#antiracist baby

[cowboy-heart]

'BUTCH MANIFESTO'

inspired by 'FEMME SHARK MANIFESTO' by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

(ID under cut)

Ko-Fi (Commissions Open!)

[ID: an original poem titled 'BUTCH MANIFESTO'. the stanzas are all on the left side of the page and lineated, except for the first line, and last stanza. Poem begins:

Listen up! Butches hold it down! We don’t spend hundreds of pounds on designer clothes and black and white tuxes – we shop off the charity shop rack, hand-me-downs from our bois, our men, our women. Butch is not a glamour word - Butch is not for the white collars in their 9-5 and their office parties, Butch is not for the woman in a police uniform with short cropped hair, Butch is not for the masc who looks down on our femmes, Butch is not for the dumbass white people who call themselves stud, like our people haven’t taken enough from black lesbians, Butch is not for the politician or the soldier, it’s for those of us who get shit done and don’t throw anyone under the bus; who stand between our loved ones and the white-knuckled fist; it’s for the people who take a breath of relief when they get home and get to lay their head on the shoulder of their baby and say, it’s hard, and I need you right now; it’s for those of us with hard-soled feet, worn by hours of standing, just so people can buy some useless shit on a Sunday. Butch is for the primary school teachers, the neighbour keeping your package safe, the hairstylist, the barber, the youth worker, the locked up, the sectioned, the evicted, the boy on the dole. Butches hold each other up, Butches stand up for communities, no matter how different we might be.

Butches stand up for Butches, because only we know the shit we face, we don’t argue over what butch looks like for someone - their struggle doesn’t counteract ours. We’re brothers, sisters, siblings, lovers, mentors, we don’t fight over femmes or fight each other. We help up our siblings who can’t hold themselves up and shouldn’t have to.

Butch is recognising our hurt, our pain, and making sure nobody has to go through that, in the very least not alone. Butch is not reproducing that hurt, butch isn’t the transfem exclusion, the toxicity, it’s driving our girls and boys to the abortion clinic, it’s holding your femme’s hair back over the toilet bowl, it’s telling your darlin’ to take a deep breath, before you poke the needle into her thigh, it’s holding back on punching the catcaller because you know it’ll put your lover in more danger, it’s fishing in your closet for an old, dusty dress for your questioning girl, it’s never calling the cops, it’s carrying the Narcan, it’s gathering the funds for bail, it’s tipping the waiter, it’s kissing the bruised chin of a fellow butch who’s built like a brick shithouse.

Butch is not all muscle, able-bodied, white Butch is not all skinny and androgynous Butch is care Butch is NURTURE. Butch is a cane and an unsteady step Butch is putting down the ramp Butch is wheeling up it Butch is addict Butch is straight-edge Butch is diaspora Butch is desi Butch is antiracist Butch is socialist Butch is punk Butch is black Butch is brown Butch is fat Butch is fat-loving Butch is mental illness Butch is antipsych Butch is autism Butch is trans Butch is anger Butch is tears Butch is grief Butch is the old bull Butch is the closeted kid in a dress Butch is the baby dyke wearing a rainbow flag cape Butch is smile lines Butch is crinkled eyes Butch is crying in your friend’s beat-up car Butch is foetal position Butch is pink Butch is motherhood Butch is fatherhood Butch is cat-dad Butch is fucking Butch is getting fucked Butch is stone Butch is bashful Butch is humble Butch is cocky Butch is proud Butch is single Butch is uneducated Butch is poet Butch is poetry Butch is council estate Butch is gentleness Butch is bones and spit and the soft curve of our lower backs the clenched jaw under a double chin the hard-eyes that any femme can see right through the estradiol the testosterone the carabiner clink the thick hands the cellulite the bloody pads the tampon string the mood swings the sagging tits the top surgery scars the swinging cock the hairy pussy the protruding t-dick the leather harness.

Butch is eternity Butch is sewn into the fabric of atoms Butch is love and solidarity Butch is never leaving anyone behind and never selling anyone out.

End poem. In the bottom right corner, the poet is signed as 'Ren H.' End ID].

