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If a parents of teen girls ever wants to get a glimpse of what is being thrown at their child, look no further than Teen Vogue whose pages brought us the likes of Lauren Duca:
Lauren (voice like nails on a chalkboard) Duca-who is now a professor at NYU, by the way. People wonder why I read this stuff. It’s fluff. It’s mindless. Who cares? But deep within the clicks through fashion pages that feature ultra skinny models sporting Yves Saint Laurent accessories (because every teenager can afford those), come a few gems of good ol’ progressive indoctrination. Take this article for example entitled: “We Can’t Just Show Up For Social Justice Issues When it Impacts our own Lives”.
The article starts out with the author talking about her disabled father and how this impacted her family life. This disability prompted her to become active in her school’s disability rights and justice network, to research and to follow key individuals who are in the conversation. Okay, we’ll take that. Here’s where this article turns the corner:
You showed up for March For Our Lives — an important step in contributing to the movement to stop gun violence. But are you showing up for victims of neighborhood violence, too? Are you challenging your local elected officials to build strong communities, free of violence? Even some young leaders of March For Our Lives have recognized their privilege, having found more support than black and brown students who endure gun violence daily, who challenge us to work in defense of their lives every day, not just some.”-Brittany Packnett, Teen Vogue
And there it is. March for Our Lives. Recognizing your privilege in this world. What most young readers do not understand and where our media continues to blur the lines is the difference between activism and social justice. Let’s take March for Our Lives as this example. Kids skipped classes. The smug, key figurehead of the movement (the epitome of a privileged little imp of a white boy) dropped multiple F-bombs at the NRA and called out all of us “old ass”, gun-toting parents. March for Our Lives was not about advocating for children who live in violent inner-city neighborhoods and deal with gun violence daily, there was a big-government agenda behind the whole movement. It was about attacking “old ass parents” like us who exercise our freedom responsibly and who WANT to protect our kids and our homes from crazy people.
But wait, there’s more!
Knowing that our freedom is connected is the first step in living by the concept of solidarity.
Beyond that is the willingness to take risks in the service of justice. This is the difference between an ally and an accomplice. Marginalized people live risk daily by their very existence. If you possess privilege of any kind, it is your responsibility to spend that privilege. Put it up at risk to protect the very people who are suffering most. Be willing to say the hard thing. Be willing to stand up in protest. Be willing to ask the difficult questions of those in authority. All of this will feel very costly to you. But ask yourself this: what will it cost us as a society and a community if you don’t stand up. The cost of your silence is greater than the cost of your truth.”-Brittany Packnett, Teen Vogue
If you possess privilege of any kind, it is your responsibility to spend that privilege. Hmm. Interesting concept. I love how this article points out “privilege” all whilst ads for $40 tubes of Chanel lipstick flash upon me on the screen.
Riddle me this, then, Teen Vogue: does skipping school and shouting obscenities at other adults whilst wearing a pink pussy hat and holding up a sign you spent all night working on do anything to help women who are being abused by their partners or does showing up at a women’s shelter and serving a meal, donating clothing for their children or taking the time out to just talk to them have a bigger impact? Does flaunting how privileged you are make a difference to those less privileged? It’s all just lip service. Saying how privileged you are and not putting your words into action is a pretentious, lofty way of saying “yes, I KNOW I am better than you”. Haven’t we seen this enough in grown adults in office who claim they know what is best while our cities and states fall apart around their policies?
This is where we talk about something called stewardship, girls. Yes, you can go and assist those who are less privileged than you are on a weekend and still make it to class on Monday. You can then have this conversation with your friends and, if inspired, organize a group to go to the women’s shelter a week later or gather up a collection of toiletries, fun cosmetics and clothes for a drop off. This is true advocacy. But the powers that be in charge of the big progressive machine of social justice and politics who dictate to large media platforms are not concerned with silent work behind the scenes that produces a domino effect and actually betters the lives of people, they want chaos. After all, the cost of your silence is greater than your truth, right? Or is it their truth they want you to recite verbatim?
Oh, how they love the “your truth” bit!
You want to spend your privilege and “show up”? Show up for your friends who get bullied on social media. Show up for a family member who is sick. Show up for someone who can do absolutely NOTHING for you in return. Show up and actually BE an advocate. Do your homework, do your research in opposition to being spoon-fed selected tidbits of what the popular opinion of adults (who want to sway your opinion) want to share with you. Distinguish between “social Justice” and advocacy. The powers that be don’t want you to because you will actually be better for it. And for crying out loud, shut up for a moment and listen to those who have been there, don’t yell at them in defiance just to shout YOUR truth. Your truth as you know it may actually change in this process.
