“If my ideology is correct, then all I have to do is debate someone with facts, logic, and reasoning and show them how wrong and stupid they are for believing what I don’t believe in.”
Cue endless debates on the Internet or “debunk” videos that literally last 6 hours or so, never mind the endless 100-page debates on various Internet forums and social media and/or reply videos and/or rampant debate-bros
And to be honest?
Marx was right about people’s motivations and reasoning for doing things.
It’s not just what you believe
It’s also about what your interest or class interest is
I would also argue that your position or positionality also matters (where you are in society, though I somewhat keep that distinct from class and interest).
If you are in the lower classes, your interest is to basically better you and your own.
And if the bourgeois are essentially starving you or slowly killing you, it is basically your interest to prevent that from happening lol
It’s not about your ideas necessarily (though that could be a factor, sure)
“If my ideology is correct, then all I have to do is debate someone with facts, logic, and reasoning and show them how wrong and stupid they are for believing what I don’t believe in.”
Cue endless debates on the Internet or “debunk” videos that literally last 6 hours or so, never mind the endless 100-page debates on various Internet forums and social media and/or reply videos and/or rampant debate-bros
I mean… guilty. I’ve done that to combat bigotry targeting many of the minority statuses possessed by my friends and me. I learned the hard way that fascists were going to be bigots no matter how much evidence I compiled from scientists saying that my people and I weren’t dangers or inferior or aberrant phenomena. But I didn’t know what else to do. My fault for forgetting that Americans are given a sabotaged education and thus largely can’t read. Or they won’t read. Or malice and stupidity are a false dichotomy.
’ve done that to combat bigotry targeting many of the minority statuses possessed by my friends and me. I learned the hard way that fascists were going to be bigots no matter how much evidence I compiled from scientists saying that my people and I weren’t dangers or inferior or aberrant phenomena. But I didn’t know what else to do
I grew up with this too.
I am Latina and trans so I get this completely (never mind Autistic).
Maybe a conservative or liberal might change their mind
But some people just don’t care at all, they have a class interest not to care and a class interest to lord over you
I’m trans and autistic as well. Those two demographics aren’t as universally misunderstood as they used to be but it’s still very bad because their oppression is under threat and reacting like crazed animals.
They aren’t the progressive endpoint. There are less palatable mental illnesses that are hated and misunderstood even by otherwise progressive people, for example. Like cluster bs. Public understanding of them mirrors public understanding of trans people 15 years ago.
I agree with all of this. But there are others. I think from the eyes of those 50 years from now even the two of us will be seen as bigots and that’s for the best.
In a way:
Western rationalism is too, well, reductionist
“If my ideology is correct, then all I have to do is debate someone with facts, logic, and reasoning and show them how wrong and stupid they are for believing what I don’t believe in.”
Cue endless debates on the Internet or “debunk” videos that literally last 6 hours or so, never mind the endless 100-page debates on various Internet forums and social media and/or reply videos and/or rampant debate-bros
And to be honest?
Marx was right about people’s motivations and reasoning for doing things.
It’s not just what you believe
It’s also about what your interest or class interest is
I would also argue that your position or positionality also matters (where you are in society, though I somewhat keep that distinct from class and interest).
If you are in the lower classes, your interest is to basically better you and your own.
And if the bourgeois are essentially starving you or slowly killing you, it is basically your interest to prevent that from happening lol
It’s not about your ideas necessarily (though that could be a factor, sure)
I mean… guilty. I’ve done that to combat bigotry targeting many of the minority statuses possessed by my friends and me. I learned the hard way that fascists were going to be bigots no matter how much evidence I compiled from scientists saying that my people and I weren’t dangers or inferior or aberrant phenomena. But I didn’t know what else to do. My fault for forgetting that Americans are given a sabotaged education and thus largely can’t read. Or they won’t read. Or malice and stupidity are a false dichotomy.
I grew up with this too.
I am Latina and trans so I get this completely (never mind Autistic).
Maybe a conservative or liberal might change their mind
But some people just don’t care at all, they have a class interest not to care and a class interest to lord over you
I’m trans and autistic as well. Those two demographics aren’t as universally misunderstood as they used to be but it’s still very bad because their oppression is under threat and reacting like crazed animals.
They aren’t the progressive endpoint. There are less palatable mental illnesses that are hated and misunderstood even by otherwise progressive people, for example. Like cluster bs. Public understanding of them mirrors public understanding of trans people 15 years ago.
To me, being trans and Autistic affects me in every single way imaginable
I did not realize it fully at first.
I definitely do now.
Allistics and cis people hurt me though.
It’s not being trans and being Autistic that hurts me so.
It’s the stigma and the discrimination against me.
The lack of empathy, understanding, and the ensuing social ostracization.
Even being brown hurts me in so many ways it’s unfathomable.
But it’s not being brown itself; it’s the people who silently or overtly hate you for being brown.
I agree with all of this. But there are others. I think from the eyes of those 50 years from now even the two of us will be seen as bigots and that’s for the best.
I have thought about this.
Honestly, so be it.
I don’t want to “smile for the cameras” anymore.
My private life has already been taken away.
I am uncomfortable with this reality but I must persevere.
It’s fine if I have to crawl so that eventually others can run.