[weareagitated]

(via Progressive Politics Antiracist Make Racism Wrong Again Cute - Etsy)

[tacitusk1llwhore]

Don’t cancel me for this, y’all, but I’ve seen a lot of politically charged posts about RDR (as I should; games about outlaws and the corruption of big and small government are and always will be inherently political), but one thing has really bothered and stuck out to me the most, especially in male-dominated spaces in the fandom. The idea that the Arthur Morgan in this day and age would be a raging MAGA conservative—I’ve gotten so, so many posts about it on my TikTok today, and this is finally me snapping. Here are a few arguments I’ve heard for this. “When he hears that the Democrats want to take his guns, he’d say hell no to that.” “He’s from 1899; you really think he would vote for a Black woman?” And my personal favorite: “Arthur says in-game he doesn’t engage in politics.” I’m not going to go through each of these and explain, in detail with evidence from the games themselves, why I think these are the dumbest takes I’ve ever heard in my life. In a space I hope is more open to this discussion, I hope you’ll join me.

1.) The gun control issue. I know, I know, this one seems pretty obvious; I mean, he’s a red-blooded American man and cowboy. How could anyone possibly think for a second he’d be for the party of gun control?? While this is true, you know what’s also true? The fact that he lost a child to gun violence. Now, of course we don't know exactly how Isaac and Eliza were killed, but judging from the time and efficiency, we can assume they were shot. Now let’s get away from assumptions. Arthur mourned the loss of his son, felt the agonizing, intense pain of losing a child, and said that it changed him forever, hardened his heart. Do we really for a second think that Arthur would listen to the story of Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, and countless others and say, “No, guns are more important.”? Absolutely fucking not. Not only has Arthur felt that loss, that pain, but he is deeply empathetic; hearing the testimonials of children in these buildings, families that lost their babies, would be more than enough for him to understand and push for common sense gun laws. The erasure of Arthur Morgan's trauma of losing his son and the erasure of his empathy for children and families is rampant in political spaces of the fandom; to simply assume that because Arthur is an outlaw, in modern times he would be this “don’t tread on me.” “Cares more about guns than kids” kind of guy is asinine to me. Even if he hadn’t felt that loss and that pain, there are multiple times in the game where he is given a deeper understanding of things he has never experienced; he becomes angry at that pain inflicted, takes the mission with Charles and the Bison, and hears about the vaccines being diverted from the reservations, and the Black doctor (I think he’s a doctor) you meet in Rhodes. Once he heard these stories, these testimonials, or saw the pain, the hardship, he was quick to step in and do something to make a change. He would not value weapons over the lives of people, as we can see from the game.

2.) This one is always fun to see because it assumes that Arthur is inherently racist. Now, I’m going to state one of my least favorite but still valid arguments: he has minority friends. This is very true; look at Charles, Lenny, Javier, and Tilly. Here is why it’s one of my least favorite arguments: you can have minority friends and still be racist, sexist, homophobic… Having friends doesn’t make you antiracist, so what makes Arthur antiracist? One camp interaction stands out to me the most in regards to this, the one with Tilly when they first move south. Tilly comes to Arthur in specific to talk about how nervous she is being so far south; she understands that the south is a dangerous place for dark-skinned people, especially the location they’re in. Arthur, while he tries to soothe her, pointlessly at first, claiming that it's a good place to run from the law, also understands this, almost immediately changing his tone and telling Tilly not once but twice that e personally will keep her safe, that she has his word that he personally will keep her safe; a man that has hate in his heart for POC would not do that, ever. Another interaction is one with Lenny, where Lenny points out that Arthur wouldn’t notice the difference in the more southern states because the worst they’ll do to him publicly is say that he is friends with POC (less soft than that, watch the clips of it on YouTube if you want the full dialogue), whereas for Lenny the worst that can happen to him publicly is a lynching (which he states all the way back in chapter one where he almost was lynched). Arthur is not ignorant of racism; he knows that it exists—I hate the whole “Arthur doesn’t know about racism.” Because he does, and saying he doesn’t is an insult to his intelligence and awareness of the world around him. He knows racism exists; he personally just cannot fathom it; he cannot picture himself perpetuating racism (again, see the scene in Rhodes with the Black man), which is where I think that confusion that people say he doesn’t understand it comes from—he isn’t confused by racism; he’s confused why that man assumes he’s racist, because in his head he simply can’t fathom being bigoted.

