Mastodawn

Zaira Wolfe Aug 2, 2024

This is a post I made in my discord and on my twitter, and felt it was important to share on all my social media. It's large so I will make it a thread.

Okay, so. The time has come for me to talk about something extremely uncomfortable, and to explain some things. I hope you will bare with me while I do this, as this is incredibly difficult for me to do. There are some things that I will need to explain before I can get to the core of why I must do this, and I hope you will hear me out all the way through to the end.

Let's start with a couple of exercises, because I feel this will better lead into what I will need to say after. I will use a couple of hypothetical scenarios to illustrate a couple of concepts that I feel are of utmost importance. These concepts are so deeply intertwined with our reality that we need to know and understand them.

Let's say we have a person driving down the road. They are minding their own business and they are adhering to all the necessary safety standards and rules of the road to operate their vehicle in a safe manner. This person is doing everything that they should be. Now another person throws themself in front of this driver's car. Even though the driver is doing all that they should be the person that threw themself in front of this car gets hit and dies. Our driver eventually finds themself in court where the prosecutor says "Did you kill the decedent: yes or no?" I believe that most of us would agree that this question cannot ethically or accurately be answered with a simple yes or no. This question is a trap, and it is not fair to the driver because the driver cannot control what other people do. This scenario shows that something is missing here. The thing that is missing is called nuance. We need nuance to protect us from situations like these. We need nuance to make sure our laws are just and fair for all. So hold onto nuance for now as it will come into play later.

Next we need to illustrate another concept. In this scenario we have person A and person B. Person A knows that person B wants to kill someone. Person A gets a gun, loads it and gives it to person B. Person B then goes and kills the person they wanted to kill. Person A, knowing what person B's intentions were, gave person B the power to act on their intentions. I don't really know what exactly the right word for this scenario is, so I will give it an apt description "Murder By Proxy." I believe that most of us agree that, while person A did not pull the trigger themself, person A is equally responsible for the murder that person B committed because they knew what would happen. They had listened to what person B intended to do, and then gave them the power to do it.

This brings me to the segue that will tie into the hardest part of what I must say. I am all for differences of opinion. What is a difference of opinion? A difference of opinion is being unable to agree on how best to use a budget, not agreeing on what color looks best, or even having different ways in which we live our lives. What is not a difference of opinion? Acts of violence. Once we cross the line from being unable to agree into committing violence it is no longer a mere difference of opinion. Once that line has been crossed it is near impossible to go back.

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Zaira Wolfe

Now it is time to start wading into the difficult things that need to be said. Speaking as an American, who only knows how things work in the American system, our systems completely lack nuance. Voting has no nuance whatsoever. We cannot say "I want this politician, but I don't want them to do xyz." This means that when we vote for our politicians, our leaders, we are voting for the entirety of what they are campaigning on. When a politician campaigns with messages of hate and violence and we vote for, support, or endorse them, we are committing hate and violence by proxy. Just like how person A's hands were not clean neither are ours. So when we vote for, support, or endorse someone who preaches hate and violence against certain groups of people we are committing an act of violence. Support of violence is violence, whether we act it out ourselves or not.

Recently I discovered that someone I had considered a friend openly supports and endorses people who campaign on hate and violence. The person they support campaigns on hate and violence targeted at people like me. So, given everything that I have explained already, I hope you will understand /why/ I feel as though this "friend" as committed an act of violence and hate against me and people like me. I am nonbinary, I am demisexual, I am pansexual, I am disabled, and I was born with a female body. When people support, endorse, or vote for people who preach hatred and violence against trans people, queer people, LGBTQIA+, disabled people, and want to diminish the rights of people who were born with female bodies, that is an act of violence against me too.

Let me abundantly clear. I DO NOT TOLERATE HATE OR VIOLENCE IN ANY DIRECTION. Let me repeat that. I do not tolerate hate or violence in any direction. I actively push hate out of my heart. Hate begets more hate and the cycle must stop if we want our species to continue to exist. I do not hate the people who do these things, but I am very sad, disappointed and hurt. I truly believe we can be so much more than what we are right now, and that is a future I am willing to put myself in danger for. This is why I am having this conversation with you now.

So it is with a heavy heart that I share this message with you. If I discover that you are actively committing hate and violence towards others, or are practicing hate and violence by proxy I will ban and block you from my spaces. This is for safety. This is not about hate. I will never name names, name and shame, or engage in or endorse, support or vote for witch hunting, harassment, violence or hate. I will not tolerate witch hunting, harassment, violence or hate. If I find out that anyone is witch hunting the people that I quietly ban and block, is harassing them, preaching or committing hate or violence towards them, the witch hunters will share the same fate. All witch hunters will be blocked and banned as well.

I do not tolerate hate or violence in any form. My spaces are safe spaces for all and there is zero room for those things here.

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Zaira Wolfe Aug 2, 2024

Now, I am going to give those of you who wish to continue to practice hate or violence, preach hate or violence, or commit hate or violence by proxy the opportunity to quietly see yourselves out. You know who you are. If, by the time 12am Pacific time on Sunday August 4th, rolls around, you are still here you will be quietly banned and blocked and I will speak of it no further. I hope you all have learned something from what I have said and that you will reconsider your choices. If you are one who has engaged in these things and you would like to reconsider or want to know more please DM me before 12am Pacific time on Sunday August 4th and I will talk with you. Otherwise, come 12am Pacific time on Sunday August 4th, I will be quietly removing people I know have engaged in these behaviors. Right now the kindest and most loving thing we can do for the people who choose to continue these behaviors is to simply block, ban and ignore them in the hope that one day they will learn that hate and violence hurts them too.

Thank you for reading up until now. I appreciate that you have stayed with me to the end of my "speech." Now I will get off my soap box and go take some time to grieve and heal from the betrayal I feel. Thank you. I love all of you. Please love each other too.

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