LJ Idol Season 10, Week 15 , Thunderclap
I get told a lot that sexism is dead. That racism isn’t the issue it once was. Homosexuality is no longer seen as something bad and wrong. That the world has changed and the we no longer have ‘isms.
And yet we have a US president who talks about grabbing woman’s pussies. Black kids being shot on the streets due to nothing more than the colour of their skin and this week a UK politician who equated being gay to her own sexual attraction to gorillas.
I’ve been in fandom for just over eighteen years now and being surrounded by likeminded, progressive people, you forget sometimes that the world isn’t always as it appears in your own safe haven. Although even fandom has been known to have that darker side that leaks out. I think I first noticed it with the birth of the anon meme. An internet phenomenon that showed me a slightly darker side to the world I knew. Without accountability, hidden behind a screen of anonymity people felt safe to let out their true thoughts. I know most of them were harmless, but even then, in the small corners, you saw something darker still.
That was the beginning, but nowhere near the end.
Some people blame Facebook, or the rise in mobiles, the ever-growing connectivity or just the fact that we are all so much a part of each other’s lives now. We have never been more connected, never been more aware, and we have never been more afraid.
The world seems scarier now than it did when we were small. The threat of nuclear deterrents, world war three, the constant bombardment of fear, terror and war hits us at every angle. For some that fear is driving them to something, they may have once turned away from. The rise of the far right over the last few years has been nothing short of mind boggling. Parties and politicians with racist, bigoted, sexist agendas are no longer booed or ridiculed. They are now lauded and rewarded as the truth speakers. The ones keeping it real.
It can sometimes seem insurmountable, I know it did to me. The end of last year, I truly wondered where we were. Where we were going. For the first time in a long time I was truly afraid of what was to come, and I know I wasn’t alone. The at the beginning of the year something changed. Something shifted. Something amazing happened.
The woman’s march in Washington. A single day supported by people all over the world. It was thunderclap of noise. A riot of colour. A day in which it seemed, to me at least that the world stood up and spoke as one.
I am not afraid
You do not speak for me
I do not stand alone.
Although it may have been called the womans march, it stood for everyone. Regardless of creed, colour, religion, sexuality. It stood for those who believed in it, and even for those who were against it.
It wasn’t the end, but it was a beginning. A move away from fear, towards something better. It was a reminder, a warning to the people who try to rule through fear, to win through oppression. To those who hold the highest power, that we have a voice and that we aren’t afraid to use it.
It didn’t change the world. Trump is still president, bigotry still exists. The world is still full of ‘isms and we still have far to go. But god damn we have shown them just how loudly we will shout on the way.
And yet we have a US president who talks about grabbing woman’s pussies. Black kids being shot on the streets due to nothing more than the colour of their skin and this week a UK politician who equated being gay to her own sexual attraction to gorillas.
I’ve been in fandom for just over eighteen years now and being surrounded by likeminded, progressive people, you forget sometimes that the world isn’t always as it appears in your own safe haven. Although even fandom has been known to have that darker side that leaks out. I think I first noticed it with the birth of the anon meme. An internet phenomenon that showed me a slightly darker side to the world I knew. Without accountability, hidden behind a screen of anonymity people felt safe to let out their true thoughts. I know most of them were harmless, but even then, in the small corners, you saw something darker still.
That was the beginning, but nowhere near the end.
Some people blame Facebook, or the rise in mobiles, the ever-growing connectivity or just the fact that we are all so much a part of each other’s lives now. We have never been more connected, never been more aware, and we have never been more afraid.
The world seems scarier now than it did when we were small. The threat of nuclear deterrents, world war three, the constant bombardment of fear, terror and war hits us at every angle. For some that fear is driving them to something, they may have once turned away from. The rise of the far right over the last few years has been nothing short of mind boggling. Parties and politicians with racist, bigoted, sexist agendas are no longer booed or ridiculed. They are now lauded and rewarded as the truth speakers. The ones keeping it real.
It can sometimes seem insurmountable, I know it did to me. The end of last year, I truly wondered where we were. Where we were going. For the first time in a long time I was truly afraid of what was to come, and I know I wasn’t alone. The at the beginning of the year something changed. Something shifted. Something amazing happened.
The woman’s march in Washington. A single day supported by people all over the world. It was thunderclap of noise. A riot of colour. A day in which it seemed, to me at least that the world stood up and spoke as one.
I am not afraid
You do not speak for me
I do not stand alone.
Although it may have been called the womans march, it stood for everyone. Regardless of creed, colour, religion, sexuality. It stood for those who believed in it, and even for those who were against it.
It wasn’t the end, but it was a beginning. A move away from fear, towards something better. It was a reminder, a warning to the people who try to rule through fear, to win through oppression. To those who hold the highest power, that we have a voice and that we aren’t afraid to use it.
It didn’t change the world. Trump is still president, bigotry still exists. The world is still full of ‘isms and we still have far to go. But god damn we have shown them just how loudly we will shout on the way.