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So I am still pondering things from the discussion this afternoon and here is what I have so far: a feature of American society is a liberal fear of 'stepping on toes'. We want to be friendly and welcoming and this desire means we default to a quiet support mode for BIPOC....
...and LGBTQ folks. But here is the problem with that: Conservatives are LOUD in demanding what they want and loud people control the narrative. This puts us in constant defense mode. What if we got loud about our beliefs? We stop just having a written anti-harrassment policy...
...and start stating 'In this space we are whole-heartedly in support of equal rights for all - we reject racism, sexism, and all forms of prejudice.' We need to state this loud and proud and often enough that it becomes embarrassing to publicly state views in opposition. And...
...if I am doing this in California at church, in the library, at conferences, in the workplace and if someone else is doing the same in Wyoming, then maybe we can influence each other's families. The key is to call out every bullshit thing they say. 'Aren't you uncomfortable...
...with a man coming into your bathroom?' we reply with 'So you're prejudiced against Trans people? I'm not okay with that.' They say 'Black on black crime?' we reply with 'That is a racist argument and I won't allow that.' They say 'Brown people steal jobs' we say 'I love...
...immigrants!' They say 'This flag is Southern Pride' we say 'It's a proud symbol of racism - I won't tolerate it.' If we can learn to lean into our discomfort and just speak truth outloud, repeatedly, with no need for disambiguation, we can make the BS socially unexceptable.
