Day: January 6, 2018

I don’t have a lot of wording spoons right now, and possibly less patience. But, several earlier reblogs tie together pretty well to describe some of the frustrations I keep running into with people Doing Politics.

There was one post from comcastkills, then two connected posts from theunitofcaring. (I picked that reblog of one not so much to point at the commenter specifically, but because that does express such a common set of ideas which are unfortunately relevant here.)

It gets frustrating enough sometimes, trying to deal with people who really do not seem to recognize or value many modes of interaction other than Asshole Wars. That obviously does not describe everyone trying to Do Politics, but the ones going for AW as praxis are difficult to avoid. They want it that way, and the weird self-righteous dominance behaviors apparently keep working for them.

Chances of getting much constructive done plummet, the more of that behavior gets tolerated and the more other people get driven off by it. AW as praxis mostly leads to more AW. Hardly surprising, but such a depressing pattern.

I just really do not have the spoons to start into some of the reasons I think this keeps happening right now. But, I wish I had more reasonable expectations of those factors getting successfully addressed anytime soon. Without some serious cultural changes.

But, I even started writing this because I got reminded yet again of how much I love the frequent conflation of approaches rooted in progressive pragmatism (or assorted other non-Western political philosophies), with being a Filthy Centrist Collaborator who expects people to kiss up to The Oppressor.

There are some pretty big differences there, to the point that it’s not really part of the same game at all.

(Righteousness is a very dangerous word in English and in European history…

Both idealism–the idea that God is on someone’s side–and vilification–the idea that one side is evil or fundamentally in the wrong–are barred from this process. #)

But, too many people don’t know or care to find out what someone is even talking about when it’s easier to force-fit everything into their existing widgets. Crucial to the Asshole Wars, whatever the front. And disturbing how many people do seem to regard that as the default.

I’ve made it very clear that even though i’m born female in this society that I don’t go to or perform in any space that is titled ‘women born women only.’ I am very happy to go to a space that says ‘all women welcome’ because then it is drawing like a magnet all those who self identify, who want to be in women’s spaces, and I feel like all people who are oppressed or discriminated against in this society have a right to get together y’know whether that be a third world caucus or it be a women’s dance, whatever it is. But, I think that when you begin to set a policy that defines who’s gonna be a women, and police the boundaries of it, then it’s not only a threat to everyone who doesn’t fit that, y’know ‘gee her feet are kind of big, her voice is kinda low, look at that beard growth, what do you think about that one’ it sets up a unhealthy atmosphere. Who’s pure enough to decide who’s women enough? And I think also that it reverts back to a biological definition of women, which, biological determinism, it’s always been the club used against women! You can’t suddenly lift that up as a liberating weapon. I think that that kind of definition ‘women born women, that we’re all women, that we have identical experiences, it’s innate,’ is a setback to the women’s movement. I have always said that the only time I’d go into a space that had been ‘women born women only’ is when I could go together with my transexual sisters

Leslie Feinberg, when asked about Mich Fest in this interview

(to show to any trans exclusionary radical feminist or biological determinist when they try to claim Leslie as one of them)

The interview is titled “In the Life: Interview with Kate Bornstein, Leslie Feinberg [unedited footage]” and is dated October 21, 1996. The link was posted by the UCLA Film and TV Archive.

The quote starts around 38:40. It’s a great interview, and the further context of the quote just hammers it home even more.

(via toreblogallthethings)

Source: tuffdyke