No, I won’t be civil
“You libtards can’t even be civil any more.”
If you’re on social media, you’ve probably seen some variation of this thrown out when progressives finally get pissed off enough at the barrage of racist, misogynist xenophobic bullshit being spewed all over the Internet to stop trying to have reasoned and polite conversations with people who’d like to see white supremacy further strengthened.
Any time ‘Be civil’ is thrown at us by folks who favor slavery, rape culture and strategies favored by Hitler and Stalin, they are attempting to use our own values against us. As Our Lady of the Resistance would undoubtedly say:
Fuck civility.
They want to shame us into retreat. The people I know who are progressive or liberal (or whatever you call people who don’t want the US to keep being a white male supremacy) tend to value respectful communication, fairness, compassion and empathy. Accusing us of not being civil is their way of telling us we’re not playing by our own rules. From the outside, you’d think that having a neo-nazi or KKK member whining about uncivility would result in nothing but LOLs. Instead, it’s thrown a lot of people into the distraction of arguing over whether we should be polite about fighting genocide. Distraction is the tool of the opposition. It’s the enemy of progress.
Fuck civility.
I am someone who would rather ‘go high when they go low’; I’d rather not stoop to their level. But then I think to myself, is calling out racist behavior or calling for meaningful punishment for a rapist ‘stooping to their level’? White male supremacy want to shift attention away from what they are doing to the methods we are using. They are trying to make us believe our arguments less valid because we’re not being nice. Wouldn’t you agree that in a war against totalitarianism and genocide that being nice is overrated? If you don’t agree, I would ask what skin you have in the game. Because most of us who are part of a group targeted by Trump and his mouth-frothing fan-base are done being polite. I’m not going to grant them any respect, I don’t have to give them space for their hate speech, and no, saying those things does not put me on their level. It makes me someone who isn’t standing on the sidelines watching as other people are treated as sub-human. And make no mistake, if you’re standing on the sidelines being polite, you might as well call yourself a supporter of white supremacy and misogyny.
Fuck civility.
Here’s where I stand and draw a line. No, I won’t be kind to those who promote white supremacy. I will not be silent and complicit. No, I won’t stop being rude to nazis, because I am not a nazi or nazi sympathizer. Nope, not gonna be polite to people who are promoting, supporting and enabling rape culture because I am against rape and against treating women and girls like the only thing they’re good for is being used by men and boys. No, I’m not going to start making space for people who speak and act in transphobic ways, or bash queers, or cast immigrants as villains or tell jokes about fat people or people with mental and physical challenges. Because my values require that I not only don’t participate in any of those behaviors but also that I don’t validate them by making space for those who do.
Fuck civility.
There is no room for civility when you are fighting against people who cheer when someone calls for the death of others just because of their skin color, or who they love, or how they move in the world or who they worship. There is no reason to be polite to white supremacists or rape enablers. None.
Until this fight is over, I’m going to be uncivil as hell. If you can’t handle that, step aside.
Fuck civility.