Good character transcends any label you choose to give yourself or others. ♥️
Just FYI I checked out this person’s Twitter aaaaand it’s kind of a mess. She calls George Floyd a criminal and criticizes making a statue in his honor (in different tweets), defends the police and the efficacy of their training, says white privilege isn’t real but suggests that Black privilege *is* real??? (she has a poll asking if Black privilege is real, then links to some forum she’s leading on the topic of privilege), makes fun of folks who are uncomfortable with being gendered wrt language and specifically the use of Latinx, and a whole host of other crap. This is just a sample of what I saw scrolling through her account for like five minutes
Also, she makes tweets like the above and says that people who think about race all day are wasting their time… when 95% of her tweets are about race, and anybody who says these things on the internet in the current climate would know they’re inflammatory and will spark debate. Which results in, yanno, people talking about race all day lol
So, just some context for these tweets. The general sentiment isn’t bad, and yes of course character matters! And is indeed frequently being left by the wayside in the current diskhorse.
But often when people say “I don’t care about your labels” what they actually mean is “I don’t care to *respect* your labels” which are entirely different things.
As a queer person, I do have to laugh at the idea that lack of character is costing people like me relationships, opportunities, happiness, and peace, rather than… queerphobia. Sorry no, I didn’t experience corrective rape at my ex’s hands because of my lack of character–which did indeed cost me my relationship, many opportunities, my general happiness, and yes, peace. I experienced that because my ex was 1) a rapist, and 2) aphobic. So many queer people are assertive about our Labels™ because others are actively committing violence against us over our queerness. Proudly, loudly claiming our labels is for many of us an act of resistance.
I interpret this tweet differently.
In real life, no matter what city or country I have ever lived in – my experiences with people face to face (regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, whatever) have always been the same:
They don’t care about their “labels”, so I don’t care about their “labels”.
I don’t care if someone is a member of the LGBTQ community, I don’t care what race they are. Characteristics that we are born with (and have no control over) have zero bearing on who we are as human beings.
And it has zero bearing on whether I choose to associate with someone, work with someone and/or befriend someone or not. The only thing I’ve only ever cared about in that regard is a person’s character (and in professional contexts, whether someone appears to be qualified or not). And the people I befriend, associate with and work with are the same.
The only time I’ve ever seen a person’s labels elevated over one’s character is in digital spaces. And it’s the most bizarre thing in the world.
After 2.5 years on tumblr, I get the sense that some folks hoard labels like “oppression points” and wield them like a shield . As if these labels give them carte blanche to say and/or demand whatever they want – whether their claims are true or not, or their demands are legitimate or not.
Anon hate? Senseless attacks? Mob rage? Of course it’s justified, because “look at all my labels, obviously you cannot ever disagree with me!”
But the thing is: none of those labels speak to who they are as human beings. The only thing that can speak to that is their character. And no label makes anyone infallible.
To me, this tweet is simply saying that all of the labels in the world don’t matter if you’re a jerk lacking substance.
As for whatever else was on this person’s twitter feed – I wouldn’t know. I didn’t look at it.
But this person appears to be Black. And I thought we were supposed to be “amplifying Black voices”. Do this person’s opinions not matter because they don’t fall in lock step with a specific ideological script?
She defends the police? That’s actually not news to me. I personally do not know a single Black American in real life who wants to defund the police. They think that is stupid. Do their opinions not count because they’re not the “right” kind of Black opinions?
And finally, there seems to be a weird obsession in digital spaces with “frisking” speakers. Which again, is so bizarre to me because in real life – in all of the social, professional and other every day circles I have found myself in: there has been a tacit understanding that the person who is speaking is not what matters.
The thing that truly matters is WHAT is being said.
If Adolf Hitler told me the Earth was round, I’m not going to dismiss that the Earth is round and scream that it is false because Hitler happened to be the one who said it.
“I don’t care if someone is a member of the LGBTQ community, I don’t care what race they are. Characteristics that we are born with (and have no control over) have zero bearing on who we are as human beings.”
See, because you’re my friend and I know you, I know that when you say this I can take it at face value. You actually mean it exactly the way it sounds. Which is that you don’t make judgments about someone’s character based on anything besides their actions.
