We're Long Past Ready for Social Change
Throughout my adult life, I've heard many times that some progressive social change is 'too soon' or that our culture 'isn't ready for it.'
There was a time when I didn't disagree. I understood what was meant, and believed that a slow evolution would be better, and would make for easier widespread acceptance of social progress. I felt that the changes I wanted now would come, given time and steady progress. I know that a lot of people felt as I did, and it seemed prudent, wise, to try and guide change rather than force it.
I know now that we were wrong.
And now, here we are, re-fighting battles that should have been long ago won.
They're not even trying to hide it any more.
Black Americans are bearing treatment that is more like pre-1950 America in this political climate. Voter suppression, police brutality, discrimination of all kinds, denied justice...and many of us who were insulated from it believed those things to be the exception rather than the rule. We believed that speaking out against one case would change it for all cases. We believed it wasn't common, that it was rare and horrific.
It was, and is, horrific. It's not rare. Not at all.
It's time. No amount of wishing is going to put the genie back in that bottle. No amount of hand-wringing is going to make up for what we didn't see, or didn't want to see. Nothing is going to change what we didn't do.
Inertia is an ugly thing when it comes to progressive social action. Inertia is the enemy of progress. It's time to grab a handhold, change direction, and move.
It's a shiny little lie we see on the Left all the time. It's a poison of the soul. It makes us complacent, and when things are as bad as they are now, it makes us complicit.
I can't even begin to imagine how many people were hurt by my inaction in the past. I can't know, and nobody can. One life saved, one crime of hate undone, one family not torn apart... that would have been enough to say that any effort I made was worth it. I was complacent, but I will not be complicit. I will not bear that stain on my humanity and my soul.
Everything we love is being torn out of our nation, one agonizing atrocity at a time. We can no longer buy the luxury of 'slow change' with the lives and well-being of the unprivileged.
Society won't be ready for all of the changes we need, but people will adapt. They will have to do so.
We need to stop playing to the sensibilities of the least progressive part of the populace and do what is right, and just, and fair for all of us. I care about the people with genuine grievances. I care about the people whose lives are treated as lesser. I don't care at all about the sensibilities of people who vote against their own best interests.
The people we keep trying to appease are going to resent and hate us for it whether we take one step or ten. No more appeasement. No more compromises that take all the teeth out of the changes we need. We need to take our message and our truth out there without apology and say, "This is the line. We're holding it. If you don't like it, too goddamned bad, because it's the line we will die on."
Enemies of progress will always be enemies of progress until they choose to change. We can't make them happy or achieve our goals with half-measures.
Pick your line. Stand on it. Don't let anyone try to move you.
We're ready. We have no other choice.
There was a time when I didn't disagree. I understood what was meant, and believed that a slow evolution would be better, and would make for easier widespread acceptance of social progress. I felt that the changes I wanted now would come, given time and steady progress. I know that a lot of people felt as I did, and it seemed prudent, wise, to try and guide change rather than force it.
I know now that we were wrong.
It's time.
One thing the past two years have taught many people who weren't directly targeted by many of the injustices in our world is that the problems didn't go away -- they just found more clever ways to hide in plain sight. Those who believed in progress that was evolving naturally believed that things would never go backward, only forward.And now, here we are, re-fighting battles that should have been long ago won.
They're not even trying to hide it any more.
Black Americans are bearing treatment that is more like pre-1950 America in this political climate. Voter suppression, police brutality, discrimination of all kinds, denied justice...and many of us who were insulated from it believed those things to be the exception rather than the rule. We believed that speaking out against one case would change it for all cases. We believed it wasn't common, that it was rare and horrific.
It was, and is, horrific. It's not rare. Not at all.
It's time. No amount of wishing is going to put the genie back in that bottle. No amount of hand-wringing is going to make up for what we didn't see, or didn't want to see. Nothing is going to change what we didn't do.
Inertia is an ugly thing when it comes to progressive social action. Inertia is the enemy of progress. It's time to grab a handhold, change direction, and move.
Shiny little lies.
The old saw about 'the society isn't ready' is false, and it's a pretty falsehood that allows us to feel complacent. It leads to so many voters not giving a damn about issues that don't have direct effect on their lives. It leads to people declaring we live in a 'post-racial' world. It makes it okay to halfheartedly try, to not commit fully, and still feel good about who we are as people.It's a shiny little lie we see on the Left all the time. It's a poison of the soul. It makes us complacent, and when things are as bad as they are now, it makes us complicit.
I can't even begin to imagine how many people were hurt by my inaction in the past. I can't know, and nobody can. One life saved, one crime of hate undone, one family not torn apart... that would have been enough to say that any effort I made was worth it. I was complacent, but I will not be complicit. I will not bear that stain on my humanity and my soul.
Everything we love is being torn out of our nation, one agonizing atrocity at a time. We can no longer buy the luxury of 'slow change' with the lives and well-being of the unprivileged.
We're ready. Sorta.
We're not prepared as a whole for the changes (both good and bad) that will arise from us seizing back our nation from the grip of the horror show we call an administration. We still have to be ready. We no longer have the luxury of inaction.Society won't be ready for all of the changes we need, but people will adapt. They will have to do so.
We need to stop playing to the sensibilities of the least progressive part of the populace and do what is right, and just, and fair for all of us. I care about the people with genuine grievances. I care about the people whose lives are treated as lesser. I don't care at all about the sensibilities of people who vote against their own best interests.
The people we keep trying to appease are going to resent and hate us for it whether we take one step or ten. No more appeasement. No more compromises that take all the teeth out of the changes we need. We need to take our message and our truth out there without apology and say, "This is the line. We're holding it. If you don't like it, too goddamned bad, because it's the line we will die on."
Enemies of progress will always be enemies of progress until they choose to change. We can't make them happy or achieve our goals with half-measures.
Pick your line. Stand on it. Don't let anyone try to move you.
We're ready. We have no other choice.
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