I’ve actually been writing something else for this blog for the first time in months and months. But then a thing happened and I ended up writing a large number of words as an announcement in my Discord server. Eventually that post will be moved on and get lost, but I want to preserve what I had to say.
I’m white, male, and not a resident or citizen of America, so I’m not really sure that my thoughts are significant, most certainly not compared to the stories and experiences of people who have to actually deal with this colossal bonfire of rights and democracy.
But if people who are in a more privileged position of having the choice on whether to speak up do nothing, then they’re contributing to the problem by letting it go unchallenged. I stay silent on many things simply because I do not have the emotional energy to try and put thoughts into words on everything that is wrong with the world anymore, but this affects so many people, and so many people that I know, that I do not have a choice.
Below is a copy of what I posted in my Discord server, edited only slightly to account for this not being my Discord server.
I generally try to take an approach that people are entitled to their opinions. Even if I think that their opinions are stupid, wrong, hopelessly misguided, or similar; I still maintain that you have the right to have those opinions.
Sometimes I feel a need to make an exception. Children being able to have a day at school without the expectation of being shot in their classroom while the police wait outside; being able to express their identity without fear of government persecution and abuse; being able to make the decision that you’re not in a position to have a child; the right to access contraception; being able to marry or be in a relationship with the person you love, regardless of their sexual orientation.
You know, things which really are not opinions, and are just basic human rights that everybody should be entitled to. In any so-called civilised country, these would all be options, and for a country that still self-identifies as the ‘greatest country in the world’, you would think this would be the case. Unfortunately, the US political structure is a shitshow of bullshit puritan anti-democratic terrorism. America is now in a position where the only chance for a national right to have an abortion is restored is if the bad party that isn’t basically a domestic terrorist group manages to win big in gerrymandered midterm elections and actually pass meaningful legislation without it getting bogged down in additional political bullshit.
There was a point to this before it turned into a general rant about American politics.
I’ve never yet had to ban anyone from my Discord server for being a shitstain piece of scum, and I don’t really expect this to reveal anyone as such, but I feel violently angry today and would like to say something again that I’ve said before but what the hell.
Anyone here who believes that child-bearers should not have the absolute and final right to choose whether they carry a child to term or have the right to choose whether to become pregnant in the first place, just up and get the fuck out.
Given the nature of the ruling, I’ll add to this that anyone who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or anywhere else in the wonderful alphabet that is the range of human identity is completely human, equivalent in every way to anyone who is none of those things, and deserving of rights, medical care, respect, and love. If you disagree with that, please also get the fuck out.
These are not matters of opinion that I will defend your right to hold. These are basic human rights and the fact that they are being deliberately undermined by people who think they are special just because they hold a position of political power is an abomination against any form of moral decency or civilised society.