One of the most influential rap songs of all time (Ether) contained a homophobic slur. Nas took a lot of criticism for this decades later. So he now performs the song without the slur👍🏿
Lizzo released a track with an ableist slur. She took heat for this on Twitter too. She apologized, and re-cut the song without the slur👍🏿
Conversations about what a person said, are valid.
You don't get "cancelled" for mis-speaking. It's the doubling down.
*edit: Nas didn't re-release. There's a clean version.
I really don't care if QTs happen on this site, or don't happen. What's much more informative and important to me, is how this conversation is unfolding, and what is prioritized. I've heard everything from "The Black perspective isn't real" to "You Twitter refugees!" from folks with account create dates in November, talking to Black folk here since 2017🤷🏿♂️
People are talking about QTs the same way they talk about 4chan and Kiwi farms. I don't know how to explain to people how ridiculous that is.
There are valid reasons to have QTs and to not have them. Safety is a valid concern. But this prioritization of fake civility, is not good at all. This ignoring the Black perspective, is also no good.
There are folks more upset at @QasimRashid for sharing how migrants were harmed and put in real danger on Christmas Eve, than they are upset at Abbott for doing the harming. In some folks' eyes, the bigger misstep is Qasim harshing the Christmas vibes. I don't know how to explain that this is bad.
I've told folks for years, that I'm not that concerned about the Nazis, because they're not the problem. Don't focus on the Nazis. Focus on the white folk that you have around you when the Nazis show up.
So consider this permission to unfollow. It's cool! Honestly. I don't judge anyone for wanting to ignore all the pain in the world, and not wanting to do anything about it. I post about racism, transphobia, and sexism, and more specifically, actions we can take to reduce them.
There are literally hundreds of millions of white folk that do want to hear about ways we can reduce all of those bad things. I work with them. We don't need everyone on every issue. It's cool.
But don't ask me "What do you mean Mastodon is not welcoming to Black folk?" And then in the very next breath, say, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure Black folk are mistreated, but I don't want to hear about it! CW that garbage! It's making me sad!" Just be real, and only say the second part.
"Racism is so bad?! I didn't know!" Is a cop out. It's a crime in two parts. The first part is intentional actions that people take to make sure that they don't know how bad the racism is.
Sometimes it's in 3 parts. Party A makes sure that Party B doesn't know how bad the racism is. Then party B can happily enjoy life while party C is brutalized. That's the whole CRT debate, and the Texas board of education in a nutshell.
Willfull ignorance is not the same as innocence.
@fvehafric @jdp23 @KimCrayton1 @QasimRashid @mekkaokereke My particular favorite bit of White ignorance framing is how studies showing that people notice skin colour before other things like gender are used as proof of unconscious bias and racism being so deep and "instinctual" that it can't be helped.
This is very fucked up and racist framing because it's not noticing difference that's the problem, people are different and that's a glorious thing to notice and it's essential to seeing someone fully in fact. The racism (or other knds o bigotry) isn't in the noticing of difference, it's in the assigning negative value to someone based on their difference. That's shit you do AFTER you notice the difference.
@fifilamoura @fvehafric @jdp23 @KimCrayton1 @QasimRashid @mekkaokereke
There's a whole body of evidence on the ways in which so-called bias training in schools (for teachers, admin, and staff) can actually deepen bias when it's handled as described above: something natural and thus entirely justified.
@fifilamoura
Isn't "unconscious bias" one of those things that Robin DiAngelo talks about? IIRC she also says racism can't be fixed.
(TBH I honestly can't tell if DiAngelo is mistaken, lying, or both. If anyone has insight into that, please let me know.)
@mathlover @fifilamoura @fvehafric @KimCrayton1 @QasimRashid @mekkaokereke
"The Trouble with White Fragility Discourse" (by Anthony Conwright on AAPF's site) makes some very good points about DiAngelo's approach.
