On finding your own failings

Racism is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards people who are not classified as “white” or of Eurocentric background or ethnicity.

Misogyny is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards women or womanhood.

Ableism is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination towards the disabled or mentally ill or disability or mental illness.

Xenophobia is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards persons of another country or culture.

Islamophobia is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards muslims or those who practice Islam.

Biphobia is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards bisexual people or bisexuality.

Transphobia is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards trans people or transness.

Homophobia is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination, towards gay people or gayness.

Oppression is the combination of social power with aversion, anxiety, and/or animus, singly or in any combination.

Social power is collective, found in law, in attitude, in policy, in practice, in the norms and mores that constitute “normal affairs”.  Social power includes legal, governmental, economic, or simply the weight of socio-cultural mores, traditions, history, and norms. Social power divides those who have some quality as being separate from those who lack that quality. The systems created by a society that benefits those with the desired qualities is called Structure. Language, law, religion, art, fashion, entertainment, and so forth are all Structure — all social power.

In western social mores and norms, the qualities that are supported by social power are:

Whiteness, wealth, masculinity, heterosexuality, sexual power, ableness, cisness, maleness, youth, education, Protestant faith, Christianity, aesthetic beauty of form, and/or familial status, singly or in any combination.

Aversion is the avoidance, escape from, retreat from, and effort related to those things.  Aversion is things like being disgusted, in opposition to, identifying something as repugnant, and exhibiting strong feelings about this. Aversion is the desire to avoid, the act of arguing to avoid or reduce encounters. It includes being unwilling to listen or accept factual statements made by disavowed people. It also includes not wanting those people in the restroom.

Anxiety is the worry about or regarding, concern for safety relating to or of, and efforts relating to concern and worry relating to the object of anxiety. It is often incorrectly reduced to “fear”. One need not be afraid of something to be concerned about it. Anxiety is distress, worry, concern, and overt anxiousness about something or someone that is strongly expressed in physical, literal, or metaphorical terms. Anxiety is worry, concern, or anticipatory ideation relating to a group disavowed. It includes prejudice against this group of people, such as worrying about what they do in the restroom.

Animus is intense dislike. A person who refuses to eat green beans because they really don’t like them, is demonstrating Animus. . It involves devaluing the lives of people, erasing their dignity, opposing their civil and human rights, denying them the ability to mark themselves,and outright harm to them. Animus is intense dislike, easily distinguished by overly concerned and reactionary language and violence, in any form. It includes agitating in the interest of preventing these disavowed people from being In the restroom by law or policy.

Oppression is the use of threatened or actual social power against a group or community, that has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation, intentional or not.

Violence is the use of threatened or actual social power against a group or community, that has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation, intentional or not.

Oppression that is intentional is violence. Speaking is intentional.  You cannot speak without having an intent. Your words carry meaning and subtext.

Misgendering someone intentionally is violence. Catcalling a woman is violence. They are also oppression. They are transphobia and misogyny.

In less than 1000 words you have just been taught a few things.  All those “identity politics” are about Oppression.  Oppression is violence.  All the activism around “identities” is activism around oppression. It is all the same thing.

Oppose Oppression.

Support Human Rights.

Now, apply those basic things above to your own life.  When you post a picture of Melania half or fully naked and it talks about or suggests how she is less a good role model or good person because she is naked, that’s misogyny.  That is violence. It doesn’t matter if you think that her husband is so bad that it is ok.

You still fucked up.

If you see a person talking about how they are “socially liberal” and they say they are opposed to abortion, they are being misogynist, because they are actively seeking to deny a woman a human right, and they are doing it on purpose, so it is violence.

Everything you do and say and think and write you should be running through this filter of is it oppressive to someone, in some way?

Even those who oppose human rights, who enjoy oppressive ideas, who celebrate and want to make them law.

You know, white men.

None of this is political.

Remember this. Always. Make it a part of your efforts. In everything.

In so doing, you will change the world.