• I don't think it was patronising, neither do several other people.

    Blunt? Yes, because as explained in the first sentence the manner in which the post was made sent massive red flags for bad faith arguments. I didn't even touch on the fact that the asking those questions in that way (rather than asking if someone could point them to articles) is innately a racist microaggression as it implies that the question asker believes this to be new lines of inquiry and that no amount of black academics would have thought to research it previously.

    Nobody has to be well read to understand anything in that post. If you inferring you want to discuss my understanding of intersectionality then my DMs are open, however if you're posturing or attack me because I did some basic work or to infer whataboutism (seriously what about x, y, z in a BLM thread is one step from all lives mattering - have a word) because I upset you perhaps you want to take some time and consider why my post offended you and made you uncomfortable in the first place.

  • I didn't even touch on the fact that the asking those questions in that way (rather than asking if someone could point them to articles) is innately a racist microaggression as it implies that the question asker believes this to be new lines of inquiry and that no amount of black academics would have thought to research it previously.

    I've left this a few days to work out how to shape this thought: Having discussed progressive policies and theories in a few forums and having come at some of them a bit sideways I think we need to be really careful to maintain a line between properly listening to and absorbing the experiences of others vs. the scrutiny of the models underpinning the changes we want to make in society.

    Of course some people will act in bad faith and nitpick at every claim (even to the point of quibbling over people's own experiences, which is just a dick move), but a lot of people are just at a different point in their journey of understanding a wider picture. They don't know what they don't know and wouldn't even know where to look. Asking for clarification can be part of that journey, although it doesn't mean that you won't be embarrassed by having asked those questions in retrospect (as @Stonehedge noted).

    Ultimately we need to try to get as many people as possible on board and by shutting the door really hard on discussion you run the risk of losing people to much less savoury corners of the internet where people do discuss things. Direct action obviously makes people aware of an issue and the support that is there for change (and BLM is so immediate and direct that the problem is obvious to more people than the wider social problems are), but if you only discuss the wider context with people who already agree with your worldview I don't see how you will bring anyone else along.

    Having done research I'm familiar with that tiring feeling of "yes, we have already thought of that" (and I can only imagine how much more tiring that must be in the context of a long struggle like this). On the other hand, wider academic models and frameworks have to remain open source and have to be defended from criticism, because that's just how that field works, and that all has to take place in parallel with activism.

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