#the personal is political

[typhlonectes]

[skyethel]

What does Judith Butler know about loading her son’s corpse in a cab? What does she know about the horror of turning a taxi into a hearse?

im so mad. i've been in mourning and a state of constant rage for palestine for the past few years, and these past weeks have been especially devastating. while im not palestinian myself, i have friends and family that are, and i cant help but be on edge about the things they cant afford to think about right now.

i read their 'thought piece'. its nothing new on that front, and thats why it makes me so mad. im really struggling to connect with the blind, white-american privilege of calling for non-violence in the face of a genocidal apartheid regime. the fucking gall of these so-called western intellectuals to preach how rampant anti-intellectualism has become just to turn around and buy into some colonial playbook of peace shit is hilarious. people i thought were with me on this, not only on palestinian liberation but on liberation full stop, have been a constant disappointment. i cut off so many ppl i called friends over the absolute lack of grace and empathy they handled this with. when are white western 'activists' going to stop treating us like timed bombs of irrationality?

this part in particular kept coming up and made me feel like i was going insane:

"When, however, the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee issues a statement claiming that ‘the apartheid regime is the only one to blame’ for the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israeli targets, it makes an error. It is wrong to apportion responsibility in that way, and nothing should exonerate Hamas from responsibility for the hideous killings they have perpetrated...The necessity of separating an understanding of the pervasive and relentless violence of the Israeli state from any justification of violence is crucial if we are to consider what other ways there are to throw off colonial rule"

literally nobody is asking anyone to 'exonerate' hamas. hamas is a military organization fighting the US-backed israeli occupation with smuggled weapons that is active in 365 km² at best. hamas is not even in the orbit when it comes to comparisons to israel.

israel said it with its own mouth that hamas is a product of israeli occupation. this isnt a matter of opinion, right? or am i too far left to think that a brutal occupation will radicalize its victims? and they gave them the means to become a 'terrorist organization'? how are you claiming to care about palestinians if you don't bother unsubscribing from the very schools of thought that constructed the occupation in the first place?

some of you 'leftists' have been lying about what you've been reading because where are the frantz fanon quotes you like to throw around, huh? where's the malcolm x, the angela davis? where are your insta posts with chomsky's books?

holy shit WHAT OTHER WAYS?

keep our communities out of your mouth. we are not some thought experiment you can exercise your conscience on. we're watching an ethnic cleansing unfold, and instead of supporting palestinians so many of you are playing out your own little fantasies of the 'progressive' solidarity you fail to show. sometimes, you need to fucking stop and listen instead of consulting the higher morality police on whether you need to 'contextualize' your incompetence.

[lichen-thr0pe]

[leftistfeminista]

In an interview with filmmaker Helma Sanders in 1970, months before she went underground, she voiced some of her criticism of the separation of public and private that renders women apolitical in the traditional sense. In this interview, she speaks to the particular dilemma in which women—mothers—find themselves.

She acknowledges that children need a stable family, and that men have their wives to see to that, whereas a politically active woman does not have a wife to take care of her children, and thus is faced with a problem: From the point of view of the children’s needs, the family is necessary, indispensable as a stable place with stable human relationships. Of course, many things are easier if you’re a man, and you have a wife to look after the children. If you’re a woman, so that you don’t have a wife to do all that for you, then you have to do everything yourself—it’s terribly difficult.

She continues, “Thus the problem of all politically active women is— including my own—that they on the one hand do socially necessary work. But on the other hand they helplessly sit around with their children just as much as all the other women.” In addition to criticizing the oppressive effect that the separation of public and private exerts on women through their motherhood (you either have a private or a public life), she also points to the limitations of politics that discount the private realm, and she counters that view with the claim that political work detached from “private life” is in fact not sustainable: “One could say the central oppression of woman is that her private life as private life is contrasted to any political life. Whereas one could turn this around and say that where political work is unrelated to private life, it is not right, it cannot be seen through.”

[theloosepage]

Flyer by Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill

photo: Fales Library NYU / Feminist Press

[hexonthepeach]

truly posting tonight, just very very late. thanks everyone for being so understanding. i had some complicated threads to tie in and mentally have been reeling from irl including a mild virus, pmdd, and unfortunately watching my country and others enable fascism in a way that brings back to mind what i experienced personally post-9/11 (i know, i'm old) witnessing warmongering and state gaslighting in real time

while i don't use either of my tumblr accounts to post about anything topical or political (i have a main out there with much broader reach) i'm sure those who've read any of my silly little work would understand that the ongoing imperialist aggression and genocide in gaza are devastating and my heart is broken for those who have died and who are currently suffering. i encourage anyone who can to support those in need through whatever means available to them. a ceasefire and humanitarian aid and a free Palestine are the only way to mitigate harm, there is no violence which begets or justifies violence, and no one with the privilege to should ever turn a blind eye to recognizable horror

thanks again for reading my work but thank you more for any willingness to engage with the world in a way that chooses peace and loving-kindness at all turns. i hope you understand i am not sorry for letting it affect me or delay a post

[riddlemefuckingthis]

You do not need to achieve anything to be considered a person. It’s a common misconception that to be a person, to be considered a fucking being, that you have to achieve something special.

