So You Think You Are a Good Ally?
That is super fantastic, wonderful and dandy.
Really it is but that’s all you get. You know why?
No one should get rewarded for simply doing what is right.
I don’t like you more because I know you are one of the good ones. I expect you to be one of the good ones anyway. Doing what is right is not some sort of pass, authority or even something to be celebrated. You are doing the right thing. Doing the right thing should not be abnormal.Doing the right thing should not be something to stand up and clap for. When was the last time someone gave you a standing ovation or even a pat on the back for not running over a child with your car?
If anything, being treated as an oddity should make you weep. It should make you step back and say “How horrible is the world we live in that I am getting praise for not being a racist?”
If you are looking for praise, your “Ally Status” is fake.
I appreciate you. Truly I do but that’s all I have for you. I am glad that you exist. I am glad that you are on the side of right but that is all I have for you. That is all I can give. I don’t have any actual gratitude if that is what you need. I just can’t help you with that. I can’t be grateful for/to you. I can only be happy that you exist as I am happy all good people exist.
This was tagged #no cookies for being a decent human being. Seriously though.
oh the bit about weeping when someone thanks you for basic standard of human decency, every time. and then i go and gush over every trans-tolerant cis person :3
yeaaaaaah i do this all the time
hell i do this when trans people don’t act like i need to pick a side already
this has been very relevant lately.
I just seen a post over to Matt Kailey’s blog that was all about, “Why to trans people treat our allies so mean?” And this letter-writer said, “Why do we forget about the A in LGBT - for *Allies*?” And just, yeah…I didn’t comment because what can you say?
I’m coming from the perspective of a bisexual female who came out in the eighties. So here it goes:
Standing up for something you know is right is making oneself a target. To take a stand on anything against the status quo and a false norm often puts one directly in the line of fire. Doing the right thing is not the norm, when the norm is bigotry, brutality, and taking any and all measures against any perceived deviation. From those who supported and demonstrated for female suffrage, abolition, the right of a woman to have an abortion, the right to form a union, to have a safe workplace, for the right of the ‘other’ to be treated as a human being with all the dignity and rights of the majority - that has been a danger to life and limb.
We are seen as ‘other’ - allies are seen as traitors.
A decent human being is not the norm. It never has been. And anyone who stands at my side in the face of hate, brutality, oppression is an exceptional human being, brave and full of grace. Anyone who embraces me, accepts me, when all they hear is how I am an abomination and there need to be LAWS against me, they are the ‘righteous amongst the nations’ - my comrades not by birth, but by choice. I will never denigrate an ally, because simply by being an ally, they are at more risk from their fellows than I am.
EDIT: The term ‘righteous amongst the nations’ is used when denoting those gentiles who sheltered, protected, and aided Jews during the Shoah.
Okay that’s cool, well I’m coming from the perspective of a bisexual female who came out in the nineties. And is blacker than blackity black, murder of crows against the midnight sky black. And I’mma have to collect you right now.
You are so full of shit I don’t even know where to start with you, I feel like we need whole Costco-sized packages of Metamucil to clear you out. So how about you take a seat and heed this fine gentleman in the gif above.
If allies are seen as “traitors” what the everloving unholy fuck do you think the actual marginalized people are seen as, you simple bitch? HOW ABOUT NOT EVEN WORTHY OF DERISION. HOW ABOUT NOT EVEN HUMAN.
For every “ally” who gets their damn fee-fees hurt for having the temerity to act like a decent fucking human being, a thousand upon thousand marginalized people are put in the street, beat and killed, thrown in jail, denied adequate healthcare and housing, treated like second and third class citizens if not outright like animals. Yes, “allies” have suffered for a given definition of the term. But what separates “allies” in this is the fact that at any fucking time they can walk away. Any motherfucking time. They have a choice, they have agency. Marginalized people do not have this option. THAT IS WHY WE ARE MARGINALIZED.
In conclusion, fuck you and the inbred horse you skullfucked on the way into this discussion, Miss Millie. And the next time you get the bright idea to intrude on grown people’s discussions with your simple foolishness, crack a motherfucking book or thirty. Preferably ones not written by simple ass folk such as yourself.
