Harassment, Standing up for What You Believe in and Speaking Up
Quite a lot of people have seen or heard the saying that if you don’t speak up, then you are part of the problem. There are some who just can’t be bothered, some who don’t think there is any point, and some who are scared.
I am going to address 2 of these points. One quickly and one in depth.
The first point I am going to address is not seeing the point in speaking up. I myself didn’t see the point in speaking up. Mainly because I didn’t know who I was going to address these issues too. Most of the people around me have the same opinion for quite a lot of things.What about in a more public platform? Well I wouldn’t know where to start. At events they have well established activists speaking and on the internet I don’t really have much of a following. Even choosing to publish this post on my Tumblr when it probably won’t even be seen by a lot of people but hey, at least I can say I tried. The reason I chose Tumblr to post this is because it was the only place I could think of at the time of writing this that would let me write more than 140 characters and be seen by maybe 1 or 2 people.
I have changed my tumblr username and blog name so I am easier to find on Twitter and so that Im not just some random posting behind a hidden identity because what good would that do? Not just that, But because it opens it up so that people can actually have a conversation with me or at least be given the chance to. Mainly because as seen in my Tumblr history, I go on a spree and never return for a long time.
The second point I am going to address today is the people who don’t speak up because they are scared. And who can blame them? There will always be people out there who don’t agree with your beliefs and opinions. Some of those people just happen to abuse the people who have those beliefs and opinions. There are those who won’t agree with your opinions but will explain why they don’t agree. But at the same time, the possibility of them having a huge following who will abuse you is quite high as well. Then you hear the stories of death threats and continued harassment and some people wonder why more people aren’t speaking up about the cause. There are those who speak up who can’t handle this abuse so don’t continue. There are those who don’t speak up because they know they won’t be able to handle it. Knowing your limits is absolutely fine. Despite having depression which I can manage relatively well and suffering from social anxiety, I know my limits and know I can handle any abuse that is thrown my way. I’m a member of a few online communities in which it is common to be insulted.
At the same time, I believe it is also better to be open for conversation about those beliefs and opinions that you have. Where would we be today if it wasn’t for those before us challenging the norm and challenging others opinions. I mean quite a lot has happened and changed over the last 50 years due to people who have fought and challenged the status quo. I think it is better to talk and listen to others as you yourself might find that you change your opinion on matters. You want people to listen to you so of course you should be listening to those who think the opposite and their reasons behind that thinking. We ask people to listen to us when we are speaking about LGBTQ rights and rights on healthcare. Why should we stop those who have the opposite opinion from speaking? How can we expect something from people and reject them for wanting the same chance? I think a great recent example of this is Laci Green, a known feminist, being willing to listen and talk with those who have differing opinions to that of her own.
This takes me to a situation which was a bit more recent. I am sure that a lot of you will be aware of some things happening at VidCon recently. Mainly what transpired at the Women Online panel.Anita Sarkeesian, being one of the panelists, took the chance during a question to insult one of the people who was sitting in the audience. Now the person she insulted was someone who has been critical of her work but who also has some people in his following who have abused and insulted Anita. This also happens to be Anita’s reasoning for insulting this person in the audience. What a lot of people are talking about is the hypocrisy of the situation. Someone who advocates against bullying and harassment, insulting someone.
I do agree with the people who say it was uncalled for. How can we fight harassment and bullying if we are harassing people ourselves? Not just that, but I believe that we lower ourselves down to the level of the people that decide to attack us, instead of our opinions. I also think that it is highly childish and unprofessional. VidCon’s founders themselves said that what Anita did was against policy.
I believe that Anita’s actions have caused 2 consequential reactions. The first one being that it really damages her cause. I understand where she is coming from in her work but I do disagree with a bit of it. Before writing this, I had been reading a few pieces from feminists who don’t align themselves to Anita’s way of thinking and a few who don’t like using the term feminist because of her. For me, this is a discussion for another day.
The other consequence I believe this has is that it can discourage people who are wanting to speak up against her opinions. Would you go to a panel on a topic you want to listen to people’s opinions on if you know there is a chance that you can be insulted for just sitting in the audience? This really goes back to what I was saying about being open to conversation. We want people to listen to what we have to say. Especially those who hold an opinion that is different to ours. That’s the whole point of doing it, isn’t it?
Quite simply, We can not successfully argue against those with different opinions by harassing them ourselves. Those who fight against harassment, know what it can do to people. I believe that we need to keep reinforcing this and to remind people to criticise our opinions, not us. We need to keep telling people that it brings nothing to the conversation. That it doesn’t make anyone better by harassing someone.
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