This one has two parts, so bear with me. This also assumes that Arthur is sexist; the argument I see for this is the one-off comment he makes to the working girl at the saloon, "I didn't know I was talkin' to a lady." Was this an ok statement? No. Does it make him a raging sexist? Also no. Let's look at his relationship with Sadie; he does not underestimate her because she's a woman; he trusts in her and her abilities with unwavering confidence, so much so that he entrusts the safety of John, Abigail, and Jack to her. Now let's look at the camp interactions, one of which Arthur states that he sees no difference between men and women (bi king) and that most are bad, but some are worth loving. A man who is a raging sexist would never say something like this; he would never equate men and women, but Arthur does see them as equals. I see a lot of people point out that Arthur is far more protective of the camp girls than most, but this isn't because he sees them as less than him; he just understands that a lot of them lack the ability to fully protect themselves (Love you, Tilly and Mary-Beth). He isn't quite as protective of the women that he knows with confdence can and will protect themselves with confidence, but even then he will stick up for them if needed. Arthur Morgan is a protector of women, which is so incredibly important today and back then.

3.) Here’s my favorite. Arthur doesn’t engage in politics. Looking at this in terms of the game, he absolutely does engage in politics; he has opinions on rights and the government; that is, in fact, political—he doesn’t vote, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t make political statements or isn’t even unintentionally political. Now let’s look at this in the frame of today. Being non-political in 1899 and being non-political in 2025 are two wildly different things; politics has changed drastically in the last almost decade where thngs have circled back around to be voting for or against human rights, and from my evidence above, Arthur would be voting for those rights. In modern times it is almost impossible to be nonpolitical; I dare say it's impossible. Everything now has politics attached to it; that argument is their gotcha moment because they don't understand that, which is why they make the argument in the first place.

So, why does this matter? Arthur is a pixel outlaw in a fictional setting of 1899 America. I guess in the grand scheme of life it really doesn’t, but in fandom culture it absolutely does. Many people, including myself, come to fandom spaces to escape, to cope with things from their past or events of the day, to chat about characters, and to share theories and art, and so on. Imagine someone who lost a child, sibling, or friend to gun violence logging on for their daily dose of distraction only to see someone making points as to why a character who is comforting to so many people wouldn’t care about the death of their lost loved one, just guns. A POC or member of the LGBTQ community doing the same and seeing arguments as to why Arthur is homophobic or racist. Seeing something like that is in fact harmful; taking things and stretching them to fit your narrative despite the actual source material pointing in the opposite direction requires erasure and explaining your own personal biases publicly. Someone stating that Arthur is a racist is just them stating that they themselves are a racist or that they themselves care more about guns than lives—as we’ve seen, the public stating of controversial things or overall morally reprehensible ideals when gone unchecked spirals and spreads, and soon we have a space of people who will openly state bigoted things and push the people in the fandom here for reasons of a shared enjoyment for whatever reason or the people who use things to cope or as a distraction out of the space, effectively ruining it and potentially the outlook on the content of the game. Fandom spaces shouldn’t tolerate bigotry, and lots of Red Dead fans have been expressing bigotry lately, and these people have started to go completely unchecked. It bothers me; it always will, even if it is just a silly cowboy game.

[doberbutts]

It’s very refreshing to see your thoughts on the state of feminism and masculinity, particularly men’s position in the movement. Sometimes coming on here makes me feel insane with the takes I see from people who have clearly never done any activist work, read anything by a black activist, or actual gender studies scholarship. I really enjoy reading your takes, they’re very nuanced and thought provoking!

I was talking with a very good friend of mine (a black lesbian) and discussing how we go online and see totally wild assbackwards takes from people claiming to be feminists and antiracists and then when actually confronted with the work, freak out and state that it's antithetical to the cause. Even when it's work written by people who began the cause. How we grew up in fairly similar yet different demographics and we heard all the same early work from our black elders and then we come online and even the most baby kindergarten-ass idea or theory is shredded in favor of some extreme bastardization of the most radical political viewpoints and that's it.

For her, it's why she doesn't engage with tumblr anymore. For me, it's why I refuse to let people try to talk over me about black politics.

[seriousfic]

"Someone help us! There are Facehuggers in the medical bay! They're trying to kill us!"

"Oh, so Xenomorphs are ontologically evil now? They're just born bad? You know, I'm really disappointed in you, Ripley. This isn't very antiracist at all. For all you know, those baby aliens could grow up with positive values and choose to be productive members of society. What other races do you think are evil, huh? Blacks?"

