Friday, November 11, 2016

Safety pins?

So there's a movement afoot to wear a safety pin as a sign of disagreement with Trump's xenophobia, racism, sexism (etc., etc., etc.)  -- a continuation/repurposing of symbol first adopted by Britons after the Brexit vote.  I have to admit, as a proffie at a school with a lot of nonwhite, Muslim, and/or immigrant students (and a fair number of international students who might be mistaken for immigrants), I'm tempted.  It seems like a harmless and possibly comforting gesture, especially since I've been hearing from students that some of their peers are feeling very vulnerable (these accounts are mostly secondhand; people seem more willing to talk about comforting friends than about whether they feel vulnerable themselves.  Also, so far, they seem to be mostly accounts of LGBT students feeling newly vulnerable; that might just be my particular small sample, but I'm wondering whether it's also a matter of people who grew up in an increasingly welcoming environment feeling newly vulnerable vs. those who always knew they and their families were vulnerable).

On the other hand, I'm more than a bit skeptical of the larger rhetoric of safe spaces with which this particular symbol intersects (and which we've discussed here before).  While I'm mindful of just how much words and the ideas they express can hurt, and how much energy it can take to deal with such messages, I also value free speech, and tend to think the the remedy for most objectionable speech is more speech. Over the course of what is getting to be a longish life, I've also become increasingly aware that, while human beings can, to some degree, control or at least modulate their own reactions to others and their expressed ideas, we can't control others or their ideas,and that trying to do so can use up a great deal of time, energy, and emotional that might be better spent in other ways.  I'm not going to tell anyone who's feeling hurt by another's ideas that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," because it's not that simple, but I do think there's something to cultivating a fairly tough hide, an ability to cogently critique ideas that are wrong as well as offensive and/or hurtful, and a willingness to walk away from unwinnable fights and find something practical to do that addresses the same or at least a related issue (or something else that one judges to be more important in the long term).  

I'm also mindful that wearing a safety pin would be an empty gesture (mere 'virtue signaling," to quote some of the critical tweets), since I can't really do anything to keep anyone subject to deportation (or harassment at any moment when I'm not there to object) safe (and I might not be much use even if present in the case of violent harassment, though I'd certainly do my best).  I'm certainly thinking about where I can best direct donations (especially any additional income I might derive from a tax cut, though I think that's unlikely to amount to much) so as to aid those who are in a position to provide real, practical (legal and/or logistical) help.

There's also this point, made by a British woman of Pakistani descent, which I think could also apply to our classrooms:

While I think it's great - amazing, even - that people are protesting en masse against Brexit racism, and are saying it's not okay, this isn't how solidarity works. When I'm sitting on a train and I see your safety pin, I don't think: "Hurrah, now I feel safe."
My default expectation from you as a human being in society is to not be racist or call me a Paki on my morning commute.
Wearing a safety pin just reminds me that I'm not safe, and telling me that you're on 'my side' just reinforces the idea of sides.

So what say you?  Are you thinking of wearing a safety pin yourself?  Have you seen any students doing so?  Do you think it's a bad/silly/dangerous idea, or a good or at least innocuous one? 

--Cassandra

50 comments:

  1. What I don't like is feeling pressured to wear the pin. The subtle (and sometimes less than subtle) pressure to fit in drives me insane. I'm an adjunct who gets no guidance from the rest of the department and so when it comes to sides, I'm not on anyone's side.

    However, I'll listen to students as much as they want me to. I'll spend the time. I'll empathize with them. But I won't wear a pin if it means I fit in. If students want any of my expertise or their want to know I care, they can come talk to me. If they judge me by the fact that I wear or do not wear the safety pin? So be it. If colleagues want to know where my pin isone tenured colleague who has no idea what my name is or how I am going to have problems sending my own kids to college even though I teach at one gleefully handed me one this morning), they can shadow me for the day to see what I do. And I'm sure they listen to students, too. But it bugs me that they think I automatically have the same political ideologies as they do, or that I'd even want to associate myself in any way with them.

