ooc: current events
//Alrighty. Seeing some untagged stuff and honestly I’ve kind of had enough. Tagged and put undercut but this will be all I have to say on today’s matter.
//If today has upset you, pls ignore and move on from this post—take good care of yourself, drink lots of water and be sure connect with folks you love to get through today.
//These thoughts are my own. Feel free to skip over them. I encourage you to do so as they are not happy thoughts.
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I came across this post the other day, and my knee jerk response was angry, and I wanted to say things that were angry. I didn’t. And I’m glad that I didn’t.
Instead, I will ask you to look at yourself, and your fears, and imagine what it would take for you, personally, to be pushed so far that you would risk the well-being of your body and mind, risk a criminal record that will follow you the rest of your life, and understand that this imagined place is where many of these people are already.
I told you that I was going to challenge you if I saw these kinds of claims. Out of respect for you, and for civil discourse, I would like to make good on my word. Here are my thoughts:
If states are welcomed to charge a pregnant person with a felony — a charge that removes one’s right to vote — should they wish to exercise freedom of choice over their own womb, you cannot expect them to calmly and politely express disappointment.
This is more than “things not going your way.” Not getting a president, a congressmen, an ice cream flavor you wanted, is “things not going your way.”
This is a very serious issue. One that actively and immediately put hundreds of thousands of lives around the country at the mercy of a stranger’s personal belief system. People are absolutely allowed to be aggressive and angry about the unequivocal injustice of it. I am grateful that you do not feel the kind of fear that pushes you into the street, but this world is larger than you. No one may, in good conscience, ask for peace of mind while actively working to remove it from others.
This issue does not only affect pregnant people. It also — admitted by the proceeding judge himself — opens the floor to remove equal rights to marriage, access to contraception, and even same-sex intimacy. Considering there have been upward of 200+ pieces of legislation targeting the transgender community this year alone, they have every right to exercise due concern. Telling anyone they are obligated to be calm, or peaceful, or compassionate toward those working even now to make their very lives illegal, to remove their right to marry, to vote, is a directive from a place of extreme privilege.
I hope you understand the full weight of the fact that those protesting now are, without exaggeration, fighting for their lives, and fighting to protect the vulnerable marginalized groups already slated to follow. I hope it helps you understand what’s at stake for them, even if it never does affect you, or anyone you love.
If it causes you stress, that’s fine. You are allowed to feel anxious in the face of unrest. But it is unconscionable, if not outright cruel, to condemn those fighting to be heard as they are drowning.
And, for what it’s worth regarding your tags: BLM did not “burn half the country to the ground.” In fact, Harvard Institute found that only 3.7% of the protest events resulted in any property damage at all, and even then, a US Assessment found damage was largely caused by opportunistic criminals, rather than organized protesters.