[petefromarma]

2000s proto-incel adorable baby vs 2010s mom-is-a- feminist quirky adulterer man

here’s why cheating on your wife is actually extremely woke and antiracist

[jellybeanium124]

xxx

I'm angry in this one btw. real properly angry. I don't wanna talk about this because I know some of y'all are thiiiiis close to blocking me for not falling in line and being a good little jew and repeating the slogans thoughtlessly, but I'm so mad and scared and nobody cares at all and I wanna shut up about it so I don't lose all my goyische friends but I can't I just can't.

hm maybe people are being arrested because there is some violence and this is terrifying jewish students?? and I think the author of this article is way too kind to these students. they hail hamas as heroes. they don't think the innocent civilian hostages should be released for the crime of being israeli. they champion themselves as being antiracist when ANTISEMITISM IS AN ETHNIC PREJUDICE YOU DUMB FUCKING CHAZERS!!!

jews are terrified.

rabbis are telling us to stay home.

whenever there's an "assembly" on the uni I live by, I'm terrified it'll turn violent. I'm terrified they'll burn down or deface the clearly labelled building where the jewish org lives.

I stopped wearing my magen david because I'm terrified of my peers, my peers who are supposed to be inclusive and love everyone regardless of ethnicity, seeing that I'm jewish and harassing me or worse.

the average college campus is less safe for jews than it has been in decades.

the optics of your movement are shit. you're infested with jew haters, and no one seems to care!! no goy cares, because you all care more about hating israel than not hating jews. and hating israel turns into hating jews so, so quickly. I want palestine to be a free nation. I want this war to end. but none of you understand that as long as hamas exists peace cannot happen. none of you understand that if you hate israelis you're a fucking antisemite lol sorry. if you want every israeli dead, you want half the world's jews dead. if you don't think that makes you an antisemite, lemme give you another example. let's say you want all black americans dead (not all black people are american, in fact, less than half the world's black population are in america). are you racist? YES. same fucking logic here.

saw a video the other day where some dumbfuck was like "have you considered that all hamas knows is oppression and hatred? 🥺" THESE ARE GROWN ADULTS!! YOU RACIST FUCKING INFANTILIZING FUCKING IDIOT!! THEY ARE GROWN ADULT HUMANS AND YOU ARE TREATING THEM LIKE BABIES AND CLAIM TO BE ANTIRACIST??? if you see POC as too innocent to be bad, then you are falling for the noble savage stereotype all over again. has that stereotype historically been attributed to arab people? no. but it definitely fucking is now with the way y'all think rape and terrorism is excusable.

none of you fucking idiots see anyone involved as full humans because none of you have a goddamn piece in it. you see palestinians as innocent babies who could never rape or hurt anyone, and you see israelis as demons to be exterminated. you're racist, you're hateful, you're not helping anything, and I hope you will one day be so, so ashamed of the fear you've instilled in jews worldwide while seeing them as genociding monsters regardless of ties to israel or anything, as well as the myopic infantilizing racist way you view arab people.

and one last thing: "FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA" IS ANTISEMITIC. IT'S A SLOGAN ENDORSED BY HAMAS. IF YOU ARE CHANTING THAT OVER AND OVER AND OVER GUESS WHAT YOU'RE HAVING AN ANTISEMITIC PROTEST, SORRY. you can't reclaim that slogan, it is calling for the destruction of israel, which will lead to jewish genocide, or just a massive jewish refugee crisis if they're lucky and hamas doesn't succeed in their goal of exterminating the jews.

[readingsquotes]

"Elite panic, manifested in crackdowns on dissent, has clarified to growing numbers of people a basic truth: any hope of building a multiracial left strong enough to confront the resurgence of fascism depends on solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. This is because Zionism, the movement for a state for the Jewish people in the eastern Mediterranean, is the cause that happens to most powerfully unite liberals and the right in open expression of racist warmongering.

In its aspiration to racialize Jews worldwide, Zionism has two poles: in Palestine, it is a colonial project of Jewish supremacy. In the United States, the most important center of Jewish life outside of Palestine, Zionism has buttressed a liberal multiracial order in which Jews of European origin are considered both white and an aggrieved minority. This combination explains the outrage cycles over antisemitism that punctuate American public life, in which Zionists can weaponize the language of antiracism against critics of Israel. When directed at actual victims of Euro-American racism and colonialism, however, tendentious accusations of antisemitism have always carried a whiff of desperation — which is also why the multiracial character of the Palestine solidarity movement has threatened  Zionism and must be either downplayed or disrupted.

