Here is what I have come to understand about the many "disagreements" I have on Facebook. What many people see to be opinions, I understand to be fundamental misunderstanding of facts and unfamiliarity with realities. This makes it extremely difficult to engage in conversations about certain subjects, because people project their belief that these are matters of opinion onto others, rather than attempting to gain a better understanding of actual information. We are in an age where people consumer everything as a matter of opinion, particularly when it does not fit their understanding of certain subject matter. It is much easier to avoid the discomfort of cognitive dissonance when you regard everything as opinion, rather than understanding certain information as factual and truthful.
For example, let’s take the concept of the “feminization of the black man.” The "feminization of black men" is not a thing. This concept is a result of a societal norm of hypermasculinity, and the binary construct we have created around gender. Gender, and sexuality, are not binary. They are fluid, and exist on a spectrum. We have been trained as a society to view them in terms of a binary, black or white, one or the other, for centuries, based on our limited understanding of the concepts at their time of inception. To maintain an understanding of these states as a binary, is shallow and elementary. Remember, at one time, people's reality was the the world is flat, because they had no other explanation. I wonder how long it took for everyone to accept and believe that the world was round, and to change the overall societal acceptance of this as fact.
People also keep talking about the "rise" in the incidence of homosexuality. Again, not a thing. Homosexuality has existed, and has been long documented, for ages. However, so has the heavy stigma associated with it. The current shift in culture that makes it more socially acceptable and allows for more access to previously denied rights, liberties, and resources (like life...lest we forget that Hitler also persecuted gays, and some countries still make homosexuality a capital offense), makes it less frightening (and dangerous) to come out. We have also developed more language to accurately discuss and identify the various expressions of sexuality, which we previously lacked, making it difficult for people to name and frame their experiences. These things would explain the seeming "increase" in homosexuality. Additionally, many queer folk have created communities for themselves, where they feel safe and accepted, in response to stigmatization and persecution in other places. It's a similar practice to that of cultural groups that "settle" together, creating areas like Chinatown and Little Italy. If you don't live in proximity to one of these areas, like the Castro in San Fran, than your interpretation of the "incidence" of homosexuality may be skewed. You may live in an area that many queer folk have chosen to leave, in favor of a more accepting community, impacting the perception of how many queer folk there truly are. I say all this to say, don't keep believing that the world is flat.
Having a solid understanding of this, along with an understanding of race, could help many of us more judiciously process the Rachel Dolezal “transracial vs. transgender” argument that was dominating public discourse for so long. Unlike gender and sexuality, race, in application, exists as a binary. You either belong to the dominant racial group, white, or you are "other." While in terms of our heritage, we can be a conglomeration of various ethnicities, our systems of racial categorization do not allow for such nuances. Race does not exist on a spectrum in the way that gender and sexuality do. Race is unchangeable in the sense that it is a result of inherited genetics from ancestors, expressed socially through outward physical appearance, and interpreted through a socially constructed binary categorization.
However, because people have their own agendas, and are searching for ways to validate and bolster their positions, many will avoid acknowledging these principles in favor of making shallow arguments with little more than a shaky rhetorical parallel. When we become more invested in what we WANT to believe and what is comfortable for us to believe, than we are in pushing past our own hang-ups and seeking the truth, we do ourselves, and the world, a disservice.
This need to stretch ourselves past our basic understanding of certain things, and dig deeper into our critical thinking processes, occurs on such a wide variety of subjects. To provide another example, when we are quick to condemn young Black girls who have children at a young age, and default to calling them fast, freaky, fatherless, and whatever else, I beg us to remember that there was a time when they were forced to do so. Many young slave women were forced to become pregnant (either by a slave man of the master’s choosing or sometimes by the master himself) and give birth in order to create a bigger labor force for the master without having to purchase more slaves. We would be remiss to underestimate the lasting psychological and physiological effects of longstanding institutions and practices such as slavery. These things literally change people's brains, brain chemistry, natural behavior, and instinctual responses. The human species' first priority is survival. It will adapt itself, in lasting ways, to ensure that it does not die out. We would be short sighted to deny the fact that centuries of abuse, trauma, and the struggle for survival affect permanent changes in biological and physiological responses and in brain pathways, which will continue to have an impact on human behavior. This can account for many "phenomenon" that people often like to use as anti-Black rhetoric without considering historical context and implications.
