the need to protect each other as culture shifts under new presidency

Image: my computer, Platformer

I was reading about the new lack-of-rules for Meta about essentially allowing hate speech against people based on gender/sex, to align more with incoming Mr. T administration, and I hate what it means, symbolically- another sign of the “hate era” I’m sure he’d like the next few years to be.

What comes to mind for me is basically that it will come down to us increasingly to be the ones who say “stop” and “no,” rather than relying on some governing authority to do that. It’s nice when we can rely on the authority to have to be the one to say no, but if they won’t then we have to. We can’t ban, but we can stand up when someone is being targeted, and we can block. It might be allowed, but it doesn’t have to be socially acceptable to be hateful.

This is true, of course, in-person also. It might be allowed to be cruel, but it doesn’t have to be socially acceptable. Finding ways to push back (that are safe) is meaningful.

Personally, I think focusing on protecting the lives of women, LGBQT+ people, and minorities is the priority. Attitudes will be what they will be, and we can stand up to people when possible, but the real power of hate is when it erodes at the minds of people being targeted, and starts to get at their self esteem. We can be warriors, in a sense, when it comes to that, to protect the self esteem of our neighbor. If we can nurture safe spaces of trust, at least mentally, there is protection that can be found.

I also think special care and attention to physical safety is important right now- not leaving people alone, who are at risk for being targeted. Offering to walk people to their car comes to mind, or offering to shadow people in grocery stores comes to mind as things people can do- for example (with approval), something service workers could do. I’m sure others could chime in with ideas, and there are experts on this who are not me.

Asking someone else to walk with you so you aren’t alone is a smart idea, too, if you’re afraid of being targeted. Using the bathroom in pairs, etc. Women have gotten the message for a long time not to do things alone/ in the dark, and I think extending that unfortunate yet-often-necessary paranoia to include everyone who isn’t white/male/straight, for at least a few years, would be smart. We can suggest it- suggest doing things physically together, so that no one is left alone. Buddy-system-thinking.

I hate the culture change that is being reflected in this moment in time, and the fear that it reflects of the new administration. “Aligning” with a presidency shouldn’t involve ethics, it should involve boring things like moving tax brackets. “Aligning” shouldn’t involve the spirit. If it does, it’s because it’s an authoritarian regime, it’s a cult of personality, it’s.. bad. It crosses a boundary of the heart if a new presidency means values changed, or that expressed values change. It means rules are performative.

🙁