IBARW: Why blog about racism?

[sqbr]

So, one of the standards I try to hold myself to is to be open to criticism and other points of view. Two criticisms I've had people make of me (directly and indirectly) here and there are that
(a)This whole blogging about racism and feminism etc is pointless or otherwise a bad idea
(b)People who disagree with me (or don't feel as strongly) on these or related issues find this lj unwelcoming/intimidating

(EDIT: I'm paraphrasing, and I think I've accidentally created straw-critics who you are all defending me from when the actual things people said really weren't that bad, mostly. My plan for a "nice simple links post instead of a tricky thinky real post about race" seem to have been less than successful...)

Now I'm still feeling a bit too dumb to write a proper post on either issue, but looking through ibarw I came accross three posts which go into the first question really well:

• rilina: IBARW: Why I'm participating
  
• coffeeandink: Why I participate in IBARW
  
• The Angry Black Woman: Doing Something About Racism
  

And to be flip for a moment: Me getting all excited about a particular topic, ranting about it continuously for a few months/years until I get my head around it/find a new obsession (and then intermittently from then on) is in general part of the whole reason I got a blog(*). I'm not sure I see how racism is any worse than fanfiction meta or wire crochet :P

But I do understand that just because you may not write about this stuff on your blog doesn't mean you don't care, the same way that I still cared about it before I started posting about it so much, and will still care if I decide to tone it down. Heck, it's not like I stopped making wire crochet...(EDIT: Also, you're under no obligation to read all my posts. I'll admit now, I skim over anything you guys post resembling a travelogue, my brain just refuses to process them)

The second criticism is something I'm still pondering how to articulate my response to, since it's a complex issue, and I know how that sort of thing can feel (I spent several years too intimidated to go to Gynaecon since I had ambivalent feelings about feminism(**)) I have this big metaphor about how I want to behave the way I would like my vegetarian/vegan friends to behave towards me, but it's going to take a little more thought.

(*) Also with racism (but not so much sexism etc, for various reasons), I've spent much of my life avoiding speaking up a lot of the time because it was all too difficult and I felt underqualified, so I have a lot of repressed annoyance to work through.
(**)No offense to the people who run Gynaecon, btw, since you were all very welcoming when I did come, and I think the problem was mostly if not all in my head.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

*slaps forehead* Yes, I was very unclear, sorry.

What I meant was: while people aren't going to choose a lifestyle like veganism without some sort of principle, veganism is the end result, not the principle, and people may become vegan for very different reasons (this is even more true of vegetarianism, afaict, ie there's people who do it just for their health) I'm pretty sure you don't have people saying "Well, I don't eat animal products, but I'm not vegan becuase I don't like the vegan movement", though I assume there are some people who say "I'm vegan, but I don't like the vegan movement" (because there's always non-conformists in every group :))

Feminism, on the other hand, is the principle, and can lead to quite different end results (the whole pro/anti porn dichotomy, for example) There are lots of people who agree with the principles of feminism who don't identify as feminists for various reasons, ie if they don't like the feminist movement. Also, the definition of feminism is much murker and more subjective.

I don't mind people who have a problem with feminism etc commenting here (if they're polite and on topic etc. Such as yourself :)), but I agree that attacks on me personally for my opinions are out (Not that I can recall that ever happening here. But if it did!)

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure you don't have people saying "Well, I don't eat animal products, but I'm not vegan becuase I don't like the vegan movement"

Actually there are people out there who do follow that. But it is often less about other vegans and more about the way non-vegans react to people who say they are vegan. It's even more true within the vegetarian community as well.

[alias_sqbr]

Huh. And see, that's what I get for making generalisations.

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

it is a fair assumption though and i can see where you are coming from.