All you have to do to be a person is exist. You can sit in your room all day, hibernate and just do nothing but you’re still a person. As citizens of a capitalist country, we are exhausted. We want nothing more than to rest, yet we constantly avoid it because we think that to be, we have to achieve something. When I was younger, I told myself that I would not buy any clothes until I was skinnier. I wanted to be ideal for others, but in doing so, I achieved something that I have to fight against every time I go and get clothes.

The other day I was at a thrift store looking for shirts and jeans and the whole time I was repeating to myself that I deserve nice things even if I’m not in the “ideal” body. My body is not what my younger self would be happy about. They wanted so much to be skinny, not knowing that at that time, they were a perfectly functional person with a body that did everything it needed to do to survive.

You don’t need to achieve anything to be a person. You can read all day, watch movies all day, eat food and lounge around your house all day, because your a person that needs love and attention, empathy, and respect. You don’t need to achieve anything!!!!

I reminds me of when I see children “misbehaving” and their parents immediately turn something off in their brain where they view their kids as beings. They drag their kid around, they don’t respect their boundaries and in doing so, the kid is now not a person to them for a few hours until they achieve something.

It just makes me angry. You have the right to exist even when you don’t think so. You are a person!!!

[an-sceal]

I got a haircut the other day, which was awesome. I've spent the past 48 hours looking at a stranger in the mirror when I pass one. I don't ever have a firm picture or solid understanding of "that is me in my body" when I look at myself anyway, just a vaguely recognized set of individual features (my ear with the elf point, my nose that is either too big or okay depending on the day, but is always the same shape, my eyebrows that are psychotic, my tattoo that is art.) Now my hair is short but still too long, which I will fix when I get home.

Before the haircut I was having a third or fourth day of feeling like nothing I was doing with or for my body was sitting correctly. Nausea from meds that are supposed to help my autoimmune disease, and bloating from meds that are supposed to help my stomach deal with the meds that help the arthritis, and fatigue from... everything? Anything? Breathing? (Possibly breathing, because allergens, and thus inflammation triggers, are high.) Clothes and hair and posture and voice were all clashing in this thing that contains me but doesn't fit. And I have had this body for many decades now, minus a part here or there, so I am very used to not feeling at home in it. Not feeling like my body is any sort of representation of who I am, or even a reliably identifiable placeholder for the spaces marked "ME".

It took me over 40 years to figure out that I wasn't a failure as a girl, as a woman, as a "female", even after I knew there were options well beyond the two I'd been given, or the notion of others thought I understood. Part of that was down to assuming I wasn't *____* enough to count. I didn't know what, but I knew I didn't hate my body, so I couldn't be trans, or even not-a-woman in some other way. Sometimes I clung to that as a defense, firm in reminding myself that I didn't, so I wasn't. Sometimes it just was, existing, a fact like my body, which is obvious to everyone else but a mystery to me at the best of times. In my mind, even though I've rarely felt at peace or in sync with "woman", I'd never had a moment where I explicitly felt that I wasn't a woman, much less one where I hated the idea. How would I have hated something that people told me I was, when I literally need to rely on the vague shape of myself and the labels people I trust have given me just to find myself in a mirror?

I was pretty clear for a long time on how I'd never felt any sort of gender dysphoria. Quite the opposite-- the things I held on to, got familiar with like the extra bump of my ear or the round tip of my nose, were all times I'd felt the MOST grounded and at home in this alien ecosystem I keep my consciousness in. Times I felt GOOD about how my hair fell or my clothes sat or my insides settled into my outsides. No dysphoria for me, no, no! Euphoria!

And that’s true! I have felt gender euphoria, lots of it, and bodily euphoria as I have moments where I'm seated and perfect inside my little squishy home. It never occurred to me that those opposite times, when I would have given ANYTHING to step outside my horrible hovel of a skin prison, might be... not how everyone feels. I'm not talking about self-harm or suicidal ideation-- the escape only counts if the me I know and am is intact when I emerge. I'm talking days where every part of me I recognized felt so disconnected and WRONG in relation to who I believed my body made me that I couldn't find any response but intense anxiety and eventual dissociation to cope with it.

