It's June, which means I traditionally write a little thread about Pride and being queer and optimism and hope but this year I've been really struggling with it.
All around the world and even, perhaps especially the US, fascism is on the rise. It's against queer people, especially trans people, but it's by no means restricted to us. Anti-asian attacks, anti-semitic attacks, and of course the ever-present tide of anti-Blackness are all on the rise. It's hard not to feel overwhelmed and hopeless about the whole situation.
If you're queer right now it may feel like being Proud is really tricky when it's taking all your mental and emotional strength to just stay alive. It's not just you. And if that's all you can do right now, it's enough.
But if you're not overwhelmed, especially if you're straight, cis, and white, this year it's more important than ever to not just think ally thoughts but take action. It's great that you've opened your heart to these issues. Now open your wallet, and most importantly open your mouth. Use your voice to defend us, and use your voice to attack them.
Stonewall happened because someone (it's disputed exactly who, but it wasn't a white dude) threw a brick. Change happens not when we claim the moral high ground, it comes when we kick back and hand some fascists their asses.
Fascists don't want debate, they pretend to. They don't need inclusion. They need to be made afraid. They need to shut the fuck up because if they don't someone is going to punch them in the face. Violence isn't the answer to every problem but it's the only answer that's ever worked against fascism.
@tess@seldo I really wanted to follow this account, but can't seem to find them. I suppose that's why it's an image and not a link. Did they get pushed off Mastadon somehow?
@seldo Violence plays into their victimology. Which in their version of narcissistic gaslighting is a problem because the violence affects them instead of their intended targets, and there really ought to be laws against that!
@heydon@seldo@toxtethogrady
"Man, I just can't imagine why these people feel they need guns for self protection... Can't they just call the police for help?"
@seldo what works better: fascism is always promoted and paid for by the wealthy. everyone below them is cannon fodder. cut the head off the snake, and we may yet be able to save the rest.
This is prejudging a fair number of people with different motivations and levels of understanding of the world. Some really do want debate. There's a whole generation of young people, some of whom are being radicalized by actual fascists, who see people like you, and who are repulsed by your inability to articulate the validity of your position using anything other than force.
> the only answer that's ever worked against fascism.
This is definitely not true. To give one of many possible examples: in canada, we would take captured nazi POWs and hold them in camps like one near #tbay, where they were treated with respect as prisoners of war with basic human rights, treat them with 3 square meals a day, and shelter, and gradually talk them down from being radicalized, and get intel from them. Treating nazis with respect actually wound up with some of them integrating into society with much of their bigotry cut out. Obviously they still felt some hostility towards jews or whatever but gradually the hatred became irrelevant, and increasingly marginalized. Force and violence can be useful, and necessary including but not limited to dealing with people who hate you in many contexts but it isn't the only tool you can use. Do you have to treat them with respect? Hell no. But saying stuff like "violence is the only thing they understand" says more about your lack of humanity than theirs
One of us has actual fascists in their life. One of us probably doesn't.
Which one probably understands the underlying motivations, experiences and level of understanding better? Which one consistently gets noticed by fascists for explaining them to a T to others, when he provides political commentary on them?
@seldo agreed. Authoritarian butt clowns tend to rely on everyone else wanting to 'be the bigger person', or to take the moral high ground. I've seen this happen in business as well, with certain personalities, and I find the best technique is to let them know very directly that we are happy to go into that amoral trench with them and asphyxiate them in their own mud and piss. It's a great deterrent.
Don't be the bigger person, throatpunch a fascist with overwhelming force.
So for Pride month and every month, I want you to remember that you do know what a fascist looks like, and the time for tut-tutting and worrying about what to do is over. You know what to do, and it's to close every door to them, push them out of every space, deny them their voice. Because we know the difference between good things and bad things and can act on that understanding.
@owenblacker@seldo yuuuup. I’ve posted this gif at least three times in the last 2 days. I post it almost every time Nazis are mentioned. That and the YouTube link for Nazi Punks Fuck Off.
@seldo Sorry to hear there are a lot of jerks today, especially when you have been sharing your thoughts and personal experience. Block, block, block, is sometimes necessary.
@absamma@seldo the culprits in this thread were mugicha.club, beefyboys.win, and poa.st . mugicha seems to be the worst but if I see any fascists on an instance I generally block the whole instance
@seldo I would feel better if we knew how to respond to these things in the moment, as a community, when we need to act decisively to defend our spaces from fascist incursion. A few years back, on a weekend afternoon, I saw an old Hell's Angel type walking around the Castro wearing shorts that prominently showed off a large swastika tattoo on his calf. Obvious Nazi shithead, no question about it. My first impulse was to point and scream NAZI, but I stifled it because I didn't know if folks would band together to chase him off, or would ignore me and make him feel even safer. And it didn't seem anyone else even noticed (no not-see jokes plz), so I just stayed quiet and kept an eye on him until he wandered off. I hate that I didn't know how to get rid of him, and he was just one old, unarmed asshole with no backup. Do we need nazi whistles now?
@seldo remember they are in the minority and are cowards.
They scuttle back under rocks when exposed.
Their greatest fear is that the majority will treat them as would like to treat us. Majority = Women, BAME, ND, different.
Fragile white (white pretending) egos easily shatter when faced with actual threat that non-Privileged face daily.
@seldo
One of the most ironic aspects of this is that so much of it is done "to protect women/children" as if these MF will stop at trans/gay/equality rights. How do these women (in particular) have such short memories? What radical feminist can't recall suffrage?
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