I say all this to say, before posting your “opinion” on certain matters on Facebook, it might benefit everyone, yourself included, to dig a little deeper. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes we have to admit that we just don’t know what to think about something so that we can get better informed before forming our thoughts. And lastly, when in doubt, just don’t. Its better not to say anything than to run the risk of truly hurting someone with an offensive and prejudicial post.
For example, let’s take the concept of the “feminization of the black man.” The "feminization of black men" is not a thing. This concept is a result of a societal norm of hypermasculinity, and the binary construct we have created around gender. Gender, and sexuality, are not binary. They are fluid, and exist on a spectrum. We have been trained as a society to view them in terms of a binary, black or white, one or the other, for centuries, based on our limited understanding of the concepts at their time of inception. To maintain an understanding of these states as a binary, is shallow and elementary. Remember, at one time, people's reality was the the world is flat, because they had no other explanation. I wonder how long it took for everyone to accept and believe that the world was round, and to change the overall societal acceptance of this as fact.
People also keep talking about the "rise" in the incidence of homosexuality. Again, not a thing. Homosexuality has existed, and has been long documented, for ages. However, so has the heavy stigma associated with it. The current shift in culture that makes it more socially acceptable and allows for more access to previously denied rights, liberties, and resources (like life...lest we forget that Hitler also persecuted gays, and some countries still make homosexuality a capital offense), makes it less frightening (and dangerous) to come out. We have also developed more language to accurately discuss and identify the various expressions of sexuality, which we previously lacked, making it difficult for people to name and frame their experiences. These things would explain the seeming "increase" in homosexuality. Additionally, many queer folk have created communities for themselves, where they feel safe and accepted, in response to stigmatization and persecution in other places. It's a similar practice to that of cultural groups that "settle" together, creating areas like Chinatown and Little Italy. If you don't live in proximity to one of these areas, like the Castro in San Fran, than your interpretation of the "incidence" of homosexuality may be skewed. You may live in an area that many queer folk have chosen to leave, in favor of a more accepting community, impacting the perception of how many queer folk there truly are. I say all this to say, don't keep believing that the world is flat.
Having a solid understanding of this, along with an understanding of race, could help many of us more judiciously process the Rachel Dolezal “transracial vs. transgender” argument that was dominating public discourse for so long. Unlike gender and sexuality, race, in application, exists as a binary. You either belong to the dominant racial group, white, or you are "other." While in terms of our heritage, we can be a conglomeration of various ethnicities, our systems of racial categorization do not allow for such nuances. Race does not exist on a spectrum in the way that gender and sexuality do. Race is unchangeable in the sense that it is a result of inherited genetics from ancestors, expressed socially through outward physical appearance, and interpreted through a socially constructed binary categorization.
However, because people have their own agendas, and are searching for ways to validate and bolster their positions, many will avoid acknowledging these principles in favor of making shallow arguments with little more than a shaky rhetorical parallel. When we become more invested in what we WANT to believe and what is comfortable for us to believe, than we are in pushing past our own hang-ups and seeking the truth, we do ourselves, and the world, a disservice.
This need to stretch ourselves past our basic understanding of certain things, and dig deeper into our critical thinking processes, occurs on such a wide variety of subjects. To provide another example, when we are quick to condemn young Black girls who have children at a young age, and default to calling them fast, freaky, fatherless, and whatever else, I beg us to remember that there was a time when they were forced to do so. Many young slave women were forced to become pregnant (either by a slave man of the master’s choosing or sometimes by the master himself) and give birth in order to create a bigger labor force for the master without having to purchase more slaves. We would be remiss to underestimate the lasting psychological and physiological effects of longstanding institutions and practices such as slavery. These things literally change people's brains, brain chemistry, natural behavior, and instinctual responses. The human species' first priority is survival. It will adapt itself, in lasting ways, to ensure that it does not die out. We would be short sighted to deny the fact that centuries of abuse, trauma, and the struggle for survival affect permanent changes in biological and physiological responses and in brain pathways, which will continue to have an impact on human behavior. This can account for many "phenomenon" that people often like to use as anti-Black rhetoric without considering historical context and implications.
I say all this to say, before posting your “opinion” on certain matters on Facebook, it might benefit everyone, yourself included, to dig a little deeper. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes we have to admit that we just don’t know what to think about something so that we can get better informed before forming our thoughts. And lastly, when in doubt, just don’t. Its better not to say anything than to run the risk of truly hurting someone with an offensive and prejudicial post.
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