The Muffin Blog

I actually know what I want to do with this blog now! It’s going to be a place for me to air my views on politics, equality/anti-oppression issues, trans stuff, autism, and digital rights without having to deal with LJ drama. (Instead I’ll get political blog drama, heh. ^^)

So, since I feel like jumping in with both feet, here are some of my views on what it means (and doesn’t mean) to be pro-equality:

A lot of people who earnestly believe that they’re “pro-equality” will try to shut down minority discussions, especially angry ones, claiming that such discussions (and minority spaces in general) are “reverse discrimination!” This is because their notion of “pro-equality” is a naive one, based in the idea that the solution to prejudice is for all of us to just Put Our Differences Aside, and learn to All Just Get Along, and Sing Together in Perfect Harmony because In the End, We’re All the Same.

Oh, if only it were that simple! Alas, reality is rather different.

For one thing, we are most definitely not All the Same. We have different bodies, different cultures, different mentations, different genders, and so on. Some people may even be so fundamentally different from you that you may never, ever understand them or find common ground (and that’s okay, as long as you respect them). Most importantly, these differences are what make us who we are; it’s not as simple as just Putting Them Aside, not without everyone getting borged into a single homogenous culture.

Of course, finding a way to live together despite our differences is our goal, and a wonderful one to have, but it’s not as simple as Just Getting Along. The racism, sexism, able-ism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, and other -isms and -phobias of Western culture are all deeply entrenched, and those with power in our society have a strong interest in keeping them that way. The privileged are terrified of losing, or even facing, their privilege, and thus react with affront whenever marginalized people try to do something for themselves.

And every time minorities try to make their voices heard–every time we try to talk about our lives and our experiences, in our own way–privileged people are there to insist that we Shouldn’t Make Such a Big Deal out of these things, and that, instead of fighting for our rights and a better world for ourselves and those like us, we should simply Let It Go, so we can All Just Get Along.

Easy for them to say!

Being pro-equality doesn’t just mean singing Kum Ba Yah and Feeling the Love. Obviously I have nothing against love, but being pro-equality means more than that. It means taking up arms, fighting against the systems and ideas with which people are oppressed. For marginalized people and their allies, it means carving out their own spaces in society whether others feel comfortable with it or not, and then working at every level to make their voices heard. It means speaking out against prejudice wherever we find it, no matter from whom. It means working to change governments and organizations which oppress.

And it’s hard. Really hard. It can be incredibly discouraging, demoralizing. Sometimes, we wonder if anything we do matters, if we’re making a difference at all. Melissa McEwan described it as “trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon,” and that’s honestly how it feels most of the time. Being pro-equality is not for those who just want to feel warm and fuzzy, or those who are just looking to score some Liberal Points in the eyes of others. It takes much more than just a love of humanity, or a desire to Do the Right Thing; it takes courage, resilience, intelligence, sheer stubbornness, and the ability not to care when other people hate you.

But it’s also really rewarding when you do earn victories, and helps you make wonderful like-minded friends that you wouldn’t meet otherwise. And hey, it sure is a lot better than doing nothing (obligatory Burke quote goes here).

So, yeah–that’s where I’m coming from, and that’s (some of) what I’m going to be talking about. And with that, I welcome you to the new Muffin Blog. I invite you to read and comment; I do have a comment policy which I expect commenters to follow, but as long as you do, please feel free to respond and take part in the discussion. I don’t bite.