Hey, White Dude – You\’re A Racist, Sexist, Horrible Fascist

Objective:\”not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.\”

dictionary defintion

Everyone has feelings. When trying to view or judge the world around us, we cannot help but apply our feelings, our experiences and our opinions. Everyone has their life, their viewpoint.

In order for us to be considerate and inclusive, we need first take an objective view, and then apply our feelings to it.

Feelings are our viewpoint. Feelings can change without changing the world around us. Viewpoints can change without changing the world around us. Facts, taking an objective view, do not chang. Unless active change takes place.

Empirical evidence: \”the evidence of the senses, of direct observation or measurement\”

dictionary definition

Empirical evidence is information acquired by observation or experimentation. Scientists record and analyse this data. The process is a central part of the scientific method. Meaning that they take an objective approach. Only when there is a lack of empirical evidence will they resort to rational evidence. Any anecdotal evidence gets assigned to the footnotes.

Prejudice: \”dislike, hostility, or unjust behaviour deriving from preconceived and unfounded opinions\”

Dictionary Definition

This means that no matter how you feel about a fact that has been shown objectively to the true through empirical evidence, it does not make it false. Nor does it invalidate your feelings. What it does mean is that if you deny the empirical evidence through rationalisation, then you are lying to yourself, and you are being prejudiced.

Rationalise: \”attempt to explain or justify (behaviour or an attitude) with logical reasons, even if these are not appropriate\”

Dictionary Definition

It doesn\’t matter how complex, complicated, difficult or expensive something appears to be, if you explain away a fact through rationalisation, then you are inappropriately justifying a falsehood.

There is such an enormous body of evidence that shows that we live in a biased world. The facts show that women and not treated as equals. Empirical evidence shows that they are currently fighting a vicious circle with inequality. The same for black people. It might make you feel uneasy to realise that, but it is true. To argue otherwise is to rationalise empirical evidence.

If you are any sort of nice and lovely person, who thinks that people should just be able to get on with their lives on an equal basis, the you need to realise that things are not fair right now, that some people need help. They need your help.

If you believe otherwise. If you think that people just complain too much, and things are OK as they are. The world has it right. No change is needed, then heed on.

Authoritarianism: \”a form of government characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of a strong central power to preserve the political status quo\”

Wikipedia

Politicians make the rules. They govern your country. So, if all is well, then you believe the world, your country, is being run just fine by your politicians. You wish to preserve the status quo.

Ultranationalism: \”extreme nationalism that promotes the interest of one state or people above all others\”

wikipedia

You believe that your country is right, and others have it wrong. Things are just fine the way they are. You do not want change. The world is not unfair. Other people, irrespective of their experiences, and evidence to the contrary, should change their behaviour to fit in.

Fascism: \”a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism\”

wikipedia

Well. It turns out you are a fascist. You don\’t want change. You don\’t accept facts. Your anecdotal, rationalised evidence fuels hate and divisiveness.

Either, you accept the empirical evidence that you are living in a world, a society, that perpetuates racism and misogyny. Or, you are one of the fascist perpetuating the racism and misogyny. Because the act of denying it, forces the status quo. And anyone who won\’t see the need for change is the cause.

If you feel uncomfortable about this, then that\’s probably a good start. Remember, you can\’t change the facts.

And, stop being such a little shit.

Where do you think all those terms, like mansplaining and white privilege come from? They come from women and black people\’s experiences of their objective lives being rationalised away by some white man who doesn\’t think there\’s a problem.

That\’s you. They are looking right at you. You\’re being fascist. You\’re being racists, You\’re being sexist. And still you bang on about how they just need to change their behaviour.

I don\’t understand (UK) politics and voting

I have never really understood politics nor voting. Well, I understand the basic principles of politics and voting. But the nuances of it escape me. The two are naturally linked together, the aspects that join together to make up the democratic society that I live in. The more one delves into the details (of which their are oh-so many), the less it seems to really fulfil those basic principles that I understand. And thus I can\’t claim to understand it. Unless I\’m right and it is all a big farce.