    I wrote in Bernie Sanders. Clinton won my state.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Handing them out without asking first is definitely taking things a step too far (and such behavior by a tenured proffie to an adjunct ignores power structures which I suspect that said colleague, in other contexts, would pride hirself on critiquing).

      It's interesting how little we heard about education in the general election (though I gather that Trump, perhaps somewhat opportunistically, now has a proposal for dealing with student loans). Even when the subject did come up,the focus was almost entirely on college costs and the burden on students and parents; adjunctification got absolutely zero attention as far as I can tell (and the growing shortage of K-12 teachers, which has some related origins, equally little).

      Delete
  2. I think the Brit's argument has merit, but it might be reframed thus:

    When I'm walking alone at night and I see a police car, I don't think: "Hurrah, now I feel safe." My default expectation from others in society is to not harm me. Having police just reminds me that nobody is safe and reinforces the idea that people are shit.

    So we have a continuum from blissful ignorance to pessimism, arguably unhealthy at either extreme. Somewhere on that axis is room for the occasional reminder that people can be good to counter the often more obvious reminders that they are not. All the same, I reject the notion that by not advertising that you're with us, you're advertising that you're against us. How about, I'm just not advertising?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I live in a city. Police are everywhere. Honestly if I went 24 hours without seeing a police officer or cop car, I'd probably feel unsafe.

      Delete
    2. You've confirmed my point: If seeing a cop helps you feel safe, then why not a safety pin?

      If people were not occasionally bad to each other, there'd be no need for pins or police. So I also understand why such things don't necessarily bring comfort.

      Delete

    3. I don't believe the pin signals that either, as I tried to explain earlier in comments lower down this page. I've also been a big-city-dweller almost my entire adult life, and as such certainly don't advocate that anyone disable the 911 feature on their mobile or engage in vigilantism; on average, we are far safer with police presence, and there are practical and legal limitations to what "ordinary citizens" can do.

      In my two comments above this one, the main point I've been trying to make, somewhat badly and obtusely, is that I initially found it odd that a person would view the safety pin symbol in a negative light, as apparently does Pooma Bell, the British author in the linked article. To me, initially, such a reaction seemed similar to feeling unsafe when one sees a cop. Who does that, am I right?

      But Bell provides her own justification: "telling me that you’re on ‘my side’ just reinforces the idea of sides." OK, I suppose that's perhaps like seeing a cop being a reminder that we don't live in Nirvana.

      On the other hand, maybe the ability to assume that everyone feels safe when they see a a cop is a privilege reserved to those who've had predominantly positive experience with police. Which takes me back the town of my youth, whose constable harassed me, from which I emigrated before I was of voting age to a city then known for police brutality, which didn't affect me directly till it did. Even though the cops I see today are not those cops, and when I see one today I do feel safe, I recognize that others might not.

      Back to the pin. It would be nice if everyone could see it as a positive, but some won't, and I get that: my digression and analogy to cops has actually helped widen my perspective. So while I did consider wearing the pin, I probably won't.

      I close with a quote from Pooma Bell:

      This is solidarity. Rising up when the situation calls for it, not pre-empting it ahead of time.

      I think that racists keep on going unless they are challenged, and if the situation calls for it and I feel safe enough to do so, I will challenge them. So solidarity is that if I need your help, you won’t stare ahead and look on, or turn up the volume on your iPhone, you’ll step in and help me.

      The founder of the #safetypin trend has said that this is meant to be a pledge to intervene, not just token solidarity. But trust me, I don’t need a safety pin to tell me whether or not you’ll step up.

      Delete
  3. Any social movement that encourages people to have useful things around must have some merit. How can we get a Swiss army knife, duct tape, and WD40 to represent our desire for social change?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps a mezuzah containing a copy of the syllabus would make a practical fashion statement.

      Ben, I've tried carrying those things around. People are so quick to assume I'm up to something. Maybe I should lose the shovel.

