Parts of my ‘finding people who don’t just have good politics but are also actually good people’ strategies are obvious,
Things like ‘do they actually help a comrade in need regardless of whether anyone considers that help activism?’ and ‘do they treat activists that make a mistake as disposable?’ etc.
But also a part of it is looking at how people react when bad things happen to bad people.
Do they get joy and inspiration from a nazi getting punched because that is an effect action successfully done? Good. Do they get joy from a local nazi getting hit by a car because that means less work for the antifascists? fine. But do they find a lot of joy simply in knowing that a bad person is suffering, regardless of how that suffering impacts the world? That sets off my alarm bells.
I mean, we all occasionally experience this, but it’s a nasty side, which has been nurtured by a society invested in punishment-as-justice for profit and control, this nasty side should become less when we learn that punishment isn’t justice and the universe doesn’t become any better when the people who have harmed us suffer.
People that claim to reject a punishment-based justice system but that themselves find a lot of joy in punishment for the sake of punishment and revenge for the sake of revenge have a nasty side that they haven’t worked through and I don’t trust them. I think they’re capable of growth but I don’t want them too close to me.
I can agree with this if you’re not saying I have to sacrifice a single joule of effort to save or improve the life of someone who expressly desires my death
if you’re saying you don’t trust me because I refuse to help my enemies harm me, there’s going to be a sharp disconnect between our two communities
I’m not of the mass-movement brand of anarchist, and I don’t agree that I have any obligations to people who have actively harmed me from the moment I was conceived – not civility, not communication, not mutual aid. I won’t prejudge someone I’m unsure of, but neither will I be inclined to offer any benefit of the doubt.
I’m too old to keep wasting love and community on people that very much want me to suffer.
Look, I’m gonna be touchy here and that’s not about you, that’s about the fact that I get about 10 replies a day like this on posts about every imaginable topic and it’s hella frustrating so occasionally I gotta address it.
So….
How did you read any of this in there?
Which sentence suggested that?
That’s not in there.
I did not write that.
I did not talk about any action anyone should take in this post.
It’s just about people’s emotions
And how observing those emotions impacts my sense of trust.
No actions, no ‘should’, nothing.
There’s nothing of that in there.
That’s completely your own thoughts.
I did not write anything remotely like that in this post.
Nothing.
If you feel like not wasting energy, maybe start by not reading things into my post that are not in there and not leaving replies like this? ‘Cause like, it probably cost you energy and it’s certainly costing me a lot of energy. So I think that would help both of us.
QueerAnarchism 