Three Tales Of Marginalization
Dear douchebags of the internet.
It's okay to not like someone. That's completely your right. It's even okay to not even like someone's blog, surprisingly enough. But if you despise someone and their blog, you do know that you do have the option to NOT READ, right. There is no law or firearm lodged against your skull saying that you must be required to follow the blog of someone you despise.
Because honestly, you seem to appear to be full of shit. No really. Because if you genuinely believe someone is sooooooooo horrible and soooooo horrendous, why the fuck are you following their blog? Unless, they really aren't as bad as you claim they are.
Case in point.
Also, before you decide to derail grown folks' discussions on marginalized issues, you might wanna make sure you have your facts straight, less you wind up getting schooled.
And talking trash while anon? REALLY? SERIOUSLY?!!!!!
WEAK AS HELL!!!!!
______________________
X-Men: First Class: Saw it last night. The one thought that rang loudest in my head, WELCOME BACK MR. SINGER. You have been missed something fierce. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I plan to do a review on it. I essentially plan to cover the parallels between being a mutant and a POC and to a lesser extent a queer POC. Excellent movie.
______________________
My buddy Basswhooper recently penned an excellent post on how going vegetarian is giving him a small glimpse into the struggles of what marginalized people have to deal with every day.
This also goes back to my previous point in how too often white folks who aren't involved in social justice seem to genuinely have an open mind and an open heart about learning about marginalized issues and take more action in battling oppression and tend to do more work than the "experts" who are supposed to know better.
What a week of vegetarianism has taught me about marginalized peeps...
In my first forty-eight hours as a vegetarian I learned what a bunch of assholes many omnivores can be. (I also learned that I was that type of asshole, myself, but that's a life-lesson for a different blog entry.)
In a week of vegetarianism I believe I have gained maybe an atom's worth of a clue about what it's like for marginalized peeps such as people of color, LGBT's, women and others.
"How's that" you ask?
Well, let's begin with the... no, I take that back. Let me back up and explain something first. I've decided to go vegetarian to satiate my curiosity about the subject and to see if I can reap the reported health benefits that are said to come from a vegetarian diet. That's it. I haven't had some kind of moral revelation which has lead me to turn against meat, nor am I evangelizing for vegetarianism by telling everyone else that they should give it a shot. No, I am doing my thing and leaving other people the hell alone to do their thing.
So, having made this decision for myself I've had my masculinity questioned, I've been the butt of a seemingly endless stream of jokes, I've been accused of evangelizing for vegetarianism, any number of things which have served to single me out... some of these things have been done under the auspices of "Hey man, I'm just joking*", but in all of them there is the barb of judgmentalism; there's an underlying current that says, "Hey, why aren't you like me? Why are you different? Why are you not trying to be just like us? I am threatened by your deviation from my (percieved) norm."
Now don't get me wrong here, it has by no means been unbearable; my shoulders are broad** and my back is strong. I can take it. But take all of the jabs to which I've been subjected and multiply that by an even greater deviation from the perceived norm (e.g.- being a different race, a woman, a person with a disability, being LGBT, being a different religion, the list goes on and on) and couple that with the inability to change said trait***, and I think you begin to have just the barest inkling of what marginalized peeps have to put up with every friggin' day.
I'll tell you something else I've learned in this time, too; I've learned just a bit about the importance of community. I've got a great many vegetarian and vegan friends, and the way that they have rallied around me and encouraged me has brought me to the edge of tears on more than one occasion. So from this I have a different understanding of support groups and similar organizations, and perhaps just a bit better understanding of the importance of "safe spaces" where people can go and just be themselves without any pressure from other people trying to force them to conform to some perceived norm.
Is this in any way, shape, form or fashion the same as being a marginalized person? No. No it is not. What I believe it is, though, is a way for a guy like me to gain some insight into the perspectives of people who live a very different life than the privileged one I lead. Even if I don't lose a single ounce during this dietary experiment, that knowledge alone makes it all worth it.
_____________________________________________________________________
*Let me here point out that there has also been a great deal of genuine good-natured joking, so it hasn't all been tainted by mean-spiritedness. Given that I know all of the people who have been making comments I can tell who is coming from what perspective when they crack a joke, and while I have been dismayed by just how many jokes have had a tinge of negativity, they haven't all been like that.
**As is my ass, hence trying this grass-eatin' thing out.
***I don't care who says what, and I don't care who feels what about what may or may not be right or wrong; I don't believe that people choose to be LGBT. "Gee, I like my life to be a living hell of bigotry and an endless threat of being harassed or maybe even beaten to death! Yay!" I don't think so.
This entry was made possible via cross platform post from Livejournal and Dreamwidth.
