I don’t want to take up too mucn of your time, but this point is very important to make in light of a diary on the rec list titles “I am concerned for Joy Reid.”
The basic point of that diary is that Joy Reid deserves forgiveness for past misdeeds, because she’s clearly now an LGBT ally. For the most part, I agree. I don’t want to be held accountable for my misdeed ten or twenty years ago. We all say and do some stupid crap from time to time. And we, as good people, should show mercy and forgiveness for those who have done wrong in our lives, and changed courses.
My husband is a big fan of Joy Reid’s he religiously watches Joy Am every weekend. I, like the diarist of the Joy Reid situation, also believes she is an incredibly talented and intelligent woman. I admire her tenacity, and value her work, even in those rare occasions when I find myself disagreeing with her. She is a pehnomenal spokeswoman for the liberal movement. I would hate to see her go. But…
Joy Reid has not apologized or asked for forgiveness for those of us who are LGBT and fine those posts incredibly offensive and hurtful. Joy Reid has not taken responsibility for those posts. There are two conslusions to draw from this:
1. Joy Reid really was hacked, and is being undermined by a nefarious hacker of right wing origins, or
2. She is like evryone else caught with bad internet behavior, and she is just going with the old standby of “I have been hacked,” because she just won’t face the issue honestly.
When the first wave of these posts came out Joy did the adult thing and took responsibility and apologized, I defended her, and for the same reason the diarist in the other Joy Reid diary stated. Everybody has a right to forgiveness for old bad behavior.
But in this case she didn’t apologize. I believe tne neutral party here. That neutral party is the Internet Archive that owns the Wayback Machine. They have made clear that the posts in their archives were not hacked and are dates from numerous years.
Being liberal isn’t supposed to be about sacrificing the group for the sake of the individual. That is the way conservatives think. The individual is always supreme in conservatism (unless the individuals are minorities). The defenses I have seen of Joy Reid (not the other diary) has been, essentially, to tell LGBT persons to keep silent for the good of the team. This is also not a progressive tactic. And that line of thinking is not, in any way shape or form, a sign of good allyship.
If there is a proper neutral investigation that clears Joy Reid, I will gladly take back my views. But the only neutral authority has indicated that hacking did not occur. I cannot forgive Joy Reid. She hasn’t asked for any. And good allies of LGBT people should not ask LGBT people to forgive someone for something they are in denial about. And even if an apology was offered, the choice of LGBT people’s forgiveness is a choice that we alone can make in the face of homophobia. Straight people cannot forgive in our place.