This dynamic, which leaves antisemitism on the far right to metastasize unchecked, has only intensified since Oct. 7. Many of the flashpoints over Palestine have been sites of ruling-class power purportedly charged with reproducing a multiracial meritocratic elite: electoral politics, government bureaucracy, corporations, nonprofits, the arts, journalism, and above all higher education. And it is predictable that after Palestinians themselves, those punished for speaking out on Palestine in these spaces are often Black.

....

Boomer Zionism’s policing of post–civil rights parameters had its first major test in the summer of 2016, when a policy platform document produced by a major BLM movement organization (and co-authored by Rachel Gilmer, a Black Jewish organizer), the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) crossed a red line of Zionist consensus by accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians. The blowback was swift and predictable: Zionist groups decried the statement, and a New York City fund-raiser for BLM was canceled. But compared to critics of Israel in the academy and nonprofit sector, BLM was a robust social movement and less vulnerable to Zionist pressures. Instead the move backfired, amplifying intergenerational schisms within Jewish communities. Activists who had been energized by BLM turned against the heavy-handed tactics of boomer Zionists. Some did so out of solidarity with Palestinians, others because they wanted to preserve the possibility of building alliances with Black activists. For these younger Jews, interrogating their whiteness in the United States also pushed them to question their Jewish privilege under Zionism. In modeling an antiracist approach that departed from post–civil rights parameters, BLM helped shift the conditions for critique within Jewish communities as well, influencing groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.

[textualviolence]

like octavia butler is a black woman writer & she said in interviews she was a feminist and committed to anti racism. So what else could her books possibly be about i mean shes gotta be teaching us how to be even better antiracist feminists, right? Thats why we read her works. to be more woke. become better allies. "gain consciousness" shut the fuck up!!!! xenogenesis has got none of that in it so stop lying!!! just cause the main character is a black woman doesn't mean the book is here to teach you how to not be racist like a stupid little baby. The "Utopian ending" of xenogenesis is one in which fascism has won. And its because the point isn't fascism bad or fascism good but fascism scary and upsetting (& therefore fascism horny). Give up on your sense of self and your ostensible ethics and morality that are all about how "forced eugenic breeding" and "mass sterilization of unfit populations" is something you're "fundamentally opposed to". Just give in, because it feels good. There you go. Good girl. Your morals mean nothing and you're my little doggy now. And you get a Utopia in exchange (a fascist one). Thats what xenogenesis is about. And no one gets it!!! And donna haraway was like "uhhhh its an opening of feminist possibilities" no it isn't!!!! its an opening of possibilities for my pussy but its not saying shit about what we could or should so as feminists shut the fuck uppppppppppp

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Alice Wright

Ibram X. Kendi's Antiracist Research Center at Boston University fires almost HALF its 45 staff, as ex-workers claim he had too much power and brand him EXPLOITATIVE

Woke activist Ibram X. Kendi's Antiracist Research Center at Boston University had laid off up to twenty members off staff

Boston University confirmed the center had made 15 to 20 workers as the center moves towards a fellowship model 

Former and current staff alleged that the center had been poorly managed 

Woke activist Ibram X. Kendi's Antiracist Research Center at Boston University had laid off up to twenty members off staff amidst accusations from former workers that the organization was 'exploitative' and poorly managed. 

Boston University confirmed the center had made 15 to 20 workers redundant from a staff of 45 as it moves towards a fellowship model. 

'The Center is evolving to a fellowship model. Dr. Kendi remains the Director. We can confirm that there were layoffs at the Center' Vice President Rachel Lapal Cavallario told Fox News on Thursday. 

'The University and Center are committed to working with and supporting affected employees as they look for their next opportunities' the statement read. 

But staff who worked there painted a far less diplomatic picture, claiming Kendi was given too much power and that he mistreated those working for him. 

He infamously implied that white people should be discriminated against to tackle the horrific prejudice previously inflicted on black Americans. 

The center opened at BU during the turbulent summer of 2020 when America reckoned with nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd. 

Some former and current staff told the Boston Globe that the center had been poorly managed by Kendi. 

'There are a number of ways it got to this point, it started very early on when the university decided to create a center that rested in the hands of one human being, an individual given millions of dollars and so much authority,' Spencer Piston, faculty lead of the center's policy office told the publication.  

Former assistant director of narrative at the center, Saida Grundy, said the center lacked structure and the culture was 'exploitative' as she was asked to work unreasonable hours. 

'It became very clear after I started that this was exploitative and other faculty experienced the same and worse,' she told the outlet. 

Kendi garnered recognition in academic circles with his 2019 book 'How To Be An Antiracist,' which exploded in popularity during the global movement for racial equality in 2020.  

