Kevin Larsen 📚#success #twittermigration #twitterexodus #Mastodon #inspiration
"Imagine if we measured success by the amount of safety that people felt in our presence."
Christie Dudley@kevlarsen I find this meme quite disturbing for two reasons.
First, I frequently call people to question their values and what they thought they trusted. I make people feel less safe by calling what they felt was safe into question.
Second, racists make other racists feel safe by keeping those "colored folks" in their place.
Neither of these is what we're after.
MagnaCorpus@longobord @kevlarsen
I'm curious about two things:
1. How are you defining 'success' because the meme obviously doesn't define it and depending on the definition 'success' could be a good thing or a bad thing
2. When you say you call people to question their values, do you mean you're challenging their assumptions/world view and pushing them out of their comfort zone?
I think there's a key difference between feeling safe and feeling comfortable. If you're safe you can still be uncomfortable.
@BrionS @longobord I won't speak for the original author, but my opinion on the art of the tweet is that it's social commentary that the world would be a vastly different and better place if people had high status for people feeling safe around them rather than how much money they had. for question 2, yes is the answer. As for safe and comfortable being different things, people still conflate the two, and use the excuse they're not in a "safe space" to never confront their prejudices
@kevlarsen @longobord
I'm not a psychologist, but I consider 'being safe' as relating to psychological and emotional safety, while 'being comfortable' has more to do with being in a context that supports you.
Safe spaces can and should be both a place where one feels psychologically safe and contextually accepted.
On the other hand a Skinhead could be in a safe space with like-minded individuals and be comfortable that what spews from their mouth will be met with acceptance.
@kevlarsen @longobord
Nearly everyone has a safe space by themselves or with others where they feel accepted and comfortable.
In conversations about race White people invariably steer the conversation into a context in which they feel comfortable. It's not exclusive to White people, but it's the predominant problem in conversations about race.
Just the notion, the words, 'White Fragility' puts folks on the defensive saying anything to bring the context back to a place they feel comfortable.
@BrionS (ok this time I put the content warning on because the author of White Fragility is unapologetic using the term white people and I heard people get banned for that here) White Fragility is a great book! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Fragility It is about how white people are uncomfortable talking about race or even acknowledging it exists, that, they as white people even have privilege. Anyway, the author and I would say people hide behind needing safe spaces to not talk about race.
@kevlarsen That's certainly an interesting take on it. I'm sure the author might agree to a point, but many public spaces are inherently safe for some people and not others. Making it more safe for others at the cost of comfort for the first is neither a zero-sum game, nor intrinsically a bad thing. Safe spaces are a refuge from hostile spaces. There is no need to present the status quo by making predominantly White spaces safe for White people.