To Speak Out or Not to Speak Out

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. Today’s Sunday Poser is an intriguing one. Sadje asks whether I’m the one who will speak up when I see a wrong being done or whether I’ll keep quiet. I’m going to interpret this more broadly and share how I tend to react to injustice in the world in general.

And the truth is, shameful as it is, I no longer speak up. This didn’t use to be the case. When I first started out blogging on WordPress in 2007 and especially between 2009 and 2011, I frequently wrote about injustices to groups I didn’t even belong to, like trans people. Now though, I struggle to speak up and I’m not even certain this is out of fear of speaking over marginalized groups. Well, that is, I’m quite certain that it isn’t that. It’s fear of being targeted myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I still speak out in real life against injustices being done to other people, especially those I love.

I struggle with this when it’s microaggressions like “jokes” and I actually regularly catch myself making hurtful comments towards people in minority groups I’m not part of.

This is, actually, more problematic than it might seem. I mean, I could say I’m not trans, not an immigrant, not [insert the latest scapegoat of fascism], but in reality everyone has privilege and almost everyone is marginalized in some way. Besides, like my best friend recently said, fascism’s goal is to destroy society.

I am, however, often too scared of being the next target to speak out openly. This is why I’m more gentle than I’d wish I were when pointing out transphobic or racist or otherwise oppressive comments in real life and especially why I’m no longer as vocal as I used to be on my blog. The world just isn’t as safe anymore.

This does also mean I can no longer be fully myself online. It’s just too easy to track me (and my loved ones) down from my blog. It was even easier back in the early days of my being on the Internet, when I’d almost always use my full name everywhere. However, either I was the lucky one back then for not having been attacked in real life, or the world’s become a harsher place. Probably a little of both.

An All-Inclusive Society?

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. Today I am answering Jewish Young Professional’s Provocative question. The question is whether it is possible to create a society or community that is all-inclusive of everyone.

Like most other people, I think a society that truly meets everyone’s needs, isn’t possible. After all, some people’s human needs clash with other people’s human needs.

Then there is the complicating factor that not everyone wants to include everyone else. How do we deal as a society with exclusionary people? Racists, homophobes, transphobes, ableists, etc.? In intersectional feminist spaces, it’s clear: these get an instaban. But then, is the society still inclusive of everyone? I mean I for one, belonging to quite a few marginalized groups and being an ally to others, don’t care that racists, homophobes, transphobes, ableists, etc. would get a one-way ticket to the moon if they act out their exclusionary nonsense. But then society would be inclusive of them only as long as these people shut up. And I don’t mind privileged people shutting up, honestly, but that’s not the question. The question was not whether we could create a society that centers marginalized people, but a society that’s inclusive of everyone.

JYP also asked about religion and politics. Well, there’ve been too many wars based on religion and political disagreements for me to believe a truly inclusive society in this respect is possible either. In short, no, an all-inclusive society is really an illusion.

This doesn’t mean we can’t create a more inclusive society. We have, after all, still a long way to go before even thinking that our society comes close to including everyone. And, of course, I’m referring to my society, a modern, high-income country. Even here, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, Muslims, women even, are still regularly being excluded. To claim that everyone is accepted these days, is an incorrect statement, and usually one used to silence the marginalized person one is speaking to.

In short, a truly all-inclusive society isn’t possible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive for a more inclusive society. And, in my opinion, we should strive for that.