Observing Twitter over the past few years, I’ve been concerned about how quickly people jump to judgment and condemn others. I did it, myself, with that doctor in Texas who said unfortunate, embarrassing things about women in medicine.
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Then I listened to a podcast from @NPR on call-out culture, and it really changed the way I view these moments. This op-ed from @LorettaJRoss has some important insights that I want to share.
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“Call-outs are justified to challenge provocateurs who deliberately hurt others, or for powerful people beyond our reach. Effectively criticizing such people is an important tactic for achieving justice. But most public shaming is horizontal...”
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“... and done by those who believe they have greater integrity or more sophisticated analyses. They become the self-appointed guardians of political purity.”
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This, to me, is the heart of the problem with pouncing on people the second they say something gauche:
“Call-outs make people fearful of being targeted. People avoid meaningful conversations when hypervigilant perfectionists point out apparent mistakes, feeding...”
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“...the cannibalistic maw of the cancel culture. Shaming people for when they “woke up” presupposes rigid political standards for acceptable discourse and enlists others to pile on. Sometimes it’s just ruthless hazing.”
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Honestly there are times I don’t contribute or respond bc I don’t want to say something “wrong.” I’m about as liberal a person as there is in the US. But I also only have my own perspective and experiences, and these are limited. I am so afraid of offending unintentionally...
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That when I’m not quite sure, I just stay quiet. Of course, who cares about whether I get to chime in? That’s not the point. The point is then I don’t learn, understand, grow.
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That is the true cost of call-out culture. Sure, there are people who are racist, sexist, transphobic, etc. And maybe they do deserve to be held to task. But this culture also prohibits the engagement of a far larger group of people, I think: those who want to...
Contribute, learn, grow, do better. The potential allies. But call-our culture freezes them out. So, I agree completely with @LorettaJRoss that we need to welcome conversations, especially uncomfortable ones, if we are to make any progress.
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Some of you out there are doing this. You are gifts to the world. I’ve had convos in DMs with some of you and we have tag teamed lowering the temperature of a convo to prevent it from boiling over. Thank you.
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Please also hold me accountable. Call-ins, done with love as @LorettaJRoss says, are a gift. I’m here for it.
In our search for social justice, let’s help each other push forward rather than climbing up, shoving others down as we go. 🙏
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Here is @LorettaJRoss’s article:
nytimes.com/2019/08/17/opi…
And this is the @NPR @NPRinvisibilia podcast:
npr.org/2018/04/13/601…
Here is an interesting opposing view:
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