      Delete
    2. My first reaction was somewhat similar: I've almost always got a few safety pins in my backpack, and more than occasionally have one on my clothes as well (either because I haven't gotten around to sewing on a button yet, or as an answer to the perennial problems caused by the fact that humans, especially female humans, come in many shapes and sizes, making it difficult to space shirt buttons exactly right for everyone). So it might just be a matter of making what I usually hide away more visible (and if I end up with safety pins scattered throughout my wardrobe, well, I'll be prepared next time I need one).

      OPH: at least try to refrain from reviewing the shovel on Amazon with reference to burying the bodies.

      Delete
  4. I think the real question is not whether you wear a safety pin, but whether you will step in when you see abuse or harassment happening. I know it can be hard to have the right reaction in a moment like that, but I've been practicing in my mind, hoping it will help prepare me.

    I told all my classes some version of this: "I'm sure you have many emotions about the election, some positive, some negative. I want you to hear me say that I'm glad you all are here. You belong here." I wish I would have thought to add "...and if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, I have your back."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And this (paragraph 1) is why I'd consider wearing the pin: not just to comfort potential victims, but to signal others that I will step in with them to counter abuse. The bystander effect is hard to overcome. What's that saying? All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing. It may help would-be evil doers to reconsider their position if they understood how many good people are in this world.

      Delete
    2. Is there some evil being done that you need to step in to stop?

      Delete
    3. Have you been following the news? We're talking about responding to racist harassment and violence of the type that has exploded since Trump's election. Google "Trump day 1," "Trump day 2," etc.

      Delete
    4. There is definitely some evil being done, or at least said, by people who apparently feel emboldened by the results of the election (there has also been, that I've heard, one case of a false accusation of assault based on religion, and one case of young black people beating up a white motorist while making reference to race and Trump, as well as some protest that crossed the line into destruction of property, so the bad behavior isn't limited to one group, but I think it's fair to say that only one of the two candidates said things that could be taken as encouraging such behavior).

      There's also another issue, which hasn't received as much attention yet, but is still significant to a large proportion of the population: not only did we not elect the first woman president (fair enough; voters had every right to prefer another candidate for any number of reasons), we did elect a man who has admitted to using power as an excuse for sexual assault and sexual predation, and who feels perfectly justified in judging women not only on their appearance, but also on whether they're being nice to him (regardless of whether he's being nice, or even minimally civilized, in how he talks to and about them). One can argue, with good evidence, that we've already had presidents who were just as bad about abusing power in this way (if perhaps a bit more discreet about it), but it's still seriously depressing to learn that, in 2016, c. 50% of the electorate doesn't consider such behavior an absolute disqualification for a prospective president.

      So all women and girls have reason to feel just a little bit less safe than we did at the beginning of the week (and it's not like we felt entirely safe to start with). And there are, of course, a significant number of women and girls who feel vulnerable both because of their gender and because of their race, ethnicity, and/or religion (hijab-wearing Muslim women being the most obvious example).

      While this, like refraining from calling people racial epithets, should go without saying, a safety pin worn by a male teacher or student could signal that they'll refrain from such behavior, and that message could be welcome.

      None of the above erases the concern I and others have expressed above, and I certainly don't think coercion, explicit or implicit, is a good idea (free speech is as much violated by forcing people to engage in speech and/or symbolic acts as in forbidding them from doing so), but it's a consideration -- and a case where the wearer of the pin could actually personally guarantee a particular kind of safety.

      Delete
    5. If you've only just now decided you'll step in and help someone being beaten or whatever, and came to this decision because of Brexit or the U.S. election, well, what took you so long? As far as the safety pin - no, and no to all forms of meaningless virtue-signalling that does nothing to help actual people living in the real, non-virtual world.

      "With fewer sources of ethnic and local identity, people ask politics to fill the void. Being a Democrat or a Republican becomes their ethnicity. People put politics at the center of their psychological, emotional and even spiritual life.

      This is asking too much of politics. Once politics becomes your ethnic and moral identity, it becomes impossible to compromise, because compromise becomes dishonor. If you put politics at the center of identity, you end up asking the state to eclipse every social authority but itself."