Then-president of BU Robert A. Brown said at the time that Kendi's leadership 'would create a critical emphasis on research and policy to help eliminate racism in our country.'

Kendi's hiring announcement was followed by a flood of donations to BU to support the center and Kendi's work, including a $1.5 million, three-year gift from the biotech company Vertex and a $10 million donation from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey later that summer. 

A few months later, The Rockefeller Foundation donated $1.5 million over two years to help fund the center's COVID-19 Racial Data Tracker.

Kendi's work, especially his children's book 'Antiracist Baby' has gained criticism for teaching children controversial critical race theory. 

Kendi defended his books in June 2022 as a way to teach people, including children, to 'see racism.'

'Well, actually, teaching people to see racism,' Kendi said on 'CBS Mornings.' 'There's a difference. Race is a mirage. Racism is real. And it's – you know who's the most likely to be harmed by racism? Our children. You know who are least likely to engage about it? Our children. That's what's really prevailing me to do this work.'

==

Kendi is a full-blown fraud.

Glenn Loury: I take umbrage at the lionization of lightweight, empty-suited, empty-headed mother-fuckers like Ibram X. Kendi, who couldn't carry my book-bag. Who hasn't read... no, I'm sorry, he hasn't read a fucking thing. If you ask him what Nietzsche said, he would have no idea. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, he's an unserious, superficial, empty-suited lightweight. He's not our equal, not even close. Fuck.

[justsomeguycore]

hairspray was straight up such a big influence on me lmaoooo like baby’s first antiracist anti fatphobia exposure

[moleshow]

i was in a bookstore today and found of a copy of how to be an antiracist by monsieur ibram x kendi. now being familiar with his greatest work, Antiracist Baby, i was curious to know what his non-children’s book writing* was like. and, well.

It’s bad.

[surreyambie]

Random rant about something that's been said frequently and better than I ever could.

Sometimes (as a white person insulated from racism) you forget how blatent and openly evil racists were in not even 70 years ago.

The 1949 Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific was both very popular and controversial. The controversy stems from the two main romances in the show and the plot as a whole deal with racism and interracial marriage. The leading man falls in love with an asian woman while stationed on a south pacific island during WWII, the plot covers the couple's struggles with both external and internal roadblocks caused by racism.

Ultimately the romance fails. The leading man fails to overcome his internalized racism and bitterly sings the most controversial song from the show "You've Got to be Carefully Taught." The song states that racism is not natural, and that it needs to be reinforced by those dear to you.

Now today, the biggest denciation you'd see from politically important racists would be to deride its obviousness and say that the show is just "virtue signalling." Of course, the more blatent, yet platformed, racists nowadays may point to some study that shows babies like people who look like their parents more than others.

At the time the show was almost cancelled because of this song and message. Notably the government of Georgia (the state (obviously)) introduced a bill to ban any entertainment with "...an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow."

It's at this point where the more naive might say "but surrey why would an anticommunist bill target a show about interracial marriage?" And the answer to that question is made obvious by one lawmaker's statement that "a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life." You see, communism at the time was used as a boogeyman to smear and ban any sort of antiracist or tolerant movement, MLK Jr. and the civil rights movement were often accused of being communist conspiracies to create division and weaken America. Remember this next time some racists talks about BLM or the like make nearly the exact same accusation.

When you hear the sort of couching lawmakers and pundits use to deflect accusations of racism or other such bigotry, you realize that they really aren't that different to the olden racists. They point to some nebulous idealogy that they're ACTUALLY attacking instead of actual people, like wokeism, transgenderism, communism, globalism, etc. Sure they might not say that race mixing is communism (out loud) anymore, but they'll sure imply it.

They will try to obscure the hate in their heart for their fellow man because it is so obviously ugly, but it is important that we do not let them get away with it.

[mbvvacationbibleschool]

Beyond Good and Evil

It’s come to my attention that I may be evil. 

A weaponized and naive notion of propaganda, mixed with moral absolutism has caused many people to throw huge swaths of humanity and the strawman versions of their morality or ideology into the camp of absolute evil. It’s always us vs them, isn’t it? I got into some kind of argument where I ended up being treated as some kind of charicaturized version of the idiot yuppie naive swindled evil soft godless leftist environazi that I may represent in the minds of others. To some, I am the posterchild of evil, especially because I am not shy about speaking my mind- spreading the devil’s seeds of deception.  I am the deluded one who has been bathing in propaganda.

