The Silence of Our Friends

Ignoring It Doesn't Make It Go Away

BlackAmazon has a new post calling me out, indeed she caught me in appeasement mode. What I mean by this is that I have enough hope that certain people grasp the basics of being progressive that I am willing to give them credit for some statements while not quibbling over others. BA reminds me that some things are not only worth 'quibbling' over, but worth fighting for.

The one I noted, but bit my tongue over was the sexism vs racism, "my group is more oppressed than your group". As BA observes, this is easily refuted by these blogger brawls. Both men and women of all races were all over this latest FDL numbskullery regarding sexism, but racism? Not so much. You won't find many, perhaps not even any, posts on various blogs defending FDL's use of the word cunt. After racist incidents, you will find many blogs making excuses and dismissing POC concerns or completely ignoring it. In other words, it's race-baiting when we bring up our 'trivial' concerns with racism; but the few who defended sexism were the hiveminds at FDL and the flying monkeys they sent out to other blogs. In case I'm still not clear, how about a BA quote: "If I was some equivacating bean counter I'd say the tip on THIS issue is that sexism will get a rise out of folks faster than race."

Do NOT read this to mean that I am saying that racism trumps sexism. How about we read it to mean that we fight against BOTH, instead of infighting amongst each other and jockeying for position?

The part I missed, (I sometimes scan instead of reading every word), is that both Amanda and Marc are self-congratulatory about their ability to apologize when they are wrong...only neither has shown any indication that they understand why they are wrong. It's mostly to shut POC up, look good for the white readers, but not because they have learned a damn thing. BA notes that Amanda sneers at "sensible liberals" like Markos who minimized women's concerns, but doesn't see herself as one of those same SL's when she minimizes POC concerns. To quote BA again: "YOU DON"T MOTHERFUCKING GET TO DEFINE AND CONTROL OTHERS REACTIONS TO THE DUMBASS SHIT YOU SAY." This is the message that they, Amanda and Marc among others, were trying to get across to TRex and FDL and yet, they should take this message to heart themselves.

There is one point of disagreement. BA thinks that slurs will not deter Pelosi, so the argument that Tom Watson originally raised about watching our own language before it is used against our own really doesn't resonate with her. But I'm not thinking so much about the effect it will have on Pelosi personally, I'm thinking of the electorate or American citizens in general. We on the left lose the moral high ground when we stoop to their level. If we can bandy slurs about someone's sex, race, etc then we can't very well complain when Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter does it, can we? I think there was very little outrage over the Supreme Court making the final decision in the 2000 election, because people were thinking "what's the difference, they're all the same." We have to prove we aren't the same, we have to prove we are better. Injuring those who should be on your side doesn't help matters in any way.

Belledame222 also picks some gems out of BA's post and gives them a good polishing.

And R.Mildred has the next to last word on FDL's assberet misogyny... And proves it's not pearl clutching about naughty language in the bargain. Progressives understand nuance, and online personas too, otherwise we would be fainting dead away after reading Rude Pundit. People like R.Mildred and Rude Pundit know how to walk the tightrope without falling off, while TRex has gotten brain damage from repeatedly falling on his head.

UPDATE: The final word on the FDL fiasco goes to a newer blog, Mo Betta META for The Wonderful World of Meta, another huge round up! Thank you to Nanette for sending this my way.

HOLY CRAP! All this time I haven't had Human Beams on my list of links??? I could have sworn I had it there! I'm fixing that right away and sending my apologies to Nanette!

posted by Donna at 12:41 PM |