there's our catastrophe

vadgebadger:

ourcatastrophe:

I find that opposition to overly academic language in the name of accessibility can easily cross the line into rote anti-intellectualism. which is…maybe not in itself the worst thing ever. like, many big ol’ nerds really need to get over the high school persecution complex thing. having been an…

LOL time to get dogpiled, but… if you were bullied, it doesn’t matter if you’re at the top of the heap, privilege-wise (not that you are, I’m just saying). It doesn’t matter. Bullying is wrong, it’s fucked up, and it’s perfectly natural to be angry and sad and fucked up over it. The urge to dominate other humans, to exert our power over them, is one of the worst fucking things about our species, and it’s at the heart of what’s wrong with so much of our culture. Bullying is a part of that.

Epic missing the point maybe, but I read your post almost as if… almost as if you’re apologizing for being upset over being bullied (in part) for being a nerd, as if you have to explain that being nerdy isn’t always a function of privilege. If that’s a misread, I apologize. But even if being nerdy is the most privileged fucking thing in the world (and I’m not saying it is), no one has the right to bully you over it, and no one should be douchey enough to act like you’re the asshole for being fucked up by it, no matter your intersecting privileges or lack thereof.

If that sounds like some kumbaya, “let’s all hold hands,” “wahhh I don’t believe in feminism, I believe in EQUALISM” “b-b-but I’m colorblind” bullshit, I’m sorry, because I truly hate that shit. But… yeah. Also, I’m low on sleep and should not be tumbling right now.

mmm, I get what you’re saying — it’s definitely fucked up when people take a simplistic approach to privilege, assuming that everybody who has on-paper privilege doesn’t have any problems deserving of sympathy, or vice versa.  I’ve been in conversations where people have said stuff like “I care if women get triggered but not if men do, in fact I hope they’re triggered, then they’ll have some insight onto real structural oppression”, which I almost couldn’t believe, it was so rigid, cruel, reductionist.   I think we owe each other better than that.  (side note: I think there’s a weird tendency for well-meaning folk to try and work around this by redefining every difficult life experience as an axis of identity conferring privilege/lack of privilege, which is not always appropriate or useful.) 

but I also don’t agree that bullying transcends oppression/privilege or is somehow outside it.  like, looking back, in a lot of ways the real problem I was having as a kid was misogyny.    and I was also shielded from much nastier shit by my other privileges.  (also I don’t think I agree that the urge to dominate is inherent to us, at least not the way people normally mean by “inherent”.)

this is why it’s important for me to be nuanced here, which to me is not the same as being apologetic.  what actually started off this whole train of thought some time ago were some strongly anti-intellectual sentiments from a working-class white dude I know (who, not incidentally, hates my guts).  I think what he said was wrong and unfair and insensitive to the complexities of people’s lives and power struggles.  but it was also understandable and I’ve got no desire to dismiss his experiences.  I just wish we could get some more give and take.   if some people are saying “My whole life people have mocked and harassed me for daring to have some complicated thoughts and express them, fuck you” and others are saying “My whole life pseudo-intellectual wankers have tried to shut me down and shut me out and go over my head, fuck you”, and everybody is just focused on feeling our legitimate hurt and rage, where is the room for anyone to move?   and where is the space for people who’ve had both experiences at different times, who get it from both angles?