So, the first thing I encounter when I hit the 'puter this morning and tuned into teh Interwebs was the story of the two murdered police officers, followed by this story on dKos by Colorado is the Shiznit, with some immediate and relevant background.
Then I ran into a Facebook post where someone had already made a racist comment.
Normally, I post my most fervent statements on issues relating to politics, the economy, race, justice, global warming, or energy under my GreyHawk avatar - that's what that identity was created to do, and under this identity I'm actually better known with further reach than my IRL identity.
And because of the range, scope, and unfortunately pervasive nature of the inherent, persistent, vapid stupidity of racism and "modern conservative" idiotology, I minimize the type and amount of comments and callouts on those subjects by my IRL identity - the potential impacts to my professional life, to my employer, to my family and co-workers are unfortunately wide-ranging. But - much to their chagrin, I don't completely avoid speaking out from that identity. I can't. It would be too difficult and too hypocritical.
Such was the case this morning. A comment posted (captured in the image) used typical knee-jerk bullsh!t as part of an expression of outrage against the killings. I had to respond. And I felt obliged to respond by my IRL identity: this was an opportunity to ensure that others - friends, family, co-workers - saw my stance & views, saw the push-back.
Here's the exchange, in case the image is too hard to read:
Commenter: Fear driven animals too ignorant to understand that their outrage was fabricated and harvested by an immoral american media reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
Me: XXXXXX, that's an ignorant comment that itself is a large part of the problem. It's broad-brushing hype and hyperbole, uninformed, presumptuous, arrogant and racist. Congratulations on demonstrating knee-jerk reactionary commentary that simply feeds the flames.
I could have been more polite, less blunt, less forceful. I could not, however, simply
not comment. And I did not feel as though commenting under my Avatar would be as effective.
In this day and age, with the tensions and willful, malicious, vindictive ignorance on the rise, it's more necessary than ever to ensure that people give voice and push-back against the shit-stirring ignorance of the myopic, misanthropic masses of mediocre intellect and downright disingenuous, self-righteous, arrogant stupidity.
I'm still speaking out and acting out as GreyHawk - that's the persona known for such things. And I'll still carefully steer my IRL online persona from most of the controversial topics and issues.
But I must, on occasion, speak up and speak out under that persona, also - however minimal or marginal, every little bit helps.
It tells people that it's ok to voice an opinion, even if you don't insert yourself into controversial topics often or turn into a fervent activist on every front.
Sometimes, maintaining separate identities, accounts, personas can be bedeviling. Sometimes, it may be seen as cowardice by some, or as courageous by others. I know I've heard comments voicing opinions both encouraging and cautious, to the extreme in all instances.
This is how I strike a balance, and try to push the Overton window a little more leftward, away from the toxic socially malignant "fundamental conservative" skew and toward a reality that I want to help bring back into the mainstream.
I don't know if one simple example of push-back will make any sort of difference. On teh Interwebs, you never know if something is going to suddenly become a shitstorm or a fart in a gale.
But I do know I was a bit torqued to see the ignorance of the comment so quickly and so early, and that I had to voice a push-back under my meat-space name in order to address it.
I hope more people are finding opportunities - however small, or even if infrequent - to increasingly add elements of push-back to help undermine the idiocy and hopefully defuse this ever-unstable powderkeg of increasing pressure that's building in our nation and our communities.
Thanks for reading. I'm not sure why I wanted to write this up, but I did.
Stay safe out there.
Namaste.