Yesterday in ursulafaw’s diary, "Now I Should Be Able To Call You N**ger," Comedian Jon Laster Is Told By Trumpite, the were a couple of commenters that wanted to suggest that “oh, maybe people need to get over being addressed as epithets in public” or that “people are so tired of PC” or something of that nature.
I wonder how far some people, even some liberals, would like to carry this newfound freedom to ridicule, name-call, bully and be “un-PC” in this Era of the Hellbeast.
Is this too far?
On Tuesday, alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos made yet another stop on his tour of colleges and universities across the country. He spoke at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where he was invited by a conservative student group, and he used his platform to mock a transgender student, displaying her name and photo prominently onscreen.
In critiquing leftist criticism of the phrase “man up,” Yiannopoulos said around the 49:52 mark, “I’ll tell you one UW-Milwaukee student that does not need to man up.” He then showed the student’s photo. “Have any of you come into contact with this person?” he asked. “This quote unquote nonbinary trans woman forced his way into the women’s locker rooms this year.” He went on:
“I see you don’t even read your own student media. He got into the women’s room the way liberals always operate, using the government and the courts to weasel their way where they don’t belong. In this case he made a Title IX complaint. Title IX is a set of rules to protect women on campus effectively. It’s couched in the language of equality, but it’s really about women, which under normal circumstances would be fine, except for how it’s implemented. Now it is used to put men in to women’s bathrooms. I have known some passing trannies in my life. Trannies — you’re not allowed to say that. I’ve known some passing trannies, which is to say transgender people who pass as the gender they would like to be considered.”
He then referred to the photo, which was still onscreen, and said, “Well, no. The way that you know he’s failing is I’d almost still bang him.” The audience laughed.
Now...Milo Yiannopoulos is, well, Milo Yiannopoulos. I know what to expect from him, he’s “in your face” with the disrespect and racism and transphobia and whatnot.
Obviously, there was some planning and coordination behind this public humiliation but...it’s from the usual suspects.
I assume (and I may be wrong about this!) that liberals here at the GOS probably think that Mr. Yiannopoulous’ conduct goes a bit too bit far in this case.
But I do have to ask those who think that “PC” has gone too far this question: How far do you think that “non-PC” in the Age of the Hellbeast could or should go?
And is that the America that you want to live in?
Is the type of harassment shown to comedian Jon Laster or to a transgender student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee something that millions of American citizens should be prepared to go through in daily life?
Because it can get worse. I’ve personally been through worse.
Harassment and abuse and bullying of this type isn’t simply the calling of a name; it can make living daily life at home, at work, at school, at the movie theater, on the subway or -el very uncomfortable and even downright miserable.
This type of harassment can make working a job miserable, resulting in poor job performance and even termination.
In other words, that can affect the economic bottom line and all in the name of the need for some folks to be “non-PC” all of a sudden.
It can affect school grades and the ability to get that good job that someone is training for (and possibly taking on tremendous burdens of debt).
It can even affect one’s homelife.
In the building that I currently live in, there is a a (white) man (somewhat taller and heavier built than I am) who would vituperatively spit out the word “faggot” pretty much every time we crossed paths (I also get the vibe that the man is racist but he’s never come at me in that way, so...). I put up this for a couple of years. I mean, it was nothing that I hadn’t put up with before (even from a few family members).
Finally, one day I was having a really bad morning that had been compounded by a lot of the normal stresses that adults go through, and this man walked by and said “faggot” again.
That was the last straw. I talked to a couple of people and I haven’t had a problem since save for the leers...so I am pretty confident that this person still feels the same way.
On the whole, though, life in 21st century urban America has been OK although not always.
I try to live my own life and mind my own business but I am also aware that verbal and physical harassment can happen at anytime and I know the reasons that it usually happens.
In an 11/17/15 Black Kos commentary titled “A Rant about Safe Spaces and Public Squares”, I stated:
“Public spaces have been a daily and quasi-ritual site for white people to assert white supremacy since the beginning (and before) of the American Republic.”
That statement is easily extended to almost anyone that is white, male, straight, and/or Christian.
And now it seems like we’re headed back to “the good ol’ days” where public space is a “safe space” for some as well as a space for the assertion of supremacy over designated “others.”
