Moments of Permanence - On differences in oppression, derailment, and the hierarchies of hurt

From: alias_sqbr Date: April 5th, 2009 11:04 am (UTC) (Link)

Have you seen Derailing for Dummies? :)

A more subtle derail is to change the topic from a particular form of racism (or whatever) you're (plausibly) guilty of to another (often more serious) sort you're not, and then when people try to change the subject back accuse them of not caring about the other problem.

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From: tevriel.livejournal.com Date: April 5th, 2009 12:43 pm (UTC) (Link)

Yep, a few times.

And yeah, it's more subtle, but also more jerkish. Why is it so hard for people to recognise this is the topic, that other thing is not?

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From: alias_sqbr Date: April 5th, 2009 12:55 pm (UTC) (Link)

Having been guilty of this sort of thing myself (to my eternal shame) my logic is something like:
This conversation is making me uncomfortable.
When conversations make me uncomfortable it generally means I need to figure out what the problem is and point it out.
HMM. What could be wrong with this conversation?
Well they're not talking about X important thing. Is that it?
Wow, that feels so right. Suddenly this conversation makes sense, and I know what to say, and I don't feel uncomfortable any more! Sweet!

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From: tevriel.livejournal.com Date: April 5th, 2009 01:01 pm (UTC) (Link)

Interesting.

I'm not sure I've ever done it, other than in deliberate reductio ad absurdum. I have been guilty of arguing that something Wasn't Racist, but have generally ended up at Oh, Right, Well, It's Not Racist In MY Cultural Background, But In Context, Dude, WTF.

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From: alias_sqbr Date: April 7th, 2009 11:02 am (UTC) (Link)

Yeah, I've been guilty of "Let me explain how this is or is not racist to you, oh POC" myself from time to time :/

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