an empirical basis for holding them. So you get one part of society saying that another part of society is racist, which by one definition is true, but by another definition it's not only false, but also grossly offensive... how can we bridge that gap? People won't change their moral view because they're told to, especially not if they're condemned just for holding it in the first place. There has to be a better way to engage.

Your anarchist friend puts words to exactly what i was thinking when i watched this. A part of me was cheering on these protestors, because the sight of people occupying the seat of government "for the people" is a powerful and emotive one. But then, instead of setting up some clever banner drops, or holding a mock session of "the people's congress", or giving interviews to television journalists who were streaming live all over the world... they just ran amok like kids when their parents are out of town. This is why i don't think they were serious insurrectionists, or attempting a coup. They were right there, the eyes of the world were on them, and when it all came down to it, they had nothing to say. To quote their figurehead: SAD!

[geminiwench]

Yes.

To everything you said.

I think homophobia, racism, sexism.... its only been recent that its a PROBLEM to be those things, and its funny to think that this wheelhouse of hatred is one where social values seem to have changed faster than personal values have.
Usually, its the other way around. But of course... maybe we agree that the social values that are currently calling out racism, homophobia, sexism... as hatred, are hacking at the branches rather than the root WHILE actually fertilizing the root with the fallen branches by not cleaning them up.

It's like, "Racism is wrong!" but then... EVERY AMERICAN INSTITUTION is pretty... cloak-and-dagger racist. Schools. Government. Banking. Justice system. Corporate leadership. Media. So... really, how "wrong" can it possibly BE in the eyes of everyday people who really.. don't know, or really don't consider their stereotypes or ideas... 'racist', even.

Last year I interviewed a woman who came to protest drag queens reading in libraries. She was in her 60s, and seemed like a nice lady. We talked for a bit... her mother is a lesbian, and she is her caretaker. She really likes her mom's wife. She was a lady.... wearing pants (ie: crossdressing by the standards 50 years ago). I had SO MANY QUESTIONS why drag queens... who aren't even necessarily gay... or even necessarily dressing as another sex.... is so... dangerous in her mind. (The person who organized the event is an assigned female at birth who considers themselves non-binary who dresses as an ultra-female in her drag performance)

The woman said, "I don't have any problems with men wearing dresses or women wearing pants. Who cares about THAT?! I don't have a problem with gay people, my mom is a lesbian! NO ONE has done more for gay people that *I* have! I just don't want fags indoctrinating children! "

A friend of mine is a white lady who got pissed when she was called a racist by a lady in a store for wearing her favorite hat she bought at a concert 20 years ago.


To her it was just a hat with good memories. She was AGHAST! She has a black nephew and she loves him and so she CAN'T be racist! And how she now had to THINK about what she wore, just so... people wouldn't think she's racist and she's never felt "less free". She rhapsodied about how JUST because she was a white woman and wore a piece of clothing that HAPPENED to have the confederate flag on it, people ASSUMED she was hate-filled and it was just unfair.... and "that bitch" should be get their asses kicked for making her feel so afraid that she now has to question what's in her closet. She was adamant it was injustice to the highest degree.

That's... how brains work. That's how people OPERATE.
And no... she's NOT necessarily racist. But she is... generally ignorant. And that's the thing we don't... support. We're all supposed to be educated, and knowing and wise and we don't ALLOW for the challenges of learning,... without attaching shame and embarrassment to it. We treat EVERYTHING like "we should already know"... or even more than that.. "THEY should already know". We use SO MUCH shame and guilt (publicly and privately) to control each other, when.... it just doesn't actually work. It RUINS people. And it ruins opportunities to really examine what is actually happening when people are expressing themselves and... not getting the chance to HEAR THEMSELVES.. and be questioned... without sinking into condemnation.