It's okay to not like someone. That's completely your right. It's even okay to not even like someone's blog, surprisingly enough. But if you despise someone and their blog, you do know that you do have the option to NOT READ, right. There is no law or firearm lodged against your skull saying that you must be required to follow the blog of someone you despise.
Because honestly, you seem to appear to be full of shit. No really. Because if you genuinely believe someone is sooooooooo horrible and soooooo horrendous, why the fuck are you following their blog? Unless, they really aren't as bad as you claim they are.
Case in point.
Also, before you decide to derail grown folks' discussions on marginalized issues, you might wanna make sure you have your facts straight, less you wind up getting schooled.
And talking trash while anon? REALLY? SERIOUSLY?!!!!!
WEAK AS HELL!!!!!
______________________
X-Men: First Class: Saw it last night. The one thought that rang loudest in my head, WELCOME BACK MR. SINGER. You have been missed something fierce. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I plan to do a review on it. I essentially plan to cover the parallels between being a mutant and a POC and to a lesser extent a queer POC. Excellent movie.
______________________
My buddy Basswhooper recently penned an excellent post on how going vegetarian is giving him a small glimpse into the struggles of what marginalized people have to deal with every day.
This also goes back to my previous point in how too often white folks who aren't involved in social justice seem to genuinely have an open mind and an open heart about learning about marginalized issues and take more action in battling oppression and tend to do more work than the "experts" who are supposed to know better.
What a week of vegetarianism has taught me about marginalized peeps...
In my first forty-eight hours as a vegetarian I learned what a bunch of assholes many omnivores can be. (I also learned that I was that type of asshole, myself, but that's a life-lesson for a different blog entry.)
In a week of vegetarianism I believe I have gained maybe an atom's worth of a clue about what it's like for marginalized peeps such as people of color, LGBT's, women and others.
"How's that" you ask?
Well, let's begin with the... no, I take that back. Let me back up and explain something first. I've decided to go vegetarian to satiate my curiosity about the subject and to see if I can reap the reported health benefits that are said to come from a vegetarian diet. That's it. I haven't had some kind of moral revelation which has lead me to turn against meat, nor am I evangelizing for vegetarianism by telling everyone else that they should give it a shot. No, I am doing my thing and leaving other people the hell alone to do their thing.
So, having made this decision for myself I've had my masculinity questioned, I've been the butt of a seemingly endless stream of jokes, I've been accused of evangelizing for vegetarianism, any number of things which have served to single me out... some of these things have been done under the auspices of "Hey man, I'm just joking*", but in all of them there is the barb of judgmentalism; there's an underlying current that says, "Hey, why aren't you like me? Why are you different? Why are you not trying to be just like us? I am threatened by your deviation from my (percieved) norm."
Now don't get me wrong here, it has by no means been unbearable; my shoulders are broad** and my back is strong. I can take it. But take all of the jabs to which I've been subjected and multiply that by an even greater deviation from the perceived norm (e.g.- being a different race, a woman, a person with a disability, being LGBT, being a different religion, the list goes on and on) and couple that with the inability to change said trait***, and I think you begin to have just the barest inkling of what marginalized peeps have to put up with every friggin' day.
I'll tell you something else I've learned in this time, too; I've learned just a bit about the importance of community. I've got a great many vegetarian and vegan friends, and the way that they have rallied around me and encouraged me has brought me to the edge of tears on more than one occasion. So from this I have a different understanding of support groups and similar organizations, and perhaps just a bit better understanding of the importance of "safe spaces" where people can go and just be themselves without any pressure from other people trying to force them to conform to some perceived norm.
Is this in any way, shape, form or fashion the same as being a marginalized person? No. No it is not. What I believe it is, though, is a way for a guy like me to gain some insight into the perspectives of people who live a very different life than the privileged one I lead. Even if I don't lose a single ounce during this dietary experiment, that knowledge alone makes it all worth it.
_____________________________________________________________________
*Let me here point out that there has also been a great deal of genuine good-natured joking, so it hasn't all been tainted by mean-spiritedness. Given that I know all of the people who have been making comments I can tell who is coming from what perspective when they crack a joke, and while I have been dismayed by just how many jokes have had a tinge of negativity, they haven't all been like that.
**As is my ass, hence trying this grass-eatin' thing out.
***I don't care who says what, and I don't care who feels what about what may or may not be right or wrong; I don't believe that people choose to be LGBT. "Gee, I like my life to be a living hell of bigotry and an endless threat of being harassed or maybe even beaten to death! Yay!" I don't think so.
This entry was made possible via cross platform post from Livejournal and Dreamwidth.