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yvannairieIt also bothers me a little bit that "have good memes" is seen as the strategy to promote left-leaning attitudes when meme culture itself is reliant on aggression -- being "short, quippy and wrong" in the words of Innuendo Studios -- without really recognising that a) aggression itself is offputting for a lot of people, and also b) a lot of it becomes super fucking intimidating if you're not a 100% socially competent, neurotypical and able-bodied.
Like, just the other day it occurred to me that unless someone knows what the alternatives are, leftists saying they want to get rid of bosses must sound terrifying. Not everyone is or can be self-directed, and the idea that all helpful structures that allow us to mitigate the organisation load on our lives would just go away would drive me to an anxious breakdown, too, and I am actually someone capable of entrepreneurship. It's also been pointed out by other people that for marginalised people, the idea of "community policing" is absolutely terrifying, because our communities are so hostile to us, and not all of us are capable of reforming community ties after the social and emotional isolation being marked as other has inflicted on us.
Everyone recognises status quo as a powerful force, and that complacency is both the thing that stops certain things from getting better, but also stops them from getting worse... and yet there doesn't really seem to be outreach that isn't loaded with Power Words and Calls To Action and filled to the brim with the kind of energy that most neurodivergent people (and plenty of otherwise marginalised people) just can't fucking summon because they're just too exhausted trying to stay alive. Having no place in the conversation unless you're willing to start shouting is exhausting.
It's insidious, the way the conversation is had in a way that presumes everyone is motivated and capable, while also deigning to acknowledge that "hope" is the first thing ripped out of the hands of the marginalised. No, I don't really blame anyone for growing complacent and emotionally checked out and making it worse if life is already shit for them, and not recognising that creates a feedback loop of callousness that makes conversation impossible.
Like, just the other day it occurred to me that unless someone knows what the alternatives are, leftists saying they want to get rid of bosses must sound terrifying. Not everyone is or can be self-directed, and the idea that all helpful structures that allow us to mitigate the organisation load on our lives would just go away would drive me to an anxious breakdown, too, and I am actually someone capable of entrepreneurship. It's also been pointed out by other people that for marginalised people, the idea of "community policing" is absolutely terrifying, because our communities are so hostile to us, and not all of us are capable of reforming community ties after the social and emotional isolation being marked as other has inflicted on us.
Everyone recognises status quo as a powerful force, and that complacency is both the thing that stops certain things from getting better, but also stops them from getting worse... and yet there doesn't really seem to be outreach that isn't loaded with Power Words and Calls To Action and filled to the brim with the kind of energy that most neurodivergent people (and plenty of otherwise marginalised people) just can't fucking summon because they're just too exhausted trying to stay alive. Having no place in the conversation unless you're willing to start shouting is exhausting.
It's insidious, the way the conversation is had in a way that presumes everyone is motivated and capable, while also deigning to acknowledge that "hope" is the first thing ripped out of the hands of the marginalised. No, I don't really blame anyone for growing complacent and emotionally checked out and making it worse if life is already shit for them, and not recognising that creates a feedback loop of callousness that makes conversation impossible.
