Holy freakin' shit, I've been meaning to get to this one post of yours for a good, long while now. Lawdeh!
I'm going to go a little deeper here and say that it's not just that our existence is actually, well...real. But more so that, particularly nowadays, our voices exist. They not only exist, but they are amplified to higher and higher degrees.
Now, you're absolutely right in the first case: a huge, huge, huge part of being privileged is not having to recognize, much less respect, the existence of marginalized people. White people don't have to do it for people of color. Cis people don't have to do it for transgender people. Able-bodied people don't have to do it for disabled people and so on and so forth. And there are many, many more instances of privilege that intersect where that willful and comfortable ignorance is allowed.
And with being able to ignore our marginalized existences, comes the privilege of being able to ignore everything that makes up our marginalized existences. The racism, sexism, ableism, and everything else that we face...privileged people can ignore it all they want.
But now? Now with the incredible power of technology, particularly social media? Now our voices are prominent. And our voices are shouting about our existences, loud and clear.
Now Jewish people point out antisemitism. Now black people call out anti-blackness. Now bisexual people call out biphobia. And they do it from platforms that are now nigh impossible to ignore-Twitter, Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Facebook, etc.
We're not telling lies and we're often not mincing words. We are talking about our very real, lived experiences without an iota of a fuck given to the feelings of privileged people (and it's quite common that they think their feelings is even remotely on the same level of consideration as our very lives).
So what are privileged people supposed to do? When marginalized people are not wrong, when we're not mincing, when we're organizing, when we're talking so loudly and truthfully? What are privileged people to do when they still do not want to listen after centuries of oppressing us?
They have to re-create (because oppressive narratives evolve to what currently acceptable) dismissive and silencing tactics.
Thus, the term "political correctness".
Black women speak about why it's harmful that white gay (often cis) men appropriate our identities? Political correctness! Black people in general speak about why white people have no say over the N-word (uh no, Louis C.K...no forever). Political correctness! Middle Eastern & African people speak about U.S imperialism? Political correctness!
Silence those voices! Be quiet! Be quiet! Be quiet!
It's not just our existences; it's our voices making known our existences.
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wingedbeast's journal
no subject
Date: 2015-05-23 11:43 pm (UTC)I'm going to go a little deeper here and say that it's not just that our existence is actually, well...real. But more so that, particularly nowadays, our voices exist. They not only exist, but they are amplified to higher and higher degrees.
Now, you're absolutely right in the first case: a huge, huge, huge part of being privileged is not having to recognize, much less respect, the existence of marginalized people. White people don't have to do it for people of color. Cis people don't have to do it for transgender people. Able-bodied people don't have to do it for disabled people and so on and so forth. And there are many, many more instances of privilege that intersect where that willful and comfortable ignorance is allowed.
And with being able to ignore our marginalized existences, comes the privilege of being able to ignore everything that makes up our marginalized existences. The racism, sexism, ableism, and everything else that we face...privileged people can ignore it all they want.
But now? Now with the incredible power of technology, particularly social media? Now our voices are prominent. And our voices are shouting about our existences, loud and clear.
Now Jewish people point out antisemitism. Now black people call out anti-blackness. Now bisexual people call out biphobia. And they do it from platforms that are now nigh impossible to ignore-Twitter, Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Facebook, etc.
We're not telling lies and we're often not mincing words. We are talking about our very real, lived experiences without an iota of a fuck given to the feelings of privileged people (and it's quite common that they think their feelings is even remotely on the same level of consideration as our very lives).
So what are privileged people supposed to do? When marginalized people are not wrong, when we're not mincing, when we're organizing, when we're talking so loudly and truthfully? What are privileged people to do when they still do not want to listen after centuries of oppressing us?
They have to re-create (because oppressive narratives evolve to what currently acceptable) dismissive and silencing tactics.
Thus, the term "political correctness".
Black women speak about why it's harmful that white gay (often cis) men appropriate our identities? Political correctness! Black people in general speak about why white people have no say over the N-word (uh no, Louis C.K...no forever). Political correctness! Middle Eastern & African people speak about U.S imperialism? Political correctness!
Silence those voices! Be quiet! Be quiet! Be quiet!
It's not just our existences; it's our voices making known our existences.