Yesterday I wrote about the three arguments I had seen people using to try to justify Nancy Pelosi’s unjustifiable fat-shaming of donald. Today, a new bullshit argument seems to be emerging.
To review, yesterday I covered included: It’s not fat-shaming, it was fat-shaming, but it’s ok because it’s donald and he’s a garbage human, and it’s science.
Today’s festering turd of a justification is some form of “she was just angry.”
She was just angry from dealing with donald, she was just frustrated hat he was lying, it was just a low moment for her blah de blahbity blah.
Here’s the deal on this. If our reaction to being angry, or frustrated, or having a low moment is bigotry, then we are a bigot. If we are willing to oppress when we get angry, we are willing to oppress people. And we have a responsibility to root out our bigotry and eliminate it – not to justify it or excuse it. And certainly not to take to the internet to justify or excuse it on behalf of people doing it from a national stage.
We should be so committed to anti-bigotry that there is no situation under which we would engage in bigotry. If we’re trying to argue that it’s ok to oppress people when we’re angry, then we’re simply arguing that it’s ok to oppress people. And it’s not. Ever. For any reason.
Fat-shaming is wrong. It’s wrong all the time. There is absolutely no justification for fat-shaming ever.
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Seriously, we’re all angry. Try this, next time you’re angry and you want to insult someone who earned it, use the N word, the K word, use their (assumed) culture against them, call a woman a B or a C, use someone’s sexuality as an insult, or body, call them a dwarf or sasquatch, acting a little ‘off’, try calling them a mental case, disagree with their beliefs, throw in a jab at their religion. See how much acceptance (and it which quarters) you get…
If you need a bye to insult someone this way, I have news for you, it is still about you. By all means call someone out, but not like you’re on the playground. Point out their behavior, cruelty, ignorance, greed. That is a choice, cherry jowls , wrinkles, body type, grey hair, even youth are neither “at you” or viable objects of insult.
No, I don’t expect people to stop. Too easy, too common and yes, we’re all too angry. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do it myself. I can do better…
If you wouldn’t forgive someone using a slur when angry, then you shouldn’t forgive any other kind of bigotry. Anger doesn’t justify or forgive bigotry; it only shows it was there all along. It’s in a similar vein to being drunk.
Anger in high quantities, like alcohol has a sedating effect on sense and a relaxing effect on polite behavior. Not a good excuse to become a jerk, just an excuse. Better to get to the root of the bias when sober and calm. Then your less likely to fall back on school yard blow back.