[14/365] on ableism and U.S. politics
Jan. 14th, 2021 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistI went off on one on social media this morning, and since it's a rant I'm quite proud of I don't have any other words left in me, I'll just reproduce it here.
It's based on having seen a screenshot of a tweet, which I won't bother to reproduce here because I hate it. I scribbled out the offender when I posted it on Facebook but I still hate the sight of it. I will include the description I put on Facebook, since I'm trying to demonstrate the good practice of doing that.
[Image is a tweet from Damien Owens (owensdamien) that says "As long as I live, I will never understand how this alone wasn't the end of it." it includes a still from CNN footage that is labeled "Trump mocks reporter with disability" and included an image of Trump doing so which I have scribbled out because I've seen that a million times, probably you have too, and seeing it again this morning just made me feel sick. The tweet was posted on November 14, 2016.]
Sorry for the rant but I saw this shared again, it was one of the first things I saw on social media this morning and something in me just snapped. I've seen it shared countless times and I always hate it.
Because I absolutely do understand how "this wasn't the end of it." Because ableism is always basically fine, it almost never carries practical or social consequences for anyone (much less someone for whom, as people keep saying, The Cruelty Is the Point...but self-described lefties get away with it as much as the MAGA types). Ableism is, where not participated in, at the very least condoned.
Every disabled elementary-school kid (it gets more subtle as you get older...mostly) faces this mockery and worse at school and on the bus and on the playground every day, every week. I hated recess as a kindergartener, at five years old, because less adult supervision meant more rampant bullying. And when I told adults I was being bullied, as I'd been taught to, all they said was to ignore it.
"Ignore the bullies and they'll stop" is a vicious lie, every bullied kid can tell you that. It's just a victim-blaming thing (if they'll stop when they get bored you must be doing something in response to keep them interested!) adults say when they want to ignore it themselves.
People seem to desperately want to ignore it. So of course they ignored it with Trump. Maybe they thought he'd go away? Maybe they just don't have the range: after a lifetime of ignoring bullying they don't know what else to do.
But it's never, ever surprised me that "this wasn't the end of it." Remember, bigotry isn't a matter of individual feelings or interactions, it's systemic...so let's look at the system. The U.S. is a country that financially punishes disabled people who marry; a country that expects disabled people to live below the poverty line the entire time they get government assistance; a country that also "ignores" how disabled people are discriminated against for jobs and housing; a country that my parents, who miss me so much they'd have a vested interest in believing otherwise, admit is not a great place to be disabled so they don't blame me for moving to another country (which admittedly is also a terrible place to be disabled (whole nother rant there) but at least it has the NHS and some public transport!).
The U.S. is telling itself that ignoring bullies makes them go away. How's that working out for everyone?
If you have seen this tweet shared at any point in the 4+ years since it was written and nodded along, I want you to think about why. I assume it's because you also would have liked this moment from Trump's campaign to be "the end of it." Me too! But what did you do about it? Try to imagine how, by what mechanisms, it would've been an end to Trump's campaign. What would have had to happen? What steps needed to be taken? Which of those steps could you take?
"This wasn't an end to it" is a very strange way to talk. It's very vague. How exactly would that end come about? There's no almighty arbiter that's going to say "right, this has gotten too bigoted to exist" and snap their fingers to make Trump vanish. There is only us. We have to do the work ourselves. We have to make those calls about what we won't stand for and we have to make it obvious when that line has been crossed. We can't just wait for something to happen and say "well surely that will be the end of it." It won't be unless we make it be.
It's based on having seen a screenshot of a tweet, which I won't bother to reproduce here because I hate it. I scribbled out the offender when I posted it on Facebook but I still hate the sight of it. I will include the description I put on Facebook, since I'm trying to demonstrate the good practice of doing that.
[Image is a tweet from Damien Owens (
owensdamien) that says "As long as I live, I will never understand how this alone wasn't the end of it." it includes a still from CNN footage that is labeled "Trump mocks reporter with disability" and included an image of Trump doing so which I have scribbled out because I've seen that a million times, probably you have too, and seeing it again this morning just made me feel sick. The tweet was posted on November 14, 2016.] Sorry for the rant but I saw this shared again, it was one of the first things I saw on social media this morning and something in me just snapped. I've seen it shared countless times and I always hate it.
Because I absolutely do understand how "this wasn't the end of it." Because ableism is always basically fine, it almost never carries practical or social consequences for anyone (much less someone for whom, as people keep saying, The Cruelty Is the Point...but self-described lefties get away with it as much as the MAGA types). Ableism is, where not participated in, at the very least condoned.
Every disabled elementary-school kid (it gets more subtle as you get older...mostly) faces this mockery and worse at school and on the bus and on the playground every day, every week. I hated recess as a kindergartener, at five years old, because less adult supervision meant more rampant bullying. And when I told adults I was being bullied, as I'd been taught to, all they said was to ignore it.
"Ignore the bullies and they'll stop" is a vicious lie, every bullied kid can tell you that. It's just a victim-blaming thing (if they'll stop when they get bored you must be doing something in response to keep them interested!) adults say when they want to ignore it themselves.
People seem to desperately want to ignore it. So of course they ignored it with Trump. Maybe they thought he'd go away? Maybe they just don't have the range: after a lifetime of ignoring bullying they don't know what else to do.
But it's never, ever surprised me that "this wasn't the end of it." Remember, bigotry isn't a matter of individual feelings or interactions, it's systemic...so let's look at the system. The U.S. is a country that financially punishes disabled people who marry; a country that expects disabled people to live below the poverty line the entire time they get government assistance; a country that also "ignores" how disabled people are discriminated against for jobs and housing; a country that my parents, who miss me so much they'd have a vested interest in believing otherwise, admit is not a great place to be disabled so they don't blame me for moving to another country (which admittedly is also a terrible place to be disabled (whole nother rant there) but at least it has the NHS and some public transport!).
The U.S. is telling itself that ignoring bullies makes them go away. How's that working out for everyone?
If you have seen this tweet shared at any point in the 4+ years since it was written and nodded along, I want you to think about why. I assume it's because you also would have liked this moment from Trump's campaign to be "the end of it." Me too! But what did you do about it? Try to imagine how, by what mechanisms, it would've been an end to Trump's campaign. What would have had to happen? What steps needed to be taken? Which of those steps could you take?
"This wasn't an end to it" is a very strange way to talk. It's very vague. How exactly would that end come about? There's no almighty arbiter that's going to say "right, this has gotten too bigoted to exist" and snap their fingers to make Trump vanish. There is only us. We have to do the work ourselves. We have to make those calls about what we won't stand for and we have to make it obvious when that line has been crossed. We can't just wait for something to happen and say "well surely that will be the end of it." It won't be unless we make it be.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-14 09:40 pm (UTC)It really resonates with something that happened to me this morning, and is helpful for ways to think about it. Thank you.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-14 09:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-14 10:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-15 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-15 04:28 am (UTC)defining "my" as anyone who doesn't want to support, accept and promote bullying and bigotry. Of course, if the non-disabled folks would do more of that, that would be helpful.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-15 02:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-15 03:20 pm (UTC)yes. so much this.
My previous wondering was not being able to understand how the pussy tape didn't end it, but honestly with his supporters I know exactly how. Everyone (his supporters I mean) fantasizes about being able to do what he does with impunity. That is the world they want to live in, where they can say, do, take whatever they want. =(
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-17 10:50 pm (UTC)Ahhhhhh -- you've captured this issue so precisely!
(Thanks for recycling from Twitter -- I can't handle it there right now.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-17 10:52 pm (UTC)