      - David Brooks

      Delete
    6. "If you've only just now decided you'll step in and help someone being beaten or whatever, and came to this decision because of Brexit or the U.S. election, well, what took you so long?"

      In my case, at least, the decision to act instead of standing idly by predates Brexit by 30 years. It's not about politics, it's about people doing shitty things to other people, and me concluding that if I don't try to do something about it when I see it, perhaps nobody will.

      Delete
  5. I think it's a stupid, meaningless gesture and prefer to offer my real-world assistance and I would certainly offer my material support to any politician who seemed to have some integrity and a shot at being elected in four years.

    But I don't need to wear a lapel pin advertising that, what, I'm not going to bash someone's head in with a shovel? What does this pin really say other than "I voted the other way"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think there is a place for signalling. It's helpful to people in need to know that they can count on you. The problem is that for many people, the effort stops there. if you have the energy to do only one thing to help people, then wearing a safety pin is the worst idea. Everybody is better off if your one act of kindness is volunteering, petitioing your government officials, etc.

      It can quickly becomes a way to sort people politically but that's not your problem. Disrupting the narrative that only progressives care about people is the only way to make the narrative go away.

      Delete
    2. I think this is important and worth following up on. It seems like there's a lot of "how could you?" directed (mostly, in my observation) at those whose votes (or lack thereof) led Trump to victory. It helps to remember that people are multidimensional and really can't be sorted just by who they vote for. (Well, they technically can, but the resulting groups are far from homogeneous; you get my point.) I feel that emphasizing certain differences may not be productive now, and inasmuch as the pin can be taken as "I'm not one of you", it could be argued that it prolongs the journey to reconciliation.

      Delete
  6. My first reaction was, "oh, that's silly." But then people started posting stuff on Facebook about how horrid the safety pin was, and how it undermined democracy, and shit, and I was like, "holy shit, undermine democracy? sign me the fuck up, g-money!" and I put that bitch on my tweed and I'll wear it like a goddamned punk rocker if it makes fascist fucks tell me I'm stupid until the goddamned end of goddamned days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so hardcore, I'm gonna wear it through my eyelid.

      Delete
    2. I don't suppose anyone would see the funny side of a Prince Albert remark first thing on a Monday morning, would they?

      Delete
  7. Wearing the pin would (unfortunately) be more a way for me to tell my family and neighbors I think I am better than they are than anything else. I live in a very red town (the only place my husband and I could afford a house with a semi decent school system), and come from a very red family. (alas, one's roots and all that)

    When I drive the 45 minutes to the very blue city I work in, the pin would take on a different significance---we all know who we are. Our students know who we are. We don't need pins.

    I am inclined to view this exactly the same as Programming Patty----more a way to declare oneself virtuous than anything else. I voted for Bernie and then for Hillary. My husband wrote in Bernie the second time. My state went blue, but there are deep red pockets. I don't like my family and neighbors much right now, but I can certainly tell you that not all or even most Trump supporters are like the ones we see on the news. The are people who felt the need to tell the establishment to stick it was more important than their candidate's treatment of women and minorities. They also point to the fact that Trump actually has a track record of hiring women, paying them well, and promoting them to very high positions in his companies. Again, they don't care that by all accounts, he also subjected them to verbal sexual harassment (at best). Price they feel women had to pay, I guess, to get that decent treatment from Trump.

    Okay I am getting too political---but my point is, that by painting all the people who voted for Trump with that violent brush, we are creating fear and division. I myself am starting to feel uncomfortable just going grocery shopping, even though I do know better. We are not "us and them." There is still a lot that people of both parties have in common, and we would do well to try to remember that.

    I think the safety pins add to the division and fear in the ways already articulated here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The problem is that to others, the pin doesn't mean only what I want it to mean. In that regard, it's not much different from any other "statement" type of sartorial or bodily adornment.

      Delete
    2. "[By] painting all the people who voted for Trump with that violent brush, we are creating fear and division."

