Rage

[laceblade]

Elsewhere on the Internet, in a post that is unfortunately locked, various things have been purported. The post is here, now unlocked.

I am sick to death of motherfuckers telling me that entire aspects of my identity do not exist because of the labels they ascribe to me.
Because I am Catholic, there is no way that I could hate my bishop, want women to be priests, or be adamantly supportive of the separation of church and state.
Because I am religious, I must have never given any serious thought to politics (even in spite of my major in Political Science), why rituals are performed, or what the Bible actually says. Clearly, I am a sheep - right?
Because I spent two summers working as an unpaid intern for a Republican, there is no way that I could be a Democrat (at least, not according to nearly every Democratic office in the Wisconsin State Legislature).
Because I am a 24-year-old woman, I must want to get married as soon as possible.
Because I am pro-life, I must not be a feminist.

Extremism in any form is dangerous. And taking away someone's ability to construct their own identity is harmful - even moreso when we are all potential allies.

We are all angry about something. What I'm angry about is everyone buying into the soundbytes created from false dichotomies that assure us that our goals are not common, that our enemies are each other. And that we must stay busy fighting one another, so that we are incapable of waking up, banding together, and doing something.

In the end, I think that everyone wants to make the world less fucked up than it is now.

The way to start is to think, to dialogue, and most importantly, to challenge people around you every day to analyze and deconstruct their own lives.

And to stop acting like jackasses.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I swore off that thread yesterday. Too many happy things I could spend my time on instead.

[jesse_the_k]

Say it, sister! Divide and rule is a powerful tool in the master's hands.

And that we must stay busy fighting one another, so that we are incapable of waking up, banding together, and doing something.

[nylorac15.livejournal.com]

Here here! My life has been full of disintegrating dichotomies lately, too. Hint to the world: it feels good. Everything makes more sense, not less, when you realize that nothing is black and white.

[wrdnrd]

APPLAUSE.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

I hate the assumption that we don't "get it," that people who are religious don't understand what it's like to have been proselytized to, or yelled at for having the wrong morals or the wrong opinions. I've known people who've experienced real emotional abuse at the hands of their churches; I've known gay Christians (speaking of asshats telling people that entire aspects of their identity do not exist...) trying to make a place for themselves at Gay Hippie Church. These things aren't easy; I'm not trying to pretend that they are.

I just know that if we genuinely believe in diversity, and plurality, then we have to acknowledge that there are a lot of different people in this world with a lot of different paths to follow, and it's condescending to pretend that anyone has more of a claim on a person's beliefs and identity than that person.

Blah blah blah rant.

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

everyone buying into the soundbytes created from false dichotomies that assure us that our goals are not common, that our enemies are each other. And that we must stay busy fighting one another, so that we are incapable of waking up, banding together, and doing something.

*applauds*

I haven't seen the locked post, but I read all the comments on the one on the comm, assuming it's the same subject. And it just makes me tired... It feels like another example of the damage false analogies of critical race theory can do in the wrong hands. I applaud you for standing up to it and insisting that people complicate their binaries.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

Weird! I was referring to the comments at the community - when originally posted, it was locked; it seems now that it's been unlocked. I'll toss a link into this post, so non-WisCon folks can have context, if desired.

[raanve]

Thanks for getting in there and trying to have a dialogue. I opened the comment box a couple of times but realized that I wasn't going to help matters much, because mostly I wanted to tell certain people that they were being GIGANTIC ASSHATS. I'm a little stunned that after all the work that's been done at WisCon over the last several years around how to talk about difficult subjects, that we're still seeing conversations where people think it's acceptable to insult, browbeat, and be otherwise superior-sounding d-bags.

Yeah. I'm kind of angry.

This is an area that I'm really interested in discussing, but the way that thread was playing out I didn't think I could contribute in a real way, so I'm keeping quiet for now. But I really, really appreciate those of you that are in there trying to get down to something sensible. So thank you.

[owlface1.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I feel like i could go off on a rant, but at the same time don't know what to say. I guess i tend to find a comfort in the joke i play on people who think they know what I am about, what my religion or politics look like etc. I laugh at them behind their backs. I am making a study on what people assume, day to day.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

<3