It was very telling to me in that I had been painting these foolish stubborn backwards ecocidal fundamentalist assholes with an oddly similar brush.  I even let myself feel afraid of the alt-left anarchistic anti-natal “antiracist” misanthropics that are willing to throw every baby out with the bathwater. Or of course the truly deplorable “neo-nazis” that are allegedly everywhere, rioting, killing, pillaging. For the radical, even you are a brainwashed bootlicker. Truly these people are evil, right? 

First radicalized with the perception of environmental degradation, I found solidarity with the environmental movement, then the psychedelic movement, the posthumanists, moral relativistic deconstructionist and nihlistic philosophers of the current age. I’m all for a free expression of consciousness that is dignifying for people and the planet. You say you want a revolution? Well if what you’re talking about is violence, you’re going to have to count me out.

Most people are starting to see the cracks forming in our society’s foundation as growing problems rear their ugly head in droves with solutions constantly blocked by the bogieman of your choosing - is it the brainwashed left or the brainwashed right? Is it the rich or is it the politicians? Is it your neighbor? Anyone but me, once radicalized, of course. It’s easy to end up in perpetual exasperation with the dizzying paradox of everything changing and nothing changing fast enough.

You want to take down the Borguouse?  Don’t chase red herrings. Divide and conquer, as the old saying goes. A binary view of evil and defining outgroups through tribalism is the most effective way to stunt change or to ensure unintended or civillian casualties (figuratively or literally). Even Liberals are guilty of tribalism and redifining outgroups. I do believe that a binary view of morality will cause hatred and division by default- at best, it will convey easy answers to hard questions that really ought to be wrestled with for one’s own sake. As Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Yin and Yang is about how everything has aspects of good and evil in it, and that any ideology brought to its logical extreme has severe negative consequences. As Marcus Aurelius said; “Men were born to be in service to one another.” If we are part of the same body (as it also says in the Bible) then why would one hand strike the other?” We are trying to push a leaning tower of a society, and it seems like taking a balanced or weak stance will mean the tower will topple right onto our heads.  

It’s easy for me to say that what we consider as right and wrong is mostly convention, as someone with a very laissez-faire and impersonal view of the divine influence on our human development. My ideas are a hodgepodge of Charlie Darwin and the Dada artists, Nietzsche, and of course the most controversial and brilliant pieces of post-modernist cinema such as Rick and Morty. We came from monkeys and our society has been left to figure it out on our own. The beliefs we hold dear are some sort of hodgepodge of whatever worked and whatever other people were saying - as the old sayings go -  “Might makes right,” and “Truth is whatever your friends let you get away with saying.” The irony here is that deconstructionism, moral relativism and absolute skepticism are the kinds of hip-and-trendy platitudes of the self-described intellectuals of the 21st century. Contrarianism is another common way to come to firmly held beliefs. Do we come to our beliefs naturally, or was Calvinism right after all?

So I want to try and redefine propaganda, as redefining is a post-modern deconstructionist thing to do- propaganda is often a logically consistent simplification of an issue that relies on omission or downplaying of certain truths and exaggeration of other truths to create a desired outcome in the induvials exposed to that message. Sometimes these messages are spread by so called grassroots organizations or well meaning individuals. Sometimes the messages or the desired outcomes could be for your good or the common good, sometimes it is for some stupid distraction or a culture war.  To reiterate  - often there is perception of real problems in so called propaganda or deluded and radicalized groups. A lack of mutual trust and putting up divisions between groups is where the real problem lies. It may help to consider both sides of an issue. It may help to ask if you may be vilifying other groups - even that particular group that you may think deserves to be vilified. EVEN THEM. The challenge is humanizing the people who have been dehumanized, putting a face behind the person that is the posterchild of your outrage.

We all love a good villain because it makes a confusing world so much simpler. Some people bemoan the rising popularity of the anti-hero or the humanizing of villains in television such as Disney’s (tm) Maleficent, or even villainless films such as Encanto, but I really think it’s time for a hard think. We generally only have enemies if they think we are their enemy and vice versa. Learn to communicate before you escalate.  Mutual trust and cooperation is preferable to mutual distrust. See the prisoner’s dilemma or Friend Or Foe. I don’t really believe that there are evil people or evil nations. Only through ignorance and lack of trust or respect do injustices occur, most people think they are acting out of their own self interest. I recommend vigilence against easy answers to tough moral questions, and avoiding vilifying your neighbor. Who really is evil?