      Damn straight. Nobody deserves to be painted with the brush that should be reserved for just the worst actors. We should call upon people in other tribes to denounce anyone of their own who does stuff like that... oh, wait...

      Delete
    3. I see your point, OPH. I just still don't think the pin ends up making a statement about readiness to help so much as about not being one of those violent, racist p@#$@y grabbers that now surround us.

      Delete
    4. Yup. The latter is the more likely implication and inference.

      In college, a friend of mine regularly wore a hat upon which was embroidered "This is a Trucker's hat." Truth in advertising. I thought it might be fun to make some bumper stickers that say "I put this here so you'll know I'm great."

      Delete
    5. You bring up an important point, Bella: context matters. One thing I didn't say in my initial post, because it was getting long enough, is that I'd be thinking a bit differently about the possibility of wearing a pin if I thought a significant number of my students had voted for Trump (and that I'd therefore possibly be sending the message that they are therefore, by definition, racist, sexist, xenophobic, etc.). I'm pretty sure that relatively few did (we do have some students from rural white areas who commute in, so it's possible), while I know that a large proportion of my students are first-generation Americans, religious minorities (mostly Muslim), etc.

      I actually wouldn't see any contradiction in a Trump voter wearing a safety pin, as long as (s)he categorically rejected the possibility of following his lead when it comes to racist, sexist, and/or xenophobic speech, and was willing to stand up to others (of whatever voting stripe) who did follow his lead. I'm not quite sure what is would say to fellow Americans about what they would or wouldn't do when ICE comes for their parents, siblings, etc. (but, then again, I'm not going to step in directly if ICE comes for someone, though I will do my best to make sure that they and their family have legal resources, information, and anything else that might help).

      In any case, I won't be wearing a pin to church this morning, even though I suspect there will be at least a few Trump voters there (considerably fewer, however, than the number of people who have in the past and/or currently identify as Republican; most of the Republican contingent there is made up of fiscal conservative/social moderates who feel their party has left them over the past few decades). That's not just because there will probably not be any Muslims there (though that's not entirely impossible, since the person preaching works in interfaith relations, and has Muslim friends who might choose to come hear her), and there are relatively few immigrants (though not zero), but because I'm confident that any Trump voters in the congregation are not going to be attacking others, on Sunday morning or at any other time, and I have no desire to signal to them or anyone else that I think they would.

      Delete
  8. I'm with Programming Patty: this is virtue signaling, of the sort beloved by all sorts of people. For example, I'm a social conservative Christian (specifically an old-style Catholic Labor Democrat); there's my signaling right out front.

    I'm reluctant to put symbols of all that on my car or my person because, to me, it serves no purpose.

    My favorite take on this election, and the whole "virtue signaling" bit, is a comment I saw a few days ago: the elites have convinced one group of the working class that another is deplorable, and the other that the first is, and while they fight the elites are busy picking their pockets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That last paragraph, I fear, is all too accurate (and if this election convinces at least one party to pay actual, practical attention to the plight of the working class, then it will have accomplished something positive. It will almost certainly take a while, but that's one thing for which we can hope).

      Delete
    2. I think the administration at my uni has figured this out. Keep the faculty at each other's throats and, for a while, they're too distracted to rail against the continued administrative expansion.

      Delete
    3. I'm still trying to think through the possible parallels between current electoral politics and current internal higher ed politics. The closest I've come to a conclusion is that my precarious (though not all that precarious) position in the academy, and the fact that I played by the rules as I understood them and didn't end up where I expected, makes me understand the "blow it all up" impulse just a bit. I might even write a post about that if I get around to it (and if we can stand another even tangentially election-related post. I must say, I think we've done reasonably well at being civil to each other in this thread, which is cheering).

      Delete
  9. I'll be seen wearing a firing pin for an AR-15.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen a few people post what I believe are the pins that keep grenades from firing to twitter. I wouldn't be quite sure how to interpret that one (other than to check the ground for a live grenade, on the off chance that the whole thing was hanging on the lapel a second ago). On the analogical level, it might be all too apt a symbol.