I am not drift-compatible with my own body.

[kuribayashisachi]

拙勉強メモ

野口良平『幕末的思考』第３部 第1章　③に著者様からお返事頂いてしまいました！

野口良平『幕末的思考』みすず書房 第3部「公私」 第１章　再び見いだされた感覚──第三のミッシングリンク1～4　③

の、福沢諭吉『痩我慢の説』のところ。

誰もが住みよい世の中をつくるのには、法（ルール）が必要。 なのだけど、「強い人たちも弱い者を搾取する自由を手放し、従いなさい！」という理屈の根本は何か。 ルソーと中江兆民は、それは強者だけが自由を謳歌する、「自然状態」がまずいからだ。と位置づけたのだけど、 福沢は「痩我慢の説」でこういっているそうだ。「公をつくるのは私情だ」と。

このあたりが、私はちょっとわからず、「自然現象がまずいから」という考えでは不正解なのか……。と疑問だったのです。

すごく貴重なお返事を頂いてしまって、自分一人で見るにはもったいないので、ご許可を頂いて、ここにアップいたします。

◆　野口良平様からのお返事

・・・・・・・・（略）

自然状態のままだと弱肉強食が野放しにされてヤバいので社会契約を結ぶ。これが、ルソーと中江兆民が考えたことです。でもそのとき、すべての人がそれを「ヤバい」と気づけるわけではないのではと、二人は考えたわけです。

ルソーは、「立法者」と「市民宗教」を考えることで、その難問をクリアしようとして失敗しました。兆民は、その失敗に気づくことはできたのですが、その失敗を克服する明確な根拠を見出すことはできませんでした。

意外なことかもしれませんが、その根拠を見出したのが福沢だったのではないかというのが、私が出してみたた考えです。福沢は、弱肉強食は「ヤバい」と感じるものが、一個の「私」「私情」でしかないことに注目します。

ルソーは、「私」の大切さを痛いほど知っていましたが、私情というものが「公」をつくるだけの力を��つものだとまでは考えることができませんでした。言い換えれば、「私」というもののとらえかたがまだ浅く、「私」というものが経験のなかで広く、深いものに成長しうるものだとまでは考えることができなかったわけです。

「私」には公をつくる力がある。と同時に、どのような公にも回収しきれない固有の価値をもつ。こういうダイナミックな把握をなしえたのは、兆民よりも福沢だったのではないか。

一方、ひるがえってみれば、兆民自身、自分の思想にどこか足りないものがあるということに気づいていたふしもあります。国会議員をやめて再び野にくだったのち、いろいろな商売に手を出しては失敗し、辛酸をなめたのも、「公をつくるものとしての私」という考え方を試してみたかったのだ、と考えることも可能だと思われるのです。

今だったら、こういう説明も加えてみるかもしれませんね。そもそも、人間に私情というものがあるからこそ自然状態が生じた。と同時に、その自然状態を終わらせたいと思うのも、私情にほかならないのだと。「私情」には、それだけのふり幅が備わっているのではないか。

「私」には「公」をつくり、しかもその「公」のありようをチェックする力がそなわっている。福沢のこの考え方がなかったら、文学というものそれ自体の存在理由がなくなってしまうように、私には思えたのです。

＊＊＊

福沢に対しては、さまざまな批判が寄せられていることは承知しています。どんな言論にも、可食部と不可食部というものはあるでしょう。福沢の考え方についても、どこまでが可食部で、どこからが不可食なのかということが、過不足なく見極められる必要があるのではないでしょうか。

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

なるほどです。

なんとももったいなきご返信、ありがとうございます。

ルソーは、「私」の大切さはイヤと言うほど知っていたけど、「私」にそんな力があるとは気づいていなかった……。

そっかー。もしかしたらルソーは自分がすごい変人と知っていたので、そこまで「私」を大事にする自信がなかったのかなあ。

なんて、そんな奥ゆかしい人じゃないか。

そして、《どんな言論にも、可食部と不可食部というものはあるでしょう。福沢の考え方についても、どこまでが可食部で、どこからが不可食なのかということが、過不足なく見極められる必要が……》とのお話。 可食部と不可食部という言葉が、とても効き目があるなあ！ などとヨロコンデいたのですが、考えてみると、これは、もう少し強い「たしなめ」のお言葉ですね。

福沢のたくさんの言説の中から「醜業婦」発言に真っ先に注目して、福沢全体を否定してしまうのは、 りんごをもらってヘタに噛みつき「ぺっ、ぺっ、これ食べれない～」というのと同じじゃないですか、と。