Is this the America that we want to live in?
Too many ostensibly liberal folk infer that not only is this to be desired if it means the end of “PC,” but they seem to follow it up with a “suggestion” that the only “identity politics” that’s allowable is a “respectability politics” where “others” speak of none of the evils done to their faces and defer...with lowered eyes, to be sure.
So now, not only must we “others” be accepting and tolerant of behavior toward which seems, to me, quite uncivil, but we must also be on guard not to offend those precious snowflakes of the economically downtrodden WWC by calling them racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, or whatever the hell they happen to be (if, indeed, said WWC person fits any of those descriptors).
And folks wonder why those of us in groups that are being targeted by the Hellbeast’s proposed policies are terrified?
I submit (and I’ll speak for myself here) that, to an extent, that my fears have less to do with anything that The Hellbeast proposes (hey, at least he’s being upfront with it) and more to do with supposed “allies” that wish, on one hand, for me to suffer quietly with lowered eyelids and with the expectation that all will be well when everyone has a good paying job.
(and no, I’m not saying that having a good paying job is not important !)
That doesn’t sound like equality to me at all; in fact, having been there and done that, I know that it’s not equality.
Been there, done that, and I would rather that America not go back there to “the good ol’ days.”
Job or no job, the “good ol’ days” weren’t all that good for folks like me. And I have no reason to believe that reliving those “good ol’ days” will produce different results.
Friday, Dec 16, 2016 · 4:05:59 PM +00:00
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Chitown Kev
By request, I will link to the letter written by the transgender student harassed at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Free speech does not cover harassment, and that’s exactly what Milo did to me. But hey, do email about hashtagging #UWMstandstogether as if that fucking accomplishes anything. Damn, you fucking liberals really drive me up the wall. Now you can spend all of 10 seconds making some half-assed tweet, give it a cute hashtag, and go about your day feeling like you did something. NO. YOU DON’T GET CREDIT FOR THAT. YOU ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING. You’re as embarrassing as the people who wear a safety pin and think that counts as being an ally—patting yourself on the back for a job well done—all while you stand silent as fascists attack your students. Some ally. Or making a hashtag that virtually nobody in the city will see, and which will do abso-fucking-lutely nothing. Good grief…UWM “stands together”…as you fucking call the police on students who tried to petition you…as you divide and attack marginalized students while saying you want unity…as you allow a fascist to use “free speech” as an pretense to harass and attack. The amount of doublethink here is just incredible.
And we’re supposed to respond with positive messages, not anger? WHAT FUCKING WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN. Do you have any idea how much fucking privilege you have to even BEGIN saying something like that? WHAT. THE. FUCK. You do NOT get to dictate how we feel. You do NOT get to tell us what our emotions should be. Oh but okay, here’s a positive message: Nobody died! WOO-FUCKING-HOO! Positivity! Go Panthers!
Fuck no. I am done getting repeatedly abused and shit on, and expected to just take it and not be angry. But don’t worry, I’m not angry. I’m way, way beyond that. I am SO FUCKING DONE having to justify my humanity to shitheads like you all the fucking time. Angry bitches get shit done. You say to not respond with “anger”…goddamn you haven’t the slightest fucking clue what pervasive marginalization is like.
I have to leave out for a few hours.
Friday, Dec 16, 2016 · 9:57:38 PM +00:00
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Chitown Kev
Last update.
1) This thread is cray-cray.
2) To clarify: I don’t recognize a distinction between economic and social justice as if one is more important than the other; the only reason that I write more about one is simply because I’m not all that educated on issues of economics to the extent that I probably should be. Maybe that’s a hole in my education that I need to bone up more on.
3) I did note, though, that Laster was at work (off the clock) when that racist incident happened; the transgender student was at school when she was harassed. Do those sound like “equitable” situations to you?
These were events that are in the news today; many minorities go through stuff like this in their daily life and in public spaces no matter their economic status.
So don’t dare decry the need of minorities “safe spaces” (a concept that I don’t support as a personal matter for myself) when the “public square” is getting increasingly so toxic such that people feel free to allow their bigot flag to fly nowadays.