      Delete
  10. My feeling is this: being surrounded by people donning safety pins -- as I have for the past week at plays, on trains, at the doctors office, and at work -- has made me feel safer and more comfortable in an otherwise devastating and difficult situation.

    I also think we tend to do ourselves a disservice by tearing things down that are designed to be positive. Let's focus on the many negatives instead, yes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand what you are saying and I am so glad this has been a comfort to you. If I thought it would cause only comfort of this kind, I'd be all for it.

      But not everyone feels as you do, even those who could possibly be targets of abuse (as Cassandra pointed out). And there are many who take our stated need for the pins to be a statement saying that they will be going around attacking people, and also as a way to show we are morally superior. The atmosphere in this country is so tense. Don't the pins make us look around to see "Who is one of us? Who is one of them?" I passionately believe we need to get past that----to see ourselves as all "us" and to find common ground.

      Delete
    2. ....

      I don't even understand your argument.

      Those of us who are people of color and LGBTQ certainly seem pretty united about this while we watch white people wring their hands over it.

      Fine. Don't show any sense of community. Continue to wring your hands.

      It's what Democrats do. They defeat themselves.

      Delete
    3. I hear you loud and clear, Academic Monkey. I certainly feel a lot less safe than I did a week ago.

      And I don't see wearing a safety pin as "virtue signaling," as others have suggested. I know people personally who have been physically assaulted in the name of hatred in the last six days and others whose property has been damaged -- and, yes, all with overt references to the president-elect or whatever phrase was used for this post-election world. If my safety pins signals what it's meant to signal to those who feel especially vulnerable right now -- a safe person to approach amid many new uncertainties -- I'll take all the derision heaped upon me for wearing it. I don't wear it because I want the world to know how allegedly virtuous I am; I want to wear it to show students, especially, that they can approach me for help.

      All of my students know what it means. Many have commented on it, and not all of those comments have been supportive. If that means that my safety pin now signals something else, I'm okay with that too. Without apology.

      Delete
    4. We could also unify together based not on political party, but on inner character, basic human kindness. Believe me, I am certainly not speaking for liberals or democrats when I say that.

      The thing is, crazily enough, some people just don't see it the way we do (and I am actually a "we" to both AM and GLG, their feelings are where my heart goes). But I passionately believe the way to a better future is for our polarized nation to come together. So I force myself to research and diligently give an open mind to the way "they" perceive things that we see so diametrically differently. For example: the incident of DT mocking a disabled journalist. For me, this was an absolute deal breaker. No. Not just a deal breaker; it was something that filled me with a homicidal rage. Seriously. So, I forced myself to read the "Catholics for Trump" rationalization of that monstrosity, certain in at least one part of my brain that doing so would make me crazy.

      I watched all the videos. I watched all those suckers. They were from links to reputable places (not like, say, Catholics for Trump). So here's how not-horrible people can excuse that: Donald has a long history of that exact. same. routine. He's mocked a long list of confused people using the identical hand gestures and voice. Including Ted Cruz. And himself. The video of him making fun of Kovaleski in its entirety gives even more credence to this view because Democratic ads froze on the clips that most resemble the angle of K's hand. When you look at the whole thing you are more reminded of a naughty ten year old boy being obnoxious than of K.

      Don't get me wrong. In my view, just acting like this is reason enough to disqualify him for President. But when you see all the video, it does seem clear that this was a performance Trump gave to "good naturedly" mock anyone and everyone, even himself.

      Delete
    5. That this became a rallying cry for how awful Trump is (and it did), and that the main focus the incident was always on mocking a disabled person, made those inclined to vote for Trump ---those disenfranchised middle class voters who felt ignored for years until Trump came along----it allowed "them" to focus on how "unfair" it was not to look at Trump's history of doing that routine.
      It's maddening because the real, undeniable story there was that Trump lied about being in Jersey City and seeing thousands of Muslim celebratory; then he lied about---oh, well, he wasn't there but he READ about the thousands of Muslim celebrators--- and when the author of the referenced article said he wrote that the FBI had been interviewing a few, all the Donald had left was to make fun of him and say he was confused.

