Once Argo and I were in a fight and she said that I felt I had the right to say anything I wanted in the way that I wanted and other people had that same right. It was such a great line that it has stayed in my mind and I have plagiarized it over and over (thanks, schweetha’at). She’s right. People DO have the right to say whatever they want, and I was being a jerk by stopping her and trying to head her off at the pass. The take home message was that I needed to be a better listener and stop talking. In a lot of ways, I have.
I went after a bigot (Wayne LaPierre) on Facebook today, and someone chewed me out over it. Here’s the Facebook post, and the comments (because I don’t know this guy…. not my friend…. all my shit is public, etc.).
Let me translate for you. “I don’t like ni**ers in the White House, but this is the only political way I know how to say it. I am not educated enough to know what I am talking about, but even though I have run out of things to say, I have not stopped talking.” We need to get these people out of politics. Their time is so over. “Demographically symbolic?” Eat a dick.
Here’s the comment where I got upset:
I don’t think the additional commentary is needed. The man’s stand on their own. He feels Obama only got elected for symbolic reasons and that is the reason some voted for him but some people also were mad at Republicans and wanted a change and some just liked him regardless of his race which is actually mixed anyway. It was not an appropriate statement to make but your added “translation” is also not needed. People are smart enough to “read between the lines.”
I’m sure they are, but here’s my reply to that one after sending him a quick comment saying he had the right to think whatever he wanted:
I thought more about your comment, Steve, and the fact that you explained to me why my opinion was wrong is part of the problem. I have the right to say whatever I want, and so do you. The fact that you need to mansplain why I was wrong says so much more about you than it does about me.
And in closing, my final quote on that thread:
There are just things I will no longer tolerate, like Meryl Streep. I will not tolerate my leaders seeing color. I will not tolerate my leaders seeing gender or sexual orientation. I will not tolerate our leaders thinking one American life is worth more than another.
As you well know, I like a black girl. I constantly feel a loss as to how to react to her because I don’t want to be wrong. I want to hold her while she cries about innocent people being gunned down by the police for no evident reason. I want to be her ally, and I don’t even know where to start. Maybe that is the purpose of interracial relationships in the first place. You don’t see inequality until you live it. Sexual orientation is one thing. If I am in danger, I know not to say anything and I use the pronoun game LIKE A BOSS. But there’s no hiding black and white. All I can do is pray that I start to see evidence of white privilege and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Because I have the right to say whatever I want, as long as I’m also willing to listen. You cannot imagine how much painstaking patience this takes for me, as I am so good with patience to begin with (that was a lie…. I repent).
Thanks again, Argo. I am so much smarter when I can just rip you off verbatim. The tip is in the mail.
Stories That Are All True 