There are two things I would like to draw your attention to:
I accept that only trans people get to decide what counts as transphobic and what doesn't, and that cisgendered people have no place telling them not to be offended by the wonrds and actions of Laci or anyone else. But there is room to object to anyone condemning Laci as an inherently transphobic and prejudiced individual, when there is so much evidence to the contrary; and it's frankly a moral obligation to openly oppose the kind of threats and abuse she has received. There is never any justification to stalk and violently threaten another human being. It sounds obvious, but a lot of tumblr-commentators seem to have forgotten this.
I couldn't find the video(s) in which Laci criticises Islam, but frankly I don't think it matters what she said. Even if she had been outright provocative, it would still be no justification for her to be treated the way she was. It's also just pretty fracking stupid to respond to an argument or opinion with the threat of violence, because you do nothing to improved to standing of your viewpoint in the eyes of do nothing, and end up reinforcing the other side's points. If you disagree with someone, then words are the only legitimate way to settle it.
A few off-pissing responses to Laci's situation have been these:
People of colour and trans people get threats all the time over the internet and no-one does anything about it, why should she get so much sympathy?It's an unfortunate fact of life that the more visible someone is, the wider the support and response to their misfortune will be. The more people you touch, the more people will be hurt by you being hurt. This is just life.
I do not accept any speculation that white people are sympathising with Laci more simply because she is white. That is beyond ridiculous. More people were sad when Michael Jackson died than when my white next-door-neighbour died, because more people knew who he was.
So to the (well, at least two) people complaining that everyone sympathising with Laci didn't sympathise with every black person who has been racially abused over the internet, that's simply because they didn't know those people existed. Get over it.
Yeah alright death threats are bad but ZOMG SHE SO TRANSPHOBIC I WANT TO RAGE ABOUT IT.
It really does piss me off that people are trying as hard as they are to shift everyone's attention from the fact that a lovely human being has been horrifically abused to the fact that said human being once made a mistake which offended some people. As one tumblypoo pointed out, if the most offensive thing Laci has done is to once use the word tr*nny, then she's way ahead of everyone else.
I mean, I realise this analogy has serious proportion issues, but can you imagine if someone tried to de-legitimise the mourning of a victim of 9/11 or 7/7 by continuously bringing up the fact that the victim once flicked a v-sign at a Muslim? A person's suffering is not made less terrible by the fact that that person is not perfect. If this were the case, then the same people to wail that we shouldn't sympathise with Laci should be wailing the same thing about everyone who has ever suffered.
Members of minority groups are silenced by oppression, therefore it is less bad that Laci was silenced by death threats.
Yeah, not sure if this is even worth going in to. But there seems to be this idea that you need to have some sort of qualification in order to really suffer, like, you have to be materially impoverished and/or a member of a minority group, otherwise your pain is trivial and not worth sympathy. This is not the case. First world pain is still pain, even if it's not the specific type of pain which comes from absence of luxury.
The comments in the post linked to are using the fact that minorities are silenced by oppression to try and overshadow what has happened to Laci, which is not acceptable to me. It's like when you briefly moan about your life to a friend, and their response is "well, you think you've got it tough, you should listen to what happened to me...". Suffering does not have to be the worst suffering in order to be legitimate, and "who has it worse" competitions help literally no-one. So just, stop.
I would also like to address the obsessive hate culture which has surrounded Laci in certain corners of the internet. A few tumblr users have made it their goal in life to track down every comment Laci makes which has a vague hint of cissexism, and angrily blog about each one individually. It's also their intention to snottily disparage every single attempt at an apology Laci makes for these comments. (You can find them pretty easily from the two links in bold above.)
Do I think that these people are partially responsible for the threats Laci has received? I have my suspicions, and they may or may not be correct. It's certainly easy to see how a culture like that could make a certain type of person think it okay to resort to stalking and violent threats. Regardless, it is never acceptable to turn a human being into a hate figure like this. The tumblr-based Laci-haters are so blind in their desire to hate that they point-blank refuse to give Laci the benefit of the doubt which every one of us needs and deserves. They react to the comments she makes with such bile and manufactured outrage, despite none of them indicating any worse character trait than the ignorance which all cisgendered people are guilty of.
Hate is never an appropriate response to non-willful ignorance. Everyone is ignorant about something, and none of us can go through life without slipping up and displaying non-inclusive language once in a while. Once again: Laci is no worse than any other cisgendered person, and she is in fact much better than most of them. The anger which has been directed towards her is neither proportionate or reasonable, and can only be the result of the internet-troll urge which seeks out an individual to hate obsessively.
This happens to almost everyone on the internet, of course. It just breaks my heart to see it to happen to someone so kind and brilliant who has helped so many.
Anyway, that's probably enough of that. Please watch Laci's videos if you aren't already familiar with them, because they handle so many issues so smartly and thoughtfully. And if you will, please show you support for her situation by using the #strongforlaci hashtag on Twitter.
Until next time...
