Just a handful of links today because I feel like I have things I want to say about them. They are both quite long but very much worth reading in their entirety.
- Words, Words, Words: On Toxicity and Abuse in Online Activism
- Beyond Niceness: Further Thoughts on Rage
I’ve been thinking about what these articles are saying a lot. A lot a lot. A lot.
And then I read my friend Melissa’s post about Jian Ghomeshi which describes a whisper network (among many other things). And I thought about my own post about whisper networks.
Yesterday I tweeted about whisper networks and how they serve a necessary purpose but they are, by their nature, fundamentally flawed. One of their flaws is that they help keep abuse confined to the shadows and the corners. They can, in some ways, serve to further isolate people already vulnerable to abuse. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t know if it can be fixed.
I would like to see community action come from these networks–a chorus of voices is stronger and louder than just a single voice. But even that comes with risks.
I have spent a lot of time the last two years angry.
I’m tired of being angry. If I keep on being angry, I’ll be no use to anyone–not myself, not my family, not my community.
This isn’t any sort of high-minded pledge that I’ll never be angry again. That would be foolish. But it is, perhaps, a reminder to myself to remember that anger is a tool. It’s a tool best wielded carefully and with precision.
