Love Is (Not) Our Resistance
Okay, kids. We have some things to discuss.
The status quo is unacceptable. We have a room full of rich fucking white men deciding the fates of everyone who ISN'T a rich fucking white man. A bunch of entitled pricks who everyone says think they know better what we need than we do.
But here's the thing: They KNOW that what they're doing is harmful. Let's stop pretending their intentions are altruistic. Let's stop pretending this is about anything more than power and money. It isn't that they think they know better than we (and our doctors) do--It's that they legitimately don't give a shit about what we need. What they want is FAR more important than what we need. What they want is to have all of the money and all of the power, and for women and PoC and poor people and queers to literally serve them or die. (We queers are in the "or die" category, except for the hot women, who need to have the queerness raped out of them.)
Some of you have no idea that this is the case. You have the privilege of perspective--You can give them the benefit of the doubt because right now, this isn't really impacting you. To be honest, I have that privilege, and I work very hard to overcome it. Just because my life is currently protected by my straight-white-girl appearance doesn't mean anything. Tens of thousands of people are at risk every day. Do you understand that? People who can't hide behind a façade of what's "Normal" to these narrow-minded fuckers are risking their lives every day just by EXISTING. Think about that for a second.
Every time a young black man leaves his house, he wonders if today he'll be the face on the news. If white people everywhere will dig through his past trying to find a reason why his murder was justified.
Every time a gender-nonconforming individual leaves the house, they wonder if they'll be beaten and hospitalized or killed. They wonder if they'll be the victim of a hate crime.
God forbid a person be black AND visibly queer. That's just "Asking" for disaster. (Yes, the quotes are intended to denote sarcasm. Being oneself is never, EVER the same as consenting to have one's safety violated.)
And no one is listening to us. Because they don't care. Seriously. All those rich white fuckers who have more vacation than they do workdays? All those guys up there who HAVE their socialized healthcare? They. Don't. Care. About. Us.
So we protest. We shout. We make ourselves heard. And we are criticized. "You should find a peaceful way to protest," entitled white people say. It actually means "You should do this in a way and a place that doesn't impact me at ALL, but that I can still post about on facebook and pat myself on the back for being SUCH A GOOD ALLY." They don't want us to be peaceful. They want us to be invisible and silent. The huddled masses on whose backs the rich build their empires.
Listen.
That won't work.
That won't ever work.
I respect pacifists. I really do. They have a code of ethics and they stick to it regardless. That's rad. You do your own thing, Pacifists. You make the signs. You write the letters. You hold hands and form circles between the violent and the oppressed. And seriously, that's amazing. Your courage and commitment should NEVER be underestimated.
But the rest of us? Seriously, guys. It's time to fuck this status quo up. Punch some fucking Nazis. Be loud. Block traffic. Shut down corporate offices. We will neither serve wealth and power to the rich and powerful. Neither will we silently accept their smug superiority as they slowly make laws that will result in our deaths.
We are allowed to hate our oppressors. We SHOULD hate our oppressors. Unfortunately, we can't love them into submission. We could do that if they didn't know that they were oppressing us (Although it is NOT the duty of the oppressed to educate the oppressors.) If they were just stupid and myopic.
But they know. They're doing it on purpose. Because what they want is more important than OUR LIVES.
It's time to get angry.
The status quo is unacceptable. We have a room full of rich fucking white men deciding the fates of everyone who ISN'T a rich fucking white man. A bunch of entitled pricks who everyone says think they know better what we need than we do.
But here's the thing: They KNOW that what they're doing is harmful. Let's stop pretending their intentions are altruistic. Let's stop pretending this is about anything more than power and money. It isn't that they think they know better than we (and our doctors) do--It's that they legitimately don't give a shit about what we need. What they want is FAR more important than what we need. What they want is to have all of the money and all of the power, and for women and PoC and poor people and queers to literally serve them or die. (We queers are in the "or die" category, except for the hot women, who need to have the queerness raped out of them.)
Some of you have no idea that this is the case. You have the privilege of perspective--You can give them the benefit of the doubt because right now, this isn't really impacting you. To be honest, I have that privilege, and I work very hard to overcome it. Just because my life is currently protected by my straight-white-girl appearance doesn't mean anything. Tens of thousands of people are at risk every day. Do you understand that? People who can't hide behind a façade of what's "Normal" to these narrow-minded fuckers are risking their lives every day just by EXISTING. Think about that for a second.
Every time a young black man leaves his house, he wonders if today he'll be the face on the news. If white people everywhere will dig through his past trying to find a reason why his murder was justified.
Every time a gender-nonconforming individual leaves the house, they wonder if they'll be beaten and hospitalized or killed. They wonder if they'll be the victim of a hate crime.
God forbid a person be black AND visibly queer. That's just "Asking" for disaster. (Yes, the quotes are intended to denote sarcasm. Being oneself is never, EVER the same as consenting to have one's safety violated.)
And no one is listening to us. Because they don't care. Seriously. All those rich white fuckers who have more vacation than they do workdays? All those guys up there who HAVE their socialized healthcare? They. Don't. Care. About. Us.
So we protest. We shout. We make ourselves heard. And we are criticized. "You should find a peaceful way to protest," entitled white people say. It actually means "You should do this in a way and a place that doesn't impact me at ALL, but that I can still post about on facebook and pat myself on the back for being SUCH A GOOD ALLY." They don't want us to be peaceful. They want us to be invisible and silent. The huddled masses on whose backs the rich build their empires.
Listen.
That won't work.
That won't ever work.
I respect pacifists. I really do. They have a code of ethics and they stick to it regardless. That's rad. You do your own thing, Pacifists. You make the signs. You write the letters. You hold hands and form circles between the violent and the oppressed. And seriously, that's amazing. Your courage and commitment should NEVER be underestimated.
But the rest of us? Seriously, guys. It's time to fuck this status quo up. Punch some fucking Nazis. Be loud. Block traffic. Shut down corporate offices. We will neither serve wealth and power to the rich and powerful. Neither will we silently accept their smug superiority as they slowly make laws that will result in our deaths.
We are allowed to hate our oppressors. We SHOULD hate our oppressors. Unfortunately, we can't love them into submission. We could do that if they didn't know that they were oppressing us (Although it is NOT the duty of the oppressed to educate the oppressors.) If they were just stupid and myopic.
But they know. They're doing it on purpose. Because what they want is more important than OUR LIVES.
It's time to get angry.
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