This is a thread on civility and how enforcing its boundaries is a favorite tool of the privileged--and especially white evangelicals.
This morning @AntheaButler provided us with a great thread on how and why acts of incivility are not only thoroughly American, but a very effective tactic for disrupting systems of oppression.
Her comments were in reaction to @Morning_Joe and @ChrisCoons shaming those who booed the president last night at the World Series game. The crowd chanted "Lock Him Up!" when his likeness was shown on the big screen.
In response, @chriscoons said: "The office of the president deserves respect." And Joe and Mika said on @Morning_Joe called it "un-American."
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One thing I want to add to Prof. Butler's comments: calls for civility are calls for control. Think about when someone asks if two people who used to date/be married can "act civil" at a family function. The question is, "Can they act in a way that doesn't disrupt things?"
The call for civility is a call to act like a "good citizen"--someone who is given the status of counting; someone who gets a voice. It puts the burden on the oppressed and the wronged to react to oppression in a way that they deserve to be angry.
What I can't stand about this is that IT MAKES THE ANGER AT INJUSTICE AND THE DISRUPTION OF THE LIFE AND PRACTICE OF UNUST LEADERS/SYSTEMS the SIN ITSELF. AS IF THE WRONGS OF THE OPPRESSOR ARE NEGATED BY THE FURY OF THE OPPRESSED.
Let me say it again:
You do not get to negate injustice by telling me that I have to calm down first. You don't get to tell me that my protest is only valid if I use my inside voice, don't disrupt other people's conversations, and otherwise play nice.
This is under my skin because it is the favored tactic of the most privileged religious group in the country: white evangelicals. White evangelicals claim to be the true Americans and the true Christians. They are given perpetual benefits of doubt by media and other citizens.
Yet what happens when you express anger over what white evangelicals have done to you or anyone else? What happens when you expose sexual misconduct, patriarchal norms, racism, and so on?
You are told:
1. Calm down. Anger is not becoming of godliness. We can't get anywhere while you are so worked up.
OF COURSE I'M WORKED UP--Y'ALL ARE PROPPING A RACIST, XENOPHOBIC SEXUAL PREDATOR AS PRESIDENT AND COPYING HIS BEHAVIOR IN YOUR CHURCHES.
1. Calm down. Anger is not becoming of godliness. We can't get anywhere while you are so worked up.
OF COURSE I'M WORKED UP--Y'ALL ARE PROPPING A RACIST, XENOPHOBIC SEXUAL PREDATOR AS PRESIDENT AND COPYING HIS BEHAVIOR IN YOUR CHURCHES.
2. Forgiveness is the only way forward.
WELL GUESS WHAT? FORGIVENESS REQUIRES WORK, TIME, PATIENCE, AND THE RESTORATION OF TRUST. YOU TELLING ME JUST TO FORGIVE YOU DOESN'T JUST MAKE IT MAGICALLY HAPPEN.
WELL GUESS WHAT? FORGIVENESS REQUIRES WORK, TIME, PATIENCE, AND THE RESTORATION OF TRUST. YOU TELLING ME JUST TO FORGIVE YOU DOESN'T JUST MAKE IT MAGICALLY HAPPEN.
Beyond all that: it makes my anger and my calling out of the injustice, the pain, the negligence, the oppression as the SIN ITSELF.
I'm hear to say something:
I'm hear to say something:
And that's my message for those calling for civility when the president appears in public. As @AntheaButler said, acting un-civil is a means of tearing down demagogues and authoritarians. It is as old as this Republic itself.
When the man who has done more to disrespect fellow Americans, Gold Star families, immigrants, women, the trans community, Baltimore, veterans, those with disabilities, African Americans, our allies . . .
sticks his head out from the Fox News bubble and gets exposed to We the People--it's our right to disrespect the person IN ORDER TO respect the presidency and the country. @AndrewLSeidel put it well:
Why did we have that revolution for if not to boo our leaders when we disapprove of them? This is not a condoning of violence.
This is not a call to violent disruption. It is not a call to spread lies. Not a call for slander. It's a recognition that the freedoms of assembly, speech, religion, and so on are fundamentally about the freedom to speak truth and anger to our leaders--our elected leaders.
It's also a recognition that when religious people to calm down, not be angry, and to forgive them so we can move on--the onus is not on me. It's on them. My citizenship--my voice--my participation in We the People is not contingent on their approval of my tone or my civility.
