someone politically progressive who happens to be a cishetero-passing white male, so it’s like everything I say is constantly under a microscope
Y E S.
An extremely toxic angle to a lot of progressives and especially the discriminated folks is automatically assuming everything to be evil once it comes out of cishet male’s mouth. Like, I get it, quite some people actually are discriminatory, but verifying the person’s intent before lashing out shouldn’t be too hard. Many, many times the person really didn’t mean anything bad.
Sometimes I genuinely wonder how much this toxicity contributes to the development of reactionary right-wing types, and the way they portray the left and progressives as a screaming crowd in search of another scapegoat.
Sometimes I genuinely wonder how much this toxicity contributes to the development of reactionary right-wing types, and the way they portray the left and progressives as a screaming crowd in search of another scapegoat.
You’d be (well maybe not) surprised to learn it’s actually a HUGE part of the problem. Having met a number of those people almost invariably they (the younger ones anyway, like 40yo and under) used to be liberals until they disagreed with ONE thing or said ONE wrong word, and then it snowballed from there into them supporting the other side that is all too happy to welcome them, indoctrinate them, etc, just by playing nice. Turns out people are still individuals and “toe the party line or else” works on some but pushes others away, and some of those pushed away can be caught by the opposition with a different disposition, sort of a “catch more flies with honey” situation. Who knew?
Anyway yeah, I think a lot of us on the left could do better to avoid adding fuel to the caricatures that the right-wing reactionaries portray us as, cause it’s already a dumpster fire as it is.
And seconded. Radicalization targets the vulnerable. When people feel they’re not welcome in any other spaces, they tend to wind up in toxic echo chambers where they get poached by nefarious actors.
Not saying we should welcome everyone with open arms, but if someone’s problem is merely ignorance, that can be remedied. As long as there’s no malice in their intent, we should be willing to reach out a hand or at least give them a path forward, because it will ultimately grow the left’s reach, while minimizing the recruitment pool for right-wing extremists.
I’ve been flamed for talking about this before, but I think it’s too important to ignore.
Y E S.
An extremely toxic angle to a lot of progressives and especially the discriminated folks is automatically assuming everything to be evil once it comes out of cishet male’s mouth. Like, I get it, quite some people actually are discriminatory, but verifying the person’s intent before lashing out shouldn’t be too hard. Many, many times the person really didn’t mean anything bad.
Sometimes I genuinely wonder how much this toxicity contributes to the development of reactionary right-wing types, and the way they portray the left and progressives as a screaming crowd in search of another scapegoat.
You’d be (well maybe not) surprised to learn it’s actually a HUGE part of the problem. Having met a number of those people almost invariably they (the younger ones anyway, like 40yo and under) used to be liberals until they disagreed with ONE thing or said ONE wrong word, and then it snowballed from there into them supporting the other side that is all too happy to welcome them, indoctrinate them, etc, just by playing nice. Turns out people are still individuals and “toe the party line or else” works on some but pushes others away, and some of those pushed away can be caught by the opposition with a different disposition, sort of a “catch more flies with honey” situation. Who knew?
Glad to hear I’m not just crazy.
I am crazy, but not just that.
Anyway yeah, I think a lot of us on the left could do better to avoid adding fuel to the caricatures that the right-wing reactionaries portray us as, cause it’s already a dumpster fire as it is.
And seconded. Radicalization targets the vulnerable. When people feel they’re not welcome in any other spaces, they tend to wind up in toxic echo chambers where they get poached by nefarious actors.
Not saying we should welcome everyone with open arms, but if someone’s problem is merely ignorance, that can be remedied. As long as there’s no malice in their intent, we should be willing to reach out a hand or at least give them a path forward, because it will ultimately grow the left’s reach, while minimizing the recruitment pool for right-wing extremists.
I’ve been flamed for talking about this before, but I think it’s too important to ignore.