The women kidnapped by Boko Haram
First of all, let me stress that I am not
encouraging people to ignore problems in Africa – nor the rest of the third
world for that matter. I have chosen such a phrase because I’ve been hearing it
a lot in recent debates, such as the shambles that was the recent general
election.
This is a post about certain phrases which people
will use to destroy entire arguments under the illusion that they carry
substance and gives them the moral high ground. I want to debunk these phrase and
explain why the arguments my peer group and I tend to have are not always
suitable for them.
To begin with the ilk of the entitled phrase, this
came up earlier on today when I was reading comments relating to Bahar Mustafa (pictured).
The Diversity Officer at Goldsmith’s University who called for an anti-racism
march which excluded white people and has now used the hashtag
#KillAllWhiteMen.
The comments I was reading were anti-feminist and
branded feminism in this country as pathetic because the problems we campaign
to change are nothing like those faced in Africa and the middle east, etc.
I’ll just add here that no true feminist would call
for the killing of men because this is another classic example of some people
using social media to confuse the discourse of gender equality with misandry –
the hatred of men. I for one think this woman is not in the slightest bit
feminist and think her comments about ethnic minorities not being racist are
completely ludicrous and think she should be fired from her position because
she’s fanning the flames that will burn into another social media farce akin to
last year’s pile of crap that was GamerGate. (Here’s what I made of that if you’re
interested).
I’ll defend feminism again and say to anyone who
thinks we are like Mustafa, clearly needs to read about the campaign for gender
equality in much more detail. If feminism is all about hating and killing men,
how am I a white, heterosexual cis-male still alive and well after being taught
about it by some of the finest feminist scholars of European and International
Relations?
Anyway, back to the topic of this phrase.
While I appreciate, thoroughly, someone’s concern
for the welfare of people abroad, you are not helping the argument because you
are giving off the idea that problems we have at home should be something we
ignore, and that they will all go away without direct action or social
progression. I do agree that a lot of problems faced in nations like mine are
not as big and extreme as those in Africa, they are still problems and need to
be addressed. Regardless of mass and the social/economical differences of
nations, our problems are still here and can fluctuate into even bigger
concerns without us knowing it.
Therefore calling all activists in the UK, USA and
the first world idiots who should shut up and do something else is plain
ludicrous. Just because we are in a richer society where we are slowly
progressing to a better way of life, does not excuse us from being concerned
about the things that can harm and pose a threat.
Please think about what you are about to say before
you say it.
“I’m
Rather Offended By That.”
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this excellent quote
from Stephen Fry – someone whom I admire thoroughly as an entertainer and
social justice activist.
Now one thing people do not seem to remember, is
that Fry said this in a debate with Christopher Hitchens and Anne Widdicome in
a debate about the Catholic Church’s attitude to homosexuality.
What he was attacking was homophobia and the
tendency for people who read the Daily Mail and the like to use such a phrase
to kill arguments of change. I do agree that such a phrase does not give you
the moral high ground – but I do believe that people should have the right to
be offended.
I’ve posted here about how I find jokes about rape
and domestic violence offensive so I know what offends me. But when you are
offended – you need substance.
I will defend people’s freedoms to be offended and
use this phrase in the context of arguments, but I must urge you to have
substance to back up why you are offended. Just using such a phrase to end
someone else’s argument is pathetic because it shows how little an argument you
have built up over time.
‘Offended’ is another tool to use in an argument for
or against something and it needs the substance to make it work. I feel people
got the wrong end of the stick with Stephen’s comment on this phrase and have
used it to create a world of ‘everything goes’ where you cannot criticise
things. The kind of people I’m talking about here are the likes of Thunderf00t
and The Amazing Atheist, etc.
“Have
you got kids?”
And now for the worst phrase I think anyone can use
to destroy an argument.
Parents seem to think that because they have added
to the population, then they are somewhat superior to others when it comes to
discussing ideas of change.
Safe sex and sexual liberation and censorship tend
to be the places this phrase crops up most often. It was pretty much the
rhetoric behind the formation of the Parents Music Resource Centre and the
trial of Judas Priest in 1990. Just because Tipper Gore and her lackeys had
children somehow gave them the right to use them as weapons to stop people from
having fun or making a difference to world.
What angers me the most about people who use such a
phrase like this, is they do not think for a second about how their offspring
must feel. How do you know your kids even agree with you for that matter? And you
are stooping to the lowest of the low because you’re pretty much using your
kids as a weapon to win a fight they - more than likely – have nothing to do
with.
If you have children, I understand that you’d be
concerned because they are of upmost importance to you – as was I to my
parents. But how can you bring yourself to use your kids as a weapon when you
don’t like an argument being made and you cannot think of a reasonable
explanation for why you think it’s a bad idea.
Strangely, the 14 word slogan used by a lot of white
power groups concerns the protection of children.
Apparently anyone who isn’t
white just wants to kill your babies.
So this once again is Dimmu Wulfenhume saying: think
before you speak.