      If we had left it at that, there would have been no "lying liberals" narrative.

      But the way it went down, otherwise decent people focused on DT being "unjustly" accused.

      They don't see a person who mocks the disabled. They see a rather uncouth man (many of them identify with that) who was portrayed in the worst possible light by the elite (they identify with that, too).

      Delete
    6. That this became a rallying cry for how awful Trump is (and it did), and that the main focus the incident was always on mocking a disabled person, made those inclined to vote for Trump ---those disenfranchised middle class voters who felt ignored for years until Trump came along----it allowed "them" to focus on how "unfair" it was not to look at Trump's history of doing that routine.
      It's maddening because the real, undeniable story there was that Trump lied about being in Jersey City and seeing thousands of Muslim celebratory; then he lied about---oh, well, he wasn't there but he READ about the thousands of Muslim celebrators--- and when the author of the referenced article said he wrote that the FBI had been interviewing a few, all the Donald had left was to make fun of him and say he was confused.

      If we had left it at that, there would have been no "lying liberals" narrative.

      But the way it went down, otherwise decent people focused on DT being "unjustly" accused.

      They don't see a person who mocks the disabled. They see a rather uncouth man (many of them identify with that) who was portrayed in the worst possible light by the elite (they identify with that, too).

      Delete
  11. I am wearing one. if you think it's silly or useless: bite me! Some of my students are SCARED and if they see the pin and know they can come to me to talk about their fear, or to report harassment, then great. it did its job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have any teeth!

      Actually, I do, but I'm not kinky like that.

      I think it is neither silly nor useless.

      Like Cassandra said, it seems context is very important. I know that in certain contexts, it does more harm than good.

      Delete
    2. one of my students came up to me after my 8:00 am class and quietly thanked me for wearing it.

      Context is important I agree

      Delete
    3. Exactly, Middle-Aged and Morose. Anyone who wants to be dismissive of me now in any way can tea-partying bite me. One thing this election has taught me is that I have spent way too much time thinking about what other people think of me and my motives. Tea party them all.

      Delete
  12. I'm wearing one. My non-academic hetero male life partner is also. In fact, he was the one who brought it up in conversation. I had already decided to do this without saying anything to him -- in the past, he has declared some gestures of protest "meaningless" -- but he is completely on board for showing people that not everyone's an asshole. I do love him.

    Not everyone who doesn't want to wear a safety pin is an asshole, but I'm convinced that every human who voted in our Bigot-in-Chief-Elect is. And I don't give a tea party whose feelings are hurt by this. I'm so over apologizing for common human decency. Over. It.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *Voted for, not voted in -- although I suppose they both work.

      Delete
    2. It's a statement I stand by. Anyone who openly mocked the disabled is, in my book, an asshole -- so anyone who voted for someone who would do that is as well. Likewise, anyone who voted for someone who brags about sexually assaulting women is, in my book, an asshole, as is anyone who voted for someone who wants to vilify every person of a specific religious persuasion. Doesn't mean those voters will always be assholes -- but they were last week.

      Delete
    3. I'm trying to forgive the assholes who apparently were quicker than I to forgive the most famous asshole of his overt assholery. I want to get back to when I could believe that I was the only asshole. That was a planet I could deal with, a planet I could improve by being less of an asshole. But this planet... this planet is 2/3 covered in water, and I can raise the tide to lift all boats only so much with the contents of my relatively puny bladder. It's taking so much energy, so much wine, to stay where I am, to get where I need to be.

      Delete
    4. Ogre Proctor Help, I am hoping that I will eventually get to the point of forgiveness. Right now, though, I'm nowhere near forgiving people who deliberately voted to undermine the civil rights -- and human dignity -- of millions of their compatriots.

      For now, I am embracing my new mantra, stolen straight from PIL's "Rise": anger is an energy.

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.