Jim Norton wrote in Time Magazine that “Americans have collectively become the most hypersensitive group of whining milksops ever assembled under one flag.” It’s easy to see why he thinks this. Go to a lot of popular blogs, and you’ll see that people are pissed off. Though, “people” is perhaps too general. A lot of people of color (POC) and women are pissed off. They, or should I say we because I’m in this camp, are not okay with Justine Sacco making jokes about AIDS in Africa. We aren’t okay with Carter Reynolds attempting statutory rape on a 16 year old on video then being upset because people didn’t worship him anymore. We aren’t okay with you using KKK memes, even if you’re a Kardashian. Perhaps we are perpetually offended. Perhaps society is perpetually offensive.
If you’re going to utilize a undiscriminating broadcast tool like Twitter to put out your shitty opinions, expect to get something back. And based on the number of people with a conscious taking over social media, you probably won’t like what you get. The accusations continue, however, showing how myopic people who have been in power really have become when it comes to seeing the world. They think they’re allowed to put out whatever ideas they want, but when POC and women express opinions, it’s a social problem. It’s an outrage machine where people are so perpetually offended that eventually nothing will have meaning. This system, created by white men, says that we as women and POC aren’t allowed to be upset about certain things. Do you see how the power works in this situation? As power slowly is trickling to the Othered through ICTs, there is a contingent of white men trying to control how we use it. No, you woman can’t be mad about Justine Sacco. No, you black person can’t be upset about Cuphead.
Rarely do you find women, minorities, or other people who have traditionally been silenced in white, male America complaining that the public sphere has turned into a giant whine-fest. We are in an era of policing how men sit on trains, what is okay to say in public/on social media, and what counts as racism. Every person I’ve personally known who has complained about professional outrage has some deep-rooted racist or sexist issues. Of course those in power are trying to turn this into a story about how we all are being crushed under the boot of feminist overreaction: for the first time ever, they’re losing. They’re the ones being called out on their bullshit, and a lot of times, there isn’t anyone there to back them up. Say something sexist: people will come down on you. People won’t back you up.
Take for example Tim Hunt. Hunt, as many of you probably know, said some mega sexist stuff at a world-wide conference. He said: “Three things happen when they are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry.” He first defended his remarks as simply being honest, then backtracked and said he was telling a joke. People who are perpetually outraged at other people who are outraged decried the backlash. It did basically destroy his life, he said. But I ask you this: how many women’s lives have been destroyed because of that attitude he so casually purports? How many women have been passed over on promotions, not hired, or not seen as competent because of Tim Hunt’s attitude? If you ask me, it’s not about what he said that one time that people were reacting to. It’s about a pattern of disrespect and disenfranchisement of women in the sciences. We have to react to Tim Hunt because his words are what is visible, and they set a precedent that it’s not OK to say/do those things.
Here is the problem:
- Many people who have traditionally been part of a disenfranchised group now have an unprecedented voice that can be heard, thanks to things like Twitter (though ask Tauriq Moosa if POC really do have a voice; ask Samantha Allen if women do, in gaming; her harassment continued (and may still) for months after she left the field). While POC and women are still continually silenced, held to different standards, and punished heinously when they speak, we have more of a platform than we have ever had. Of course patriarchal tools think the culture has suddenly shifted; it fucking has. Because we won’t sit quietly by while you make your racist Twitter jokes, your objectified female characters, or your privileged observations. Members who have benefited in the past from a system that keeps POC and women silenced naturally think today is a time of professional outrage.
- Important issues are being overlooked and marginalized because the narrative quickly becomes about how outraged those POC and women are. Sam Blackmon’s amazing Cuphead post a couple weeks ago, the follow up video, and the amazing post on critique by her and Alisha Karabinus were overshadowed by so many respondents who did not want to engage with the topic. Instead, many of the comments on here and other sites were simply about how us bitch SJWs were always looking for something to be pissed about. Rarely did anyone come in and say, well, I disagree with the characterization because X, Y, and Z. People were simply offended that Sam was offended. This happens in obvious examples, like Cuphead, and in subtle ways, like otherwise smart people’s reactions to the subway manspreading topic. It can’t be about the actual topic, it the story instead is about women (feminists) reacting wrongly to the situation. White men tell us we shouldn’t allow the law to defend us because POC will be adversely affected by that. While that may be true, I’m sorry if it’s not to that demographic that I look when deciding how to feel and react. Nor should feminist be looking in that direction for permission.
They call it “the cost of Twitter outrage.” People lose their jobs, their respect, their reputation, and their friends. I call it the cost of being a racist, sexist piece of shit. They call it “the year of outrage.” I call it the year of finally getting some fucking justice. Is the whole idea of feminists being “perpetually offended” not reminiscent of the idea of hysteria in the 1800s? Women were not allowed to show emotion, and those that did were diagnosed as hysterics, pumped full of medication, and silenced. The postmodern way of doing this is by creating a counter-narrative that undermines every word a woman says. You can’t be offended that someone said something awful about women, because if you do, you are labeled as “perpetually offended” and shamed.
The entire idea of an “outrage machine” is simply another method of assert control over those who have not traditionally had power. And I, for one, will not ask for permission to feel. And I will not shut up. And I will be outraged.
