More and more when I read the news, when I look on social media I am sick to my stomach, I am not sure I even recognise the world around me anymore. Where once I felt that the majority of people were ok, good and decent now I am not so sure. I know for the most part the people around me both in real life, at work and in the realms of social media are like minded. For so long I took for granted that this was the great wide world out there full of decent, caring, humble people. These days not so much I realised how narrow my view was and how naïve I was to the world brewing out there – and it’s a cold dark world that is threatening decent folk…. No wait let me change that it’s a cold dark world that is threatening folk – every single one of us one way of another is threatened by this fear, this hate, this violence and every one of us needs to stand for what is decent and right.
We need to stand up and we need to fight – does fighting mean violence, is violence ever the right answer? Yes they threaten, harm and terrorise innocent people because they have the wrong beliefs, or the wrong skin colour, the wrong gender or sexuality, and that is unforgivable, disgusting and deplorable because each and every human deserves the right to be themselves, the right not to fear for themselves and the right to be accepted as themselves, I still believe that and always will. As the right movement grows and gains traction, I will always believe humans deserve to be themselves. But this is where that gets tricky because to believe everyone has a right to their own belief, to be their own person means you have to accept both ends of the spectrum the decent with the less decent. So let me rephrase that everyone has the right to their own belief, to be their own person, but they also have the right to safety and freedom and therefore I can’t support and will not support a belief that threatens the safety and freedom of others. I support the fact you are entitled to it if you must but I don’t support you I don’t support your hate.
I have to be clear here though I am not sure I support hate on either side or violence on either side, all across twitter last week I saw celebrations of the ‘Nazi Punching’ and yes don’t get me wrong he is a vile, deplorable person and a small part of me inwardly cheered to see it, but all we do is diminish our arguments. You see on one hand yes he deserved the punching on the other hand all it did is feed into the rights rhetoric that they are right, the liberals are wrong ‘look at them saying no to violence and hate then punching someone, they are hypocrites’ which perpetuates the continuing cycle, the continuing hatred and lies. All we do by shouting down each other is make the gap wider, make any way of aligning too far away. I can’t support violence, I will always help someone in need and I believe we fight by being better than the other side. Don’t get me wrong I am not for one instance saying that we lie down and accept that we become meek and passive. Not. For. One. Minute – Fight, stand up for people, stand up for those who are the most affected – fight alongside each other – but for me I believe there is more to fighting than violence.
I still feel there is a better way to fight this bigotry, the racism the misogyny the vileness by decency, by kindness and by love. I remember last year walking to work and discovering a guy passed out along the canal, I waited with another person, only two of us stopped to help this person. We called the ambulance, we waited and when the passed out guy came too I calmly sat and talked him down from a freak out, he was under the influence, very worse for wear, cold and frightening and kept lashing out at people. The ambulance turned up and eventually with some encouragement we got him to agree to being taken home. I’d been there some time, hours, I was late for work because of it, at the time I remember people being amazed by my kindness, ‘wasn’t I scare that he might have been deranged, violent’ – that I was ‘brave for helping because I didn’t know what kind of person he was’. No I didn’t, I still don’t, what I do know is that he was a human being and life is precious and valuable and it was in my power to do something. I guess my problem is I am still that person I would still stop and help that passed out person in need of kindness.
I’ve been thinking about that event a lot recently, because I realised that I will always be that person so I can’t say I’ll help anyone except ‘Nazis’ (which I have seen people stay now) but how do we know – how do I know that person wasn’t right winged in his beliefs, how do we pick and chosen who to support, who to hate, what identifies the other as ‘other’– how do you know. Just because I will be kind and loving I am no push over, I do not have to believe in, or support and share your rhetoric. Your systematic abuse of those not able to stand up and defend themselves won’t go un-noticed. This year I will do more good, I will love more, harder than before, a friend shared this tweet on twitter (you can view it here). This speaks so hard to me – I won’t be quiet this year, I won’t be passive and repress my fear but I won’t hate and I won’t condone violence – don’t be passive, love, laugh, find joy, spread joy – share joy with all around you and come together. Love all those who share this earth with you – show them that gender, race, religion, colour, sexuality and everything else in between does not matter.
Yes I feel like an aging dying hippy, I sometimes feels like the last of my kind but I believe love to be more powerful than violence, there has to be a better way.
kattulip 