3 super interesting links
Dec. 28th, 2012 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_feather3 Links I found really interesting!
James Sheldon: Intelligence as a Compliment, Stupid as an Insult: Rethinking Normal, Rethinking Attraction, Rethinking Society.
The question, though, that I have for geeks is … can you give up your need to have been right, the self-righteousness that comes with putting down those who were putting you down all those years for being geeky? And what are the consequences that come with attempting to judge others’ intelligence. Many people process information differently or have different perceptions than you do. And there’s a long history in our society of those people being marginalized and oppressed for being that way.
Ta-Nehisi Coates at the Atlantic: Through the Lens of Disability
But here is what I think: so much social justice writing is about what society owes those who we perceive as getting the short of end of the stick. It's called social justice for a reason. But what I like about this post is that it isn't simply about what the world should do about physical disability, but how a physical disability shaped a person's life, regardless of societal responsibility.
Tim Chevalier at Geek Feminism: Being a Better Ally to Trans People
Sometimes claims that trans people are “unnatural” are really claims that trans people are some sort of modern creation of medical technology, as if we didn’t exist before medical interventions that sometimes make our lives easier existed.
James Sheldon: Intelligence as a Compliment, Stupid as an Insult: Rethinking Normal, Rethinking Attraction, Rethinking Society.
The question, though, that I have for geeks is … can you give up your need to have been right, the self-righteousness that comes with putting down those who were putting you down all those years for being geeky? And what are the consequences that come with attempting to judge others’ intelligence. Many people process information differently or have different perceptions than you do. And there’s a long history in our society of those people being marginalized and oppressed for being that way.
Ta-Nehisi Coates at the Atlantic: Through the Lens of Disability
But here is what I think: so much social justice writing is about what society owes those who we perceive as getting the short of end of the stick. It's called social justice for a reason. But what I like about this post is that it isn't simply about what the world should do about physical disability, but how a physical disability shaped a person's life, regardless of societal responsibility.
Tim Chevalier at Geek Feminism: Being a Better Ally to Trans People
Sometimes claims that trans people are “unnatural” are really claims that trans people are some sort of modern creation of medical technology, as if we didn’t exist before medical interventions that sometimes make our lives easier existed.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-28 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-28 10:53 pm (UTC)Ta-Nehisi Coates' post's first comment is from a stutterer and I just kind of want to hug him and go YAY HOORAY OMG I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE THINKING OF THIS FROM A DISABILITY ANGLE. >>
no subject
Date: 2012-12-29 01:29 am (UTC)That comment thread is...interesting.
I feel bad for having mixed feelings about this, but it's kind of frustrating to me to see people being all 'oh, I guess, like, disability might matter or something and maybe we should talk about it' when people have been talking about it for so long with no one listening.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-30 12:09 am (UTC)And it's... idk if this makes sense but, I'm sort of having trouble with the distinction Ta-Nehisi Coates is drawing between disability as a different world-view and experience vs disability as a social justice issue? Because yes, I have a very different life experience from a CND person and view the world through the lens of disability, but then often a large part of that is that I have to contend with ableism where CND people don't. Which is evident in people's responses as well? Like, other person who stutters talks about how "stuttering also provides a continual motivation to prove yourself not an idiot" and what that's meant for his life, which is all tangled up in the ableism inherent in thinking anyone with a speech disorder is stupid (which in turn is tangled up with the ableism inherent in the concept of "stupid", for that matter). And I'm not sure about addressing ableism without addressing the fact that disabled people often have a very different view on life because of their experiences, because people ignoring that accounts for a significant chunk of ableism. Or am I reading this discussion wrong?
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 01:33 am (UTC)It's really hard to talk about the experience of disability without talking about social justice! IDK how to do it. It's an interesting question though. I remember reading some articles a while back where people talked about what they enjoyed about being disabled, and I think that could be part of it.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 01:31 am (UTC)I think because I learn a lot from Mr. Coates, I'm willing to give him a bit more leeway. He teaches me stuff I didn't even know I didn't know, if you see what I mean.
stuff I didn't even know I didn't know!
Date: 2012-12-31 09:13 am (UTC)