One of my little pet hates, is when someone latches on to me when I say \”I\’m not interested in politics\”. They claim that if I take part in society (buy food from shops, drive a car on the road, work for money, or just plain sit around whining) then I am involved with politics. Ay interest I might have in those things (cheaper food, faster car, less tax, freedom of speech) means I am in turn interested in politics. Hah, they got me. I really am interested in it – it\’s all around me! Well, fuck them. That\’s like saying I\’m interested in physics because I want to move around. It is a pathetic argument. It reminds me of religious folk, because they use much the same argument.

I first became politically aware when I was a student. The poll tax was about to be introduced. I was too young to vote against it. I didn\’t like it. From around that time, I started keeping an eye on politicians, parties and their manifestos. I hadn\’t grasped that such things local elections took place. I still don\’t understand local elections. I digress. At this time in my life, it seemed to me that an election happened every four years, and it was all about voting for one of the main parties. Being a teenager, I figured there were years yet until I\’d get the chance to have my say. I set it aside as something to worry about later.

The next general elections came along, but I didn\’t have a vote card. Being a student, I moved every year or so. I was unaware the concept of being registered to vote, and all the prerequisites that that might have. It was at least ten years before I settled down anywhere long enough for the government to catch up with me, to get me on the electoral roll. I understand now that I could have made the effort myself. In the mean time, however, I witnessed what to me was a whole bunch of lying and cheating by politicians. Everything I learnt during this time of non-voting, lead me to believe that the whole thing was just one big fuck up. I was not motivated to vote. I thought it pointless.

If I voice even a hint of my de-motivated feeling of uselessness about voting any where near a pro-voter, out sprouts second most annoying thing I am told (second to the pet hate mentioned above). I am scathingly told \”The point of politics is for it to be shaped by the people. You can\’t change it without taking part\”. Pretty much always joined by \”It\’s the best thing we have, nobody has thought of anything better\”. Well, bollocks to that. I\’m supposed to accept that because something is supposedly the least shit tool in the box, it\’s the only tool I\’m allowed to use and I have to use it. No, I bloody well don\’t. What an utterly flawed argument. All that does, in my mind, is perpetuate the banal lip-service that politicians pay towards making this a better place. Apparently, because I can\’t think of something better I\’m doing everyone a dis-service. Again I am reminded of religion. The same old make believe, that if I don\’t join in will see me ostracised and sent to hell. Oh and I\’m infecting others with my non-participation.

I\’m not an advocate of proportional representation, but I remember one of the first perplexing facts I learnt about politics in the UK. A party could have more people voting for it than anyone else, and not win. Not just not win, but have less seats. Should I move to a small constituency so that my vote has more punch? Is voting, like the NHS, inflicted by the postcode lottery? I know there was an awful lot of press and diagrams about the voting referendum about changing our voting. Something as important as politics should be, and basic as voting is, should be trivial to understand. It should not be a complex beast to be spun by cheating, lying cunts and twats.

Why can\’t we admit that our current politics doesn\’t work. Set it aside, stop twatting about. Just elect some people who have the skills to continue the status quo. Don\’t have any more votes. Stop wasting money on elections. Run the country. Spend all the money that would be spent on continuing this voting farce, on the resources needed to find out what we are to replace this broken system with. Even if we don\’t know how to achieve it. Our politics is fundamentally broken. People that say \”but there is nothing better\” implicitly agree with me here. There is no meaningful difference between the major parties. They\’ve been in power for decades, they will be in power for decades to come. Just stick to one \’party\’ (in fact, merge them all together) and concentrate on finding the thing that should really replace our current political system.

I don\’t believe that politics is the answer to politics. So stop feeding me that self-indulgent money-grabbing opinion. Just fuck off and leave me alone. You\’re not going to improve it in my life-time, and in a few years nobody will give a flying shit who I voted for, or whether I voted.

I don\’t understand the details of the UK\’s political machine. I don\’t particularly want to. I don\’t think there is any point.