But I have seen soooo many people online and heard soooo many people irl say almost the exact same thing word for word, and that is not what they meant at all! What they actually meant was usually something pretty nasty and/or bigoted. Which is why I went to look at the source of these tweets, despite agreeing with the overall sentiment of them.
“To me, this tweet is simply saying that all of the labels in the world don’t matter if you’re a jerk lacking substance.”
That is a very reasonable understanding of this tweet. And again, if I hadn’t heard Differentvoicex’s precise language coming from the mouths of assholes so many times, I probably would have reblogged it without much thought.
You’re right about what this tweet is saying. But I think the context is important to acknowledge. And that’s what I’m trying to get at here, is providing context. It’s not about “what this person said here is wrong because I don’t like other stuff they’re saying on the bird app” because that’s absurd.
I’m not going to continue the Hitler comparison because I don’t think I can compare a Black woman whose opinion I disagree with to HITLER without it being a very bad idea lol. But I get where you’re coming from, and I do want to address it.
You’re using a morally reprehensible human being whom I think we can all agree was a racist fucknut as an example, and suggesting that, according to my logic, because he was a racist fucknut he could never say things that were correct from time to time. Which isn’t what I’m doing at all. Of course, if Hitler said the Earth was round, the Earth wouldn’t suddenly be flat.
This isn’t a matter of dismissing an objective statement of scientific fact like “the Earth is round” because the person who said it was evil. It’s a matter of providing context around a politically charged statement by pointing out what else the source has said on the same issues. I’m connecting the content of this tweet to other content in the same vein on her twitter, which is relevant. If she had tweeted “the Earth is round” and I argued against that because I disagree with some of her political opinions, then I’d be comparing apples to oranges. As is, I’m comparing apples to apples.
“After 2.5 years on tumblr, I get the sense that some folks hoard labels like “oppression points” and wield them like a shield . As if these labels give them carte blanche to say and/or demand whatever they want – whether their claims are true or not, or their demands are legitimate or not.”
Anon hate? Senseless attacks? Mob rage? Of course it’s justified, because “look at all my labels, obviously you cannot ever disagree with me!”
You’re not going to get any disagreement from there lol. I’ve seen exactly that happen too many times not to recognize the reality of the situation. But just because there are some people who use their marginalization as a “shield” from critique, it’s important not to lose sight of why these labels exist and why the vast majority of us use them in the first place.
Especially right now, in June, fucking Pride Month, I’m wary of shitting on labels. This is a time for celebrating who we are with… well, pride lol. Sometimes that means waving a striped flag or putting “they/them” in your bio, and the mere act of saying “This is who I am and I’m celebrating it without shame!” doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with saying “I’m a poor, disabled biromantic ace woman, and therefore I can’t say anything wrong ever!”
My point in directing folks to look at the twitter account behind these tweets was to reveal that this is in fact exactly what the OP is doing. She’s conflating folks who are simply fighting for their rights with the sort of people who call you racist for not liking Thor: Ragnarok (which happened to me a few days ago asdf;hgksdf)
Call me old fashioned, but I think context is ALWAYS important lol
I’d be remiss not to respond to this:
But this person appears to be Black. And I thought we were supposed to be “amplifying Black voices”. Do this person’s opinions not matter because they don’t fall in lock step with a specific ideological script?
Her opinion absolutely matters! And I don’t think she should be silenced just because I disagree with her. But I’m also not obligated to agree with all of her opinions on racial justice just because she’s Black. No more than straight people are obligated to agree with me on all of my opinions about queer rights, or abled people are obligated to agree with me about disability rights. Being marginalized doesn’t mean I’m always right, and it doesn’t mean she’s always right either… which I believe is part of the point you are making, yes?
(Also, for anyone who thinks birk and I are now enemies, I’d like you to know that while we have this conversation publicly, we’re also DMing about a grompy cat in a sunflower costume.)
It’s honestly refreshing to see friends disagree and STAYING FRIENDS.
It’s honestly such a rare sight these days, it’s depressing.
♥️
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