something witty

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Just fling it at whomever you don't like, or whatever makes you vaguely uncomfortable, whether or not it's accurate or fair or objective, and other people have no choice but to get on that bandwagon if they don't wanna be seen as also problematic. Because apparently, in this social-media age where everyone puts their lives online 24/7, everyone is terrified of not being perfect. No way we're allowed to have flaws.

Same way it was unsafe to criticize the invasion of Iraq after 9/11 - the same way there's literally no way to fight against someone who shuts down any argument by calling you a pedo. It's become a weapon of abuse and manipulation.

👀✨

Mizuyang 💚💙