Finally, social media is addressing the issues with the far right, including suspending Trump’s social media accounts. But we need to challenge our own issues on the left, too.
It’s not just the far-right, or the Nazis that engage in abusive and/or problematic behavior — it can also come from those claiming to be “moderates” or those who even identify as left wing or liberal.
Twitter, has finally taken action against Donald Trump, following the deadly White House invasion which saw five people dead, some others injured, and left behind in it’s wake a trail of destruction, terror, property damage and missing items as a result of looting. Twitter has done the right thing at last, although, it took them too long for them to do so, not even after George Floyd’s death that resulted in mass civil rights protests that took place around June, last year.
This whole event should be a wake up call for social media giants, the governments, law enforcement, and finally, the public, from all over the world. We need to learn from this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. For this to happen, everyone needs to be able to identify problematic issues, behavior and viewpoints arising from all sides of the political spectrum, be it left, right, or middle and so on.
Civil Rights, feminism and race related issues should not solely be a left or a right wing matter, and neither should it be used for political games on either. These issues should be about challenging real life issues such as the patriarchy and rape culture, making abortion a human right for everyone who needs it, and confronting racism. When problematic behavior appears on any side of the political spectrum, it can not only cause people to lose trust on that particular side of the spectrum, it can also make that particular part of the spectrum lack integrity as well.
As someone who has liberal and left-wing views, we need to confront our own problematic views and behavior. Far too often, I see a lot of abuse and harassment on social media coming from the left without a valid reason. People engaging in hostility towards foreigners during this COVID-19 pandemic, for instance. This is not helpful for anyone, and can, in fact, harm social justice movements as this is not only contradictory of what social justice activists are against — bullying and harassment. This can also fall under xenophobia, which is basically, hateful conduct, which is also what antifascism is against.
Here are some other examples of this, and how we can challenge them.
Left wing feminists or social justice activists supporting/or using problematic movements as an example for their causes, organizations or their own movements.
Activism calls for change. And more than often, it’s for the better. People like Greta Thunberg — call for action on the threat of climate change and global warming (and she’s doing a very good job raising awareness about climate change). Sometimes, they are a part of an existing movement — or uses one as an example to further their causes.
HOWEVER — this does not mean that none of them are racist, colonial, or problematic in some way or another. Take a look at anti alcohol activists in Australia — using the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Movement) as an example of campaigning against alcohol harm. This movement claims to help people with drug and alcohol addiction. What it really is, is a whitewashed modern movement claiming to care about people of colour and indigenous people affected by alcohol — at the same time, hiding their historic ties to America’s most notorious hate group — the KKK. This is really harmful to black people, and the people that these activists claim to care about. If health activists really want to care about POC, they should lobby for addiction services, raise awareness about drinking moderately and wisely, and not support any groups or charities with ties to racist or Nazi groups.
Transphobic, racist and conservative feminism
Look no further than people like J.K Rowling and Posie Parker and you’ll find that they identify as feminists — but with a conservative and a hateful twist on feminism. They deliberately exclude transgender people from the feminist movement, while also at the same time, being racist towards Muslims and black people. Often, they are extremely hateful towards sex workers and porn stars too (SWERFS). This hurts and damages the feminist movement a lot, and they need to be called out for it. One way of doing this is not to support them, by not purchasing their books, or merchandise, or supporting them on sites such as Patreon. It is also a good idea to report these people to social media sites when they post something that has hateful content in it.
Hateful behavior towards a disliked public figure
This one is pretty much self explanatory in one way, as highlighted in this thread. Simply because the public figure is a hateful one, doesn’t give you a free pass to mock their characteristics, or their background.
Racism against Candace Owens and other black Trump Supporters is still racism, no matter who they are. Misogyny towards Betsy De Vos is still misogyny. Homophobia against Dolce & Gabbana is still homophobia. Anti-Semitism against Ben Shapiro and Mark Zuckerberg is Anti-Semitism.
This is something that is very easy to lose control of, when talking about an intensely disliked person or a business, due to high emotions. And it is problematic. But we can do better. And we must, if we want to progress to a civil and a democratic society.
When you attack a disliked company or a person based on their background, their beliefs or gender, you are not only attacking that person, but everyone who has the same characteristics as that person and even yourself in some cases. Furthermore, you are encouraging homophobes, anti-Semites to carry on with their behavior, which can lead to serious offline consequences in the end. Also, if you identify as a black person, and mock Candace Owen’s blackness, you are being racist internally, and have no respect towards yourself.
Instead of attacking a person based on who they are — call them out for their conduct, their problematic views, their bias or their behavior. If they are a business or a company, call them out for their conduct, their poor ethics, or the quality or safety of their products or services. Don't attack a company based on the founder’s race, gender or sexual orientation.
Why do we need to confront our own problematic views and behavior?
First of all, we need to learn from our mistakes and not do it again if social justice activism is to move forward progressively, with authenticity, transparency, trust and integrity. And people also need to accept that some of the things they do is actually problematic, to avoid being accused of bias based on a political affiliation (for example — being accused of getting a free pass to attack someone based on their gender or background, because of them having right wing views) and do their bit to improve their behavior on and offline.
And we can do this by confronting our own — from confronting your past behaviors and viewpoints through to calling out others who engage in such behavior. And finally, ensure you are not sharing conspiracy theories on the internet, or pass of satirical articles or memes as “facts” and not sharing any article from a website that has been verified to be a fake news site (or an article that has been debunked as false news or false information by verified fact checkers), or one that is biased and hateful (such as Breitbart). Be sure to share only factual and relevant information.
The more we confront our problematic behavior, the more we will learn from it and we will not likely make the same mistake again. And there will be less of a chance for offline harm when problematic behavior is challenged, fixed and doesn’t repeat itself.