- The existence of Laci Green, a Youtube vlogger and brilliant human being who has committed much of her life to encouraging people to think positively about their bodies, dispelling harmful myths about sex and gender, and empowering people to take safe control of their sex lives
- The fact that said brilliant human being has been driven from the internet by death and rape threats, which the perpetrators justify by the fact she once used the word tr*nny in a video as a young lass, and that she has accused Islam as being an inherently misogynistic religion.
I accept that only trans people get to decide what counts as transphobic and what doesn't, and that cisgendered people have no place telling them not to be offended by the wonrds and actions of Laci or anyone else. But there is room to object to anyone condemning Laci as an inherently transphobic and prejudiced individual, when there is so much evidence to the contrary; and it's frankly a moral obligation to openly oppose the kind of threats and abuse she has received. There is never any justification to stalk and violently threaten another human being. It sounds obvious, but a lot of tumblr-commentators seem to have forgotten this.
I couldn't find the video(s) in which Laci criticises Islam, but frankly I don't think it matters what she said. Even if she had been outright provocative, it would still be no justification for her to be treated the way she was. It's also just pretty fracking stupid to respond to an argument or opinion with the threat of violence, because you do nothing to improved to standing of your viewpoint in the eyes of do nothing, and end up reinforcing the other side's points. If you disagree with someone, then words are the only legitimate way to settle it.
A few off-pissing responses to Laci's situation have been these:
People of colour and trans people get threats all the time over the internet and no-one does anything about it, why should she get so much sympathy?It's an unfortunate fact of life that the more visible someone is, the wider the support and response to their misfortune will be. The more people you touch, the more people will be hurt by you being hurt. This is just life.
I do not accept any speculation that white people are sympathising with Laci more simply because she is white. That is beyond ridiculous. More people were sad when Michael Jackson died than when my white next-door-neighbour died, because more people knew who he was.
So to the (well, at least two) people complaining that everyone sympathising with Laci didn't sympathise with every black person who has been racially abused over the internet, that's simply because they didn't know those people existed. Get over it.
Yeah alright death threats are bad but ZOMG SHE SO TRANSPHOBIC I WANT TO RAGE ABOUT IT.
It really does piss me off that people are trying as hard as they are to shift everyone's attention from the fact that a lovely human being has been horrifically abused to the fact that said human being once made a mistake which offended some people. As one tumblypoo pointed out, if the most offensive thing Laci has done is to once use the word tr*nny, then she's way ahead of everyone else.
I mean, I realise this analogy has serious proportion issues, but can you imagine if someone tried to de-legitimise the mourning of a victim of 9/11 or 7/7 by continuously bringing up the fact that the victim once flicked a v-sign at a Muslim? A person's suffering is not made less terrible by the fact that that person is not perfect. If this were the case, then the same people to wail that we shouldn't sympathise with Laci should be wailing the same thing about everyone who has ever suffered.
Members of minority groups are silenced by oppression, therefore it is less bad that Laci was silenced by death threats.
Yeah, not sure if this is even worth going in to. But there seems to be this idea that you need to have some sort of qualification in order to really suffer, like, you have to be materially impoverished and/or a member of a minority group, otherwise your pain is trivial and not worth sympathy. This is not the case. First world pain is still pain, even if it's not the specific type of pain which comes from absence of luxury.
The comments in the post linked to are using the fact that minorities are silenced by oppression to try and overshadow what has happened to Laci, which is not acceptable to me. It's like when you briefly moan about your life to a friend, and their response is "well, you think you've got it tough, you should listen to what happened to me...". Suffering does not have to be the worst suffering in order to be legitimate, and "who has it worse" competitions help literally no-one. So just, stop.
I would also like to address the obsessive hate culture which has surrounded Laci in certain corners of the internet. A few tumblr users have made it their goal in life to track down every comment Laci makes which has a vague hint of cissexism, and angrily blog about each one individually. It's also their intention to snottily disparage every single attempt at an apology Laci makes for these comments. (You can find them pretty easily from the two links in bold above.)
Do I think that these people are partially responsible for the threats Laci has received? I have my suspicions, and they may or may not be correct. It's certainly easy to see how a culture like that could make a certain type of person think it okay to resort to stalking and violent threats. Regardless, it is never acceptable to turn a human being into a hate figure like this. The tumblr-based Laci-haters are so blind in their desire to hate that they point-blank refuse to give Laci the benefit of the doubt which every one of us needs and deserves. They react to the comments she makes with such bile and manufactured outrage, despite none of them indicating any worse character trait than the ignorance which all cisgendered people are guilty of.
Hate is never an appropriate response to non-willful ignorance. Everyone is ignorant about something, and none of us can go through life without slipping up and displaying non-inclusive language once in a while. Once again: Laci is no worse than any other cisgendered person, and she is in fact much better than most of them. The anger which has been directed towards her is neither proportionate or reasonable, and can only be the result of the internet-troll urge which seeks out an individual to hate obsessively.
This happens to almost everyone on the internet, of course. It just breaks my heart to see it to happen to someone so kind and brilliant who has helped so many.
Anyway, that's probably enough of that. Please watch Laci's videos if you aren't already familiar with them, because they handle so many issues so smartly and thoughtfully. And if you will, please show you support for her situation by using the #strongforlaci hashtag on Twitter.
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment