Twitter and Its Reign of Terror
Unless you've been living under a rock then you must've heard about the controversy surrounding Stephen Colbert and his joke that was in reference to Dan Snyder's Redskins Foundation. Stephen Colbert is a satirist. Sometimes his jokes make people uncomfortable and that's exactly what it did for Suey Park.
Suey Park has created a HUGE following on Twitter because of her hashtags, such as NotYourAsianSidekick and now, CancelColbert. Every single day, Ms. Park goes on a rampage about whiteness, white people, patriarchy, racism, feminism, so on and so forth. I followed her for a week and then I unfollowed for very good reasons that I'll get into shortly.
As a woman of color, I know what it's like to be slighted. I understand why Suey Park has a passion for what she does because although we've come a long way in terms of civil rights, we've still have a way to go. However, I'm not going to blindly follow someone who believes that she is above context.
Just a day ago, Suey was interviewed for Salon in which she said several points that I cannot agree with.
1. She doesn't think that understanding context is important.
2. She believes that there have been no conversations made about Orientalism, slavery, and genocide.
3. She believes that there have been no comedians in the past who have presented these issues. (Does Dave Chapelle ring a bell?)
4. She doesn't want to work with white people.
I cannot stand for anyone who does not want work with an entire group of people and believes that this is necessary in order to enact true change. How unfair is it for anyone, white or a person of color, to disregard someone because of race? Does this seem backwards or is it just me?
When Ms. Park said that she doesn't need to understand context, that was all that I needed to hear from her. People, context is everything. You cannot pick and choose the parts you want to get mad about and then try to create a well-informed and structured argument with fragments. Fragments eventually fall apart.
The only reason why I would stand with Suey Park, as many twitter followers have done, is because she does not deserve any vitriolic hate or threats. That's insensitive and immature. However, I cannot wholeheartedly agree with her on just that alone. Your passion has to match your defense. You cannot be outraged and let that consume you to the extent at which you deflect any chance for a productive dialogue, especially with those who aren't people of color.
This is not the type of fight that I want to be in. I want allies from all backgrounds. I'm not going to assume that someone is not going to understand where I'm coming from because he or she is white. That's a cop-out and it exacerbates the issue at hand.
I've actually deactivated my twitter because I hate the dialogue that comes about on there. You are robbed of nuance in 140 characters and that is where misunderstandings come about.
If you don't have thousands of followers like Suey Park, you are bound to be harassed by her people for simply asking her a question. I've been blocked by someone, who was in fact another woman of color, and called a "hurt negro".
Is this what we are really fighting for? I'm confused, exhausted, and hurt by the way in which dialogue is going on the internet. It's a great mechanism to get conversations going but that's not enough. It's never enough. We need face-to-face contact to understand one's mannerisms, emotions, and tones in which people speak in order to get a fuller picture of their ideas and thought processes. Twitter does not allow that.
I've tried to hold my tongue on this issue as long as I can but I realized that I was only doing it out of fear. But I cannot take it anymore. I'm not going to restrain myself just because I'm afraid of being called a "sell out" or whatever.
I'm a person who thinks just like everyone else and I am allowed to have my opinions. You are not mandated to like them. In fact, you can hate them if it makes you feel better. But I am allowed to have a voice and to silence it would be an irony to this whole movement.
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