Thousands of people witnessed an immoral, possibly illegal act take place on Saturday, and then took the streets to protest it on Monday.
That is A Good Thing.
But, as is recognised internet practice, when some people protest, some people complain.
“Why are they doing this now?”
“Why don’t we focus on things going on closer to home?”
“Where were you at xyz event?”
“What exactly does protesting actually achieve?”
Now, these questions can be sometimes ok. When asked by the right parties, they can hold merit. Protesting isn’t for everyone. It is long, it is sometimes boring. Large crowds mean it can be overwhelming. Sometimes it can be unsafe. Sometimes the chants resolve to be nothing more than loud cries of “Absolve Me”.
But, to see people to take to the streets and make a point about a line being crossed is good.
There is a nasty strain of “stop making me feel bad for not protesting” that comes into all of this rubbernecking and anti-virtue signalling.
Yes, protesting is not the be all and end all. Yes there is still work to be done. Yes, there are other things that people should have been present for.
Yes, there are legitimate grievances minority and LGBT+ voices can have with the mainstream for only mobilising when they see pure overt fuckery, when they have previously sat idly by when the disadvantaged and vulnerable have been at risk.
But, if you’re sitting doing nothing, asking why people are doing something, you might need to have a word with yourself. You might need to question your position in this world and what you have to lose by not doing anything, and what you have to gain by criticising.
If your response something like a government giving foreign aid is “what about homeless people here?”, when you are not doing anything for homeless people domestically, then you are taking a (kind of) valid point and using it to be a bit of a dick.
And the world needs you to stop being a dick. There’s a enough dicks in the world right now. We’re trying to cut down on wanglords. Knock that shit off.
(Also, knock off the ironic whataboutery. Please.)
In my experience, whattaboutery that has its roots in the basic way we teach empathy and debating in schools….
Say there was a disagreement between two people at school. A teacher breaks it up and says they have to reconcile, and very often would wheel out a line akin to “you wouldn’t like it if someone did that to you, would you?”
You wouldn’t like that if someone did that to you so stop it.
It’s a somewhat effective line. It does the whole “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” and don’t judge thing that can resolve many a disagreement when you’re under the age of 18.
But the problem with the line when you take it out into the wider world, is how it divorces things from wider context.
Because if you’re Person A, and you go to the same school/existing in the same space as Person B, and you are told “you wouldn’t like that if someone did that to you so stop it”, you’re probably from similar socio-economic backgrounds, there is a pain there that is recognisable to you. There is something of a level playing field for both of you to imagine if something was flipped on you.
The real world doesn’t work like that.
You wouldn’t like that if someone did that to you so stop it doesn’t really work as a line when Person A has a lot more to lose if Bad Thing goes wrong than Person B.
Sometimes you have to ride out. Sometimes you will witness something immoral happen that is hard to fathom and quantify and you will be needed and it will be up to you to answer the call.
Sometimes you will do it. Sometimes you might not. We’re all human, and the duality of ethics mean we can’t do everything all the time.
But there is a lot of fear and hatred in the world right now. So it’s important people take a stand and do what they can, when they can. And for when people who witness that to react and act in a ~reasonable manner~.
Roll up your sleeves and go out into the world and try and do good.
Get yourself educated. Donate. Volunteer. Protest. Resist. Practice Self Care. Look after your loved ones.
And if need be, punch Nazis in the face.
(Apropos of nothing, here is an excellent guide as to how you can be an activist without protesting.)
