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4 years and the press still did not introspect what they got wrong in 2016.
4 years of gaslighting on how sexism and racism were at play in 2016.
4 years and STILL no focus on underlying issues.
4 years of gaslighting on how sexism and racism were at play in 2016.
4 years and STILL no focus on underlying issues.
Biden may make 270. But not without a legal fight.
You know that bullshit on court packing? It was already done! By the Republicans.
You know that bullshit on court packing? It was already done! By the Republicans.
But this is beyond just the press.
This is about a white supremacist president who asked noe-nazis ‘to stand back and stand down’ and LOTS of Americans voted for him.
So yes, this is who USA is. Just as increased Tory seats show us who UK is.
This is about a white supremacist president who asked noe-nazis ‘to stand back and stand down’ and LOTS of Americans voted for him.
So yes, this is who USA is. Just as increased Tory seats show us who UK is.
We can’t change things unless we are willing to accept the hardest, most bitter truths.
And the truth is yes, the white suprremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy exists. And it has people who uphold it, sustain it, LOVE it!
And the truth is yes, the white suprremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy exists. And it has people who uphold it, sustain it, LOVE it!
Yes, even when it doesn’t work for them!
That is why so many Americans voted for a party that is killing them daily. Just as the Tories would likely again win an election here in the UK.
That is why so many Americans voted for a party that is killing them daily. Just as the Tories would likely again win an election here in the UK.
At the conference panel I chaired this past weekend, one of the speakers Barry Mauer said something that I can’t forget:
The left of centre thinks a win-win is the preferred result but the right prefers win-lose and failing that, lose-lose results.
The left of centre thinks a win-win is the preferred result but the right prefers win-lose and failing that, lose-lose results.
I recognise so much of myself in that statement. In my worldview, if we improve things for everyone, we all win. After all white supremacy hurts all of us, albeit to different degrees. The patriarchy hurts men too. Right?
So a change to structures where everyone wins, where we all share in the pie, is the ideal outcome.
But that ignores the folk that only think they win when someone else loses. For whom the patriarchy, the capitalism, the white supremacy kind of work, or at least promise to
But that ignores the folk that only think they win when someone else loses. For whom the patriarchy, the capitalism, the white supremacy kind of work, or at least promise to
And in this framing, seeing other people lose is not just the preferred but desired result.
In this worldview, it’s a zero sum game and to win, or feel like winning, someone else must lose
In this worldview, it’s a zero sum game and to win, or feel like winning, someone else must lose
And scariest part? When you can’t win in this framing, setting the world on fire, ie lose-lose, is preferred option rather than finding a win-win result.
So burning things down is preferable to sharing; everyone starving is better to all of us having a smaller piece of the pie
So burning things down is preferable to sharing; everyone starving is better to all of us having a smaller piece of the pie
Note: Mauer did not spend much time but simply noted the difference but since hearing him, I can’t stop thinking about it.
And I can’t ignore how much and in how many ways it makes sense
And I can’t ignore how much and in how many ways it makes sense
And even then, I am struggling with one part: I don’t want to accept that people can be so self-destructive as to choose lose-lose. Or that they can be cruel enough to want a win-lose when the alternative could be a win-win.
But that is our problem, isn’t it?
We can’t make change without accepting that not only are our socio-economic-political systems built on injustice but that many prefer an unjust, cruel world as long as there is a hsnce for them to be on the winning side
We can’t make change without accepting that not only are our socio-economic-political systems built on injustice but that many prefer an unjust, cruel world as long as there is a hsnce for them to be on the winning side
It’s an intellectually more rigorous although affectively far more discomfiting stance as it goes against my instinctive view of humans as capable of and even inclined towards justice, equity, compassion.
Yet it does not sway me from the principles that I hold dear: that until all of are free, none of us are free; that there can be no peace without justice; that justice can only be collective, reparative, liberatory.
It simply means being more clear eyed about what we are up against.
It means not denying or even gaslighting myself that people - even those more individually vulnerable than me - may actively prefer injustice, inequality, cruelty even at huge costs to themselves.
It means not denying or even gaslighting myself that people - even those more individually vulnerable than me - may actively prefer injustice, inequality, cruelty even at huge costs to themselves.
It simply means I have to work longer, harder and smarter to limit the harm to the most vulnerable, to try being the bulwark against those who can’t stand for themselves, to make the changes for justice for all of us.
How? Well I am artist first. So I will continue to create art that helps people see the eorld differently because to paraphrase Baldwin, if you can make someone see reality differently, you can change it
I am an educator so I will continue teaching in class & outside as ine way to change how people see the world is to teach them the tools to see what is hidden, covered up, denied. By teaching critical thinking...if only because we share one planet & lose-lose isn’t an option
2016, I was devastated and struggling to even imagine hope.
2020, I am resolute because I now know that hope isn’t something we find but something we build, mainstain, sustain and grow. Because really, justice can only be win-win and there is no other option.
2020, I am resolute because I now know that hope isn’t something we find but something we build, mainstain, sustain and grow. Because really, justice can only be win-win and there is no other option.
Freedom. Justice. Peace. These are the end goals. These are win-win and I won’t stop trying to push that arc of the universe towards them 