https://www.aapf.org/theforum-white-fragility-discourse
Here's a good look at the problems of unconscious bias training by Tiffany L. Green and Nao Hagiwara -- it's got links out to some of the body of evidence that @PragmatistProf mentioned.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-with-implicit-bias-training/
@mekkaokereke @elizabethveldon @QasimRashid thank you for sharing
After researching, I don’t agree that “strategic ignorance”, as I define it and “epistemology of ignorance” are the same but rather two-sides of the same coin and the distinctions are important to understand because it helps accurately inform future strategy for addressing it
@mekkaokereke @elizabethveldon @QasimRashid
“Epistemology of ignorance” is at the systems, institutions, and policies level, where a collective understanding and agreement is made, consciously or otherwise, to “rewrite history”; it provides cover for “good white folx” while “strategic ignorance” is at the personal choice level; it’s an individual making decisions; taking action to avoid being held accountable by actively avoiding “enlightenment”
@mekkaokereke @elizabethveldon @QasimRashid
the former provides the permission structure of passivity on the individual level and while the latter reinforces the systems, institutions, and policies…it’s a symbiotic relationship…it’s not a binary; an “or” but rather an “and”
@mekkaokereke @elizabethveldon @QasimRashid
It’s this symbiotic relationship that individual white folx have with the systems, institutions, and policies of whiteness which maintain and perpetuate white supremacy and anti-Blackness for future generations
@mekkaokereke "Willfull ignorance is not the same as innocence."
People often use "innocent" "ignorant" and "naive" as the same thing. They aren't. IMO "naive" is not knowing, "ignorant" is refusing to know, and "innocent" is not participating. It really grinds my gears when people interchange them.
Pedantic rant over, sorry
@mekkaokereke not necessarily on you to explain this, but I'd be super interested in a black perspective (not that there is only one...) on when CWs ARE useful.
I figure that they should not be used to hide politics, as that lets privileged people ignore real issues (and they can use filtering/blocking for that anyway..).
But it does seem useful for e.g. cases of sexual abuse that might trigger PTSD. I'm not sure were the line is though. Non-systemic stuff? Discussion of individual events?
@naught101 My guiding principles on this are "Who is protected, and who is harmed by this CW?" And "Is this just a misnamed feature?"
So on racism, I CW to protect the impacted folk from trauma.
I fully support people taking breaks from seeing injustice. I do it all the time. The human brain isn't wired to see suffering all the time. So if I think of CWs as "content filter" then I see it as letting the user choose when they want to learn, and when they don't. I'm big on informed consent.👍🏿
@naught101
But for my account in particular, I'm not going to CW my thoughts on injustice. Because that's what I post about. I ask folks to unfollow, or set up filters.
I would never ask the Auschwitz Memorial to CW their posts. That's what their whole account is about. Unfollow, set up filters, etc. It's OK if I don't want to follow Auschwitz Memorial!
One benefit of QTs is that we could build it in such a way that the Booster could add a CW.👍🏿
@mekkaokereke @naught101
I'm close to blocking the Auschwitz Memorial account, especially when it's shilling for follows. They're gaining from our tragedy and following the Polish govt's sanitising of their own involvement in the slaughter, while their followers get to assure themselves they'd have been on the right side, cause you know they boosted it. Meanwhile, I'm weighing out if it's safe to out myself as a Jew.
So yeah, I'd rather they CW our trauma.
To #BIPOC / #POC users of Mastodon (others can boost): What do you make of CW culture and norms on here? The people I see being most vocal about it are 99.99% White people which feels like a red flag (edit: White people - you're welcome to read and boost, but please be mindful about replies as this is a discussion by and for BIPOC. This includes replies to other people's replies. Preferably just don't comment in this thread, I've gotten tired trying to moderate even well-meaning folk.)
@mekkaokereke At first I wasn’t aware (I had only been here a few days or so) and was still trying to build up a home feed.
But I was willing to listen, and to build my home feed, and to hear the stories. They suck, but they are real and the very least I can do is at least listen.
Thanks for being here.
I see you joined on Nov. 22.
Less than a year ago I commented rather bitterly that Mastodon looked like a bunch of navel gazers. It seemed basically impossible to sink my teeth into any issues, and I am passionate about several. Just about all there was consisted of some bot feeds from birdsite.
My M. use up to that point was sporadic for that reason.
I would say that experience is typical of M. account holders. Active users were few and far between. There was potential & some art communities, not much more.
OTOH, you're part of the large wave birdsite migrants ppl like me were trying to create. And now pre-November M.'s character is being framed as this all-important crucible. But from my perspective, your wave is the crucible.
TBPH, I'm not sure who's disinterest (incl. yours) is more noteworthy. Suddenly you like the idea of fediverse (where many of us intentionally sought out decentralized systems years ago), but you don't like the working-class whiteness that barely existed here and ran on the thinnest of shoestring budgets until October. And now here you are with 11,000 followers from Twitter. Congratulations, your trauma is duly noted.
mekka okereke 
Kim Crayton ~ Her/She
Jeff
teachermugabo
Frank Vehafric
Mal 甄/kalessin/Peri
Fifi Lamoura
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elizabeth veldon
Guy who's trying his best :(
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naught101
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