and retweeted an article that contains, to my mind, the worst sort of left-flavoured unexamined white male privilege (the writer and I are actually engaged in a productive email discussion right now, he admits that some of what he said was wrong) I'm afraid I just lost my cool. I have no idea if you are, in your heart, a racist or a sexist - I'm sure you're a good person. It's actually interesting to know more about your life. All I had to go on before was a picture of Stalin and a Twitter feed full of hate. Now I feel I know you a bit more as an individual. Before you were just one of what looked like a faceless mass of haters spreading lies and threats.
Of course, I know that's not true - probably every one of you is an individual with your own history, your own challenges and secret hurts and triumphs, you've done campaigning work you're rightly proud of, you're a human being with a story. But heres the thing - so am I. You and everyone else on that thread have not treated me as such. Now you're asking that I behave in an empathetic way towards you, when your behaviour towards me has been the absolute opposite. You're asking that I treat you with politeness, respect and humanity, and sensitivity towards how a particular statement might affect your work, when you've shown me the opposite.
Like I say, I've got no idea if you're racist or sexist. I'm sure in your heart you are neither of these things. I have no way of knowing whether what you say about your years of anti-fascist work are true, but I have no reason to disbelieve you.
On the other hand, I think the way you've all collectively behaved on the urban75 thread is stunningly sexist, as well as racist in its blanket writing-off of 'identity politics'.