[150-907-multic-america-mmolina]

Multimedia Journal Entry 3: Internet/Social Media

Instagram account of Ibram Xolani Kendi, American author, professor, anti-racist activist. https://www.instagram.com/ibramxk/?hl=en

Kendi’s framework of "anti-racism" versus "racism" helps us understand how, even in the "Land of Hope," African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and all ethnic groups continue to face racial inequality.

Kendi is an American author, professor, anti-racist activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policies in the United States. He uses social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, to disseminate his thoughts on race, systemic racism, and anti-racism.

Kendi has also been recognized for his books, including Stamped from the Beginning, How to Be an Antiracist, and Antiracist Baby.

We can connect Kendi’s analysis with that of Ronald Takaki (April 12, 1939 – May 26, 2009), an American academic and author of the famous book A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, in which Takaki addresses history issues of race and stereotypes in America. Kendi’s analysis in Stamped from the Beginning underscores how current systems of racial oppression are not limited to the South but are woven throughout American society, from the North to the South. Takaki describes in A Different Mirror what African Americans experienced during the Great Migration, when they left the South to escape Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynching, and police brutality, seeking refuge in the North. However, they encountered a different form of racism, deeply ingrained in Northern institutions. African Americans, migrating to the so-called "Land of Hope," were later discriminated against by white Americans who claimed their neighborhoods had been ruined by the migration of people from the South. African Americans faced discrimination in employment, housing, and education. Kendi’s work shows how these structures were justified by racist ideas and how they still exist in today’s society.

His posts often question race in America, encourage critical thinking, and promote activism. Kendi’s writings discuss how race intersects with other systems of power, such as class, gender, and sexuality. As a woman and a Latina in this country, I am able to connect Takaki’s narratives with Kendi’s messages about empowerment for minority groups. I have personally experienced racism at various points in my life, whether when applying for a job or traveling outside of the country, so I can relate to Takaki’s narratives and Kendi’s critical thinking.

Now more than ever, I strongly believe in the importance of embracing diversity. Now that I understand American history through Takaki’s narrative, I can unite with and support Kendi’s efforts to eliminate racism in America.

Reference

Kendi, I. X. (2016). Stamped from the beginning: The definitive history of racist ideas in America. Nation Books.

Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be an antiracist. One World.

Kendi, I. X. (2020). Antiracist baby. Kokila.

Kendi, I. X. (n.d.). Ibram X. Kendi. Wikipedia. Retrieved December 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibram_X._Kendi

Kendi, I. X. [@ibramxk]. (n.d.). Instagram profile. Instagram. Retrieved December 11, 2024, from https://www.instagram.com/ibramxk/?hl=en

Takaki, R. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America.

Takaki Ronald. (n.d.). Ronald Takaki. Wikipedia. Retrieved December 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Takaki

[clowngames]

How are those nonfiction novels going?

Thanks for asking!

I finished Trust the Plan by Will Sommer. It's a fairly satisfactory account of the history of Qanon, though I don't think it explains the why of Qanon well enough. I think Sommer is a traditional journalist who probably believes in minimal spin or speculation, so I can't fault him for this too much. Did you know there was a Baby Q? The conspiracy theory had its own Babies spin-off! (short story: a young man claimed that he will eventually grow into being Q, and travel back in time to send messages as Q. People... believed him.)

I'm a little less than halfway through How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi, I'm unsure if I'm going to continue it. I think it's an excellent foundational text (and in fact I've nearly written essays about what's rhetorically effective about it), but that's just it - it's foundational. I think there are lots of people - leftists even - who would benefit from this book, but it hasn't said anything I'm not already well-acquainted with.

I'm early on in How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley, and in contrast with How to Be an Antiracist, this book has several starting assumptions about its readers which make it rhetorically much less effective. I'm too early in to give it well-formed thoughts beyond that critique, and in fairness if I'm reading a book about fascism it's a safe bet that I'm already on the left (the book casually asserts that Trump is a fascist which I feel may leave a sour taste in the mouths of liberals).

I still haven't registered for Hoopla so The Joy of x by Steven Strougatz is still in my TBR. I'm unsure how much more to dedicate to How to Be an Antiracist before replacing it. Hoopla also has way more audiobooks by bell hooks than Libby does, so it's a matter of time before I make the switch. Not sure what the best hooks books are so so far I'm picking at random!