◆　ウーマンリブの合い言葉「個人的なことは社会的なこと」について

頂いたお返事は、

（追記）「公をつくるものとしての私」という考え方は、The personal is political.という考え方を含みうるものだと、私は思います。ただ、ギリギリのところで、「私」には政治的な要素には還元できない性質が残されるように感じられます。福沢の「瘠我慢」は、The personal is both political and non-political.という考え方に近いのではなかという気がしますね。

「個人的なことは社会的なこと」というより「個人的なことは政治的なこと」ですね。

The personal is political.は、60年代にアメリカを席巻したフェミニズム第２波と反戦運動の合い言葉だったのですね。

私はそれを認識してないで、ウーマンリブのお姉さんたちが、世間から馬鹿にされながら「がんばろうね」「私たち自分勝手なわけじゃないよね。この苦しさは社会の問題だよね」と励まし合った、という感じの言葉だと思っていました。

どこかで耳に挟んでじーんとしたのです。

《「私」には政治的な要素には還元できない性質が残されるように感じられます。》

なるほど。

といって、野口さんのおしゃることが、自分にわかったのかどうか……そのうち、「あ」とおもうかもしれません。

野口さん、もったいなきお返事を、まことにまことにありがとうございます。

ｍ－－ｍ

[captainjonnitkessler]

Sometimes I wish we would start calling out the performative radicalism on this site for the poser bullshit it is. "Remember, it's always morally correct to kill a cop!" "Don't forget to firebomb your local government office!" "Wow, it sure would be a shame if these instructions on how to make a molotov cocktail got spread around!"

Okay. But you're not killing cops or firebombing government offices. You are posting on a dying microblogging website to a carefully-curated echo chamber that has radicalized itself into thinking that taking the absolute most extreme position on any subject is praxis but that anyone discussing the most practical way to effect actual change is your sworn enemy. You do not have the street cred OR the activist cred to be talking about killing cops, babe.

[governmenth8r]

Ppl will make your life worse, then call you immature for disliking them.

(This is about politics)

Yes, being understanding & compassionate is important for outreach, community building, & restorative justice. AND you are allowed to have big feeling when others work against your rights and happiness.

[lazyscience]

I cannot stress enough to young leftists just getting into activism - DO LOCAL THINGS. OMG DO LOCAL THINGS. I'm not saying NOT to protest for larger causes, but the way a lot of people get discouraged and burn out is because they're trying to push for top-down change when there is no local structure to build from. Build your cred and organizing experience by helping your local library, your local LGBTQ+ youth organizations, your local Food Not Bombs/other homelessness advocacy, tiny conservancy orgs, literacy organizations, service outreach for underrepresented communities.

Publicize in meatspace how easy and friendly these things can be at a local level, how little effort they require to make a real difference in quality of life for marginalized people. That's what helps people to believe they can do harder, bigger things, stay patiently working with a cause instead of trying to do a moonshot with a bottle rocket and when it fails retreating into angry nihilist "when the revolution comes" rhetoric like magas yelling about the Rapture.

The way we teach about civil rights and change is deeply flawed in that it focuses on Significant Events and Great Men (and a few women) as if they're the important parts of social movements, rather than the culmination of years, decades of effort on the part of rank and file community organizations, flowing together like spilled mercury pooling to attract that final lightning strike.

want to make a difference you can see? go to the damn library. check out ALL the gay books. tell your friends to get on the waitlist for when you're done with them. write to your city council or county agency about how great it is. push for an ordinance to require people challenging library books or requiring LGBTQ+ content to be in age-restricted "adult" sections to actually live in the place they're harassing, because many of the people leading these crazy book ban campaigns are a very vocal minority don't even LIVE in their service area.

yesterday I went to a little meeting at my local queer community center and I was admiring their bookshelves and mentioned that I work at the public library and someone said "well I bet they don't have any [LGBTQ+ books] at our library" and I was like um. yes we do. we have tons of them. half of our employees are queer leftists so they said "oh well I bet they don't in [nearby rural county]" and I was like uh once again yes they absolutely do. gay people live and work there as well

so here's a quick reminder that if you don't think your local library has enough queer centered materials you should actually check before assuming, and if you're not satisfied with their collection you should submit a request for more such books. I don't know what the political landscape of libraries looks like outside the us rn, but within the us no matter where you are, I promise you there are employees at your library fighting for inclusion and intellectual freedom and they can't win without vocal public support

[wanderingxrivers]

IN has been called for Trump. We now have an extremist for our governor and new senator. I'm terrified. Jfc.

[reikacchan]

don't give up

[thestarlightforge]

I love this.