My Communications Professor [Awesome first day of class].  (via otaku-sex-beast)

This is an important lesson for many on two fronts.  First, not everything is about race/class/sex/gender/religion/etc.  Second, not everybody conforms to even institutionalized bigotry….but treating them as though they do is the surest way to get them to.  Can you imagine what would have happened if he had responded to the police officer with “fucking racist, just picking on me because I’m black”?  It sure wouldn’t have been a $70 fine for something that in most places could have picked up a street racing charge….but instead he was polite with the officer and the officer was polite with him, and it worked out pretty well for both of them.

Many people will peg this as objectionable because they see it as “asking people to be polite to their oppressors.”  This in the end betrays their own prejudice and indeed ____-ism, because even if “white people” as a class oppress black people (something that there is at least basis for, as compared with the notion that men oppress women) it does not follow that this white person is oppressing black people.  I’m bi/pansexual, polyamorous and an atheist/agnostic.  In practice, this makes me objectionable to a huge chunk of the religious community, which composes a huge chunk of people in general.  Should I then attack religious people on principle, just because people who look like them are often assholes?  Of course not….instead I presume them innocent until proven guilty, and then I yell at them.

People are not obligated to give you more than basic respect.  They are not obligated to put up with abuse from you, regardless of any real or imagined oppression or lack thereof.  If you’re an asshole to them, they’ll likely return the favor not because you’re black, or gay, or a woman, but because you’re an asshole….and this often leads to you (entirely falsely) coming to the conclusion that they’re all bigoted ____-ists, when all they’re actually doing is treating you like you treat them.  The worst part, though, is that in doing so you’re actually contributing to making them into ____-ists if they weren’t already.  If I deal with a hundred black people, and they all attack me, what conclusion will I come to?  I’ll come to the conclusion that black people are assholes, and it’s not even an unreasonable one.  By all means attack the actual bigots, the actual ____-ists, but if you preemptively go after people just because of how they look you’re literally as bad as the ____-sts you claim to hate, if slightly less effectual.

Indeed, in my dealings with feminism I often have to remind myself that feminists, or rather the asshole feminists I deal with don’t represent feminism as a whole let alone women.  I do to a degree condemn even the “good” feminists, but there are very specific reasons for that which don’t apply when dealing with most other cases, at the very least any where it’s not a “voluntary” label (and religion doesn’t count there).  It’s hard to give the benefit of the doubt, over and over again, especially when their reaction is often to call me a nazi.  (I almost object to it less on the grounds of the comparison and more on the grounds that they’re basically saying that one of the worst genocides in history is about as objectionable as my saying things they don’t want to hear.  I literally have no words for it.)  I do my best to avoid attacking feminists simply for calling themselves that even though there’s better reason to do with them than the vast majority of other labels and while I have my lapses I like to think they’re rare.

If a professor with a background in culture can make these mistakes, can anyone call themselves innocent?  It always pays to stand back and examine your preconceptions….and if what you’re doing starts to look like an _____-ism, it’s likely that those preconceptions need some modification.

(via permutationofninjas)

(Source: gillionaire)