Photo Credit: FlickR/Cropped/Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
John C. says: “You Don’t Need A Gun To Be Powerful”
I used to know a woman who was confined to a powered wheelchair; she was one of those fortunately rare people who contracted polio from the vaccine, so she had no strength to speak of. She carried in her wheelchair a tiny .22 pistol, the most potent thing she could handle. One evening 3 guys decided she would be an easy mark. Producing the pistol, holding it with both hands, as she couldn’t handle it at all otherwise, she faced them down. Obviously she was not physically their equal, but they could see that she was determined to make the best account of herself if they made it necessary. They left. Granted, she had strength of personality and determination, but it would have availed her nothing without the gun.
Joe in PNG says: Likewise the “you can put a silencer on a gun, but not on me” sign.
Sweetie darling, the reason you can hold that sign is because the people with guns* in the USA believe in the concept of Freedom of Speech as laid down in the Constitution.
If the people with guns believed otherwise, you would learn the hard way what Mao said- “Power grows from the barrel of a gun”.
*Both official and unofficial
GWB says: Yeah, that “You don’t need…” sign is so pathetic. She’s playing the “a gun is compensation for a small penis” card. But she really has probably never heard how it actually does empower people – especially women.
But, the big thing that caught my eye….
If it weren’t for the assumptions behind the article, the two paragraphs quoted could be exactly right.
(The below is in addition to Lisa’s great response.)
But are you showing up for victims of neighborhood violence, too?
Yep, exactly right. If you take away the progressive assumptions on ‘privilege’ and such, that would have some punch. As Lisa noted, are you actually doing anything local? Are you actually focused on making life somewhere better, rather than virtue-signalling some utopic vision?
Are you challenging your local elected officials to build strong communities, free of violence?
Yes, get involved. And if you weren’t an anti-gunner, this would make a positive difference. (Unfortunately, the progs think you can actually get rid of guns. And that will automagically produce a lack of violence. They’re not very bright that way.)
Even some young…
Ummmm… OK, no. That sentence is just a grammatical hash.
Knowing that our freedom is connected is the first step in living by the concept of solidarity.
So close!* But, yes, our freedom IS connected! If enough people stop caring and stop zealously and jealously guarding our actual freedoms, EVERYONE will be enslaved. This is why the progs took over education. It’s why they took over the media. If they can just get enough people to let their guard down, they can take control – and EVERYONE’s freedom will be gone.
(* Not quite worth a cigar, because I think she’s starting from the point-of-view that the solidarity is the virtue and freedom is the benefit, rather than freedom is the virtue, and solidarity is a necessary tool for protecting it.)
Beyond that is the willingness to take risks in the service of justice.
Yes! But it has to be REAL justice, not ‘social’ justice. It has to be “equality under the law”, not “equality of outcomes”. (One of those is possible, the other is impossible with human beings.) And it has to actually be for all, not just for the identified special tribes. (Start by joining us on the lines advocating for the least vulnerable people in the world.)
This is the difference between an ally and an accomplice.
Huh?! The difference between an “ally” and an “accomplice” is solely in the view of the rightness of the action. Allies of criminals are accomplices. Accomplices of your country in a just war are allies. Not sure what the hell she was saying with that one.
If you possess privilege of any kind, it is your responsibility to spend that privilege.
Actually, yes. If you have money, it’s your obligation to help the less fortunate. If you have power, it is your duty to protect those who are defenseless. If you have a voice, it is your responsibility to speak for those who have no voice. If you have sight, you are obliged to lead the blind.
HOWEVER, it is NOT your place to insist that the government take away my money, take away my power, stifle my voice, nor blindfold me in order to achieve equality! No. No. And again, I say NO!
Be willing to say the hard thing.
Yes. You know, like all those people advocating it’s better for someone to have a job than to be on welfare, and maybe they ought to get off their duffs. Or those people saying that if you have sex with someone and get pregnant, you should accept the responsibility for that and not punish the innocent child for your mistakes. Or maybe we should just let the rest of the world do its thing, and not try to impose our utopic vision on everyone.
THOSE hard things.
Be willing to ask the difficult questions of those in authority.
And of yourself. But yes.
The cost of your silence is greater than the cost of your truth.
Then, one last bit of stupid to ensure you understand she really doesn’t mean any of the things *I* noted.
The cost from my silence could be incredible. The cost of THE truth is there, no matter whether you think it’s your truth or not. The cost of thinking there is more than one truth is the total disintegration of the civilized world.
Ponder that one, Brittany.
GWB says: advocating for the least most vulnerable people in the world
I was thinking one thing, then wrote another halfway through. *smh*
GWB says: Oh, as to the second sign, “You can’t put a silencer on me!”…
Well, yes, I actually can. I could just slap some duct tape over your mouth. Trust me when I say I could make it happen.
Or, of course, I could just pass a hate speech law that shuts you up or throws you in jail. It could easily be done with the sorts of gov’t power you’ve supported.
You know, the funny thing is there’s a single powerful response to both of those assaults on your rights and person. The power you would have from possessing, being trained with, and being willing to use a gun.
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