'Hands Off Arundhati Roy!': #Progressive Voices Decry Possible Prosecution of Indian Author
"You have no idea what you will unleash is you pursue this political prosecution aimed at silencing your most eloquent critic," #Canadian author Naomi #Klein warned Indian Prime Minister #Modi.
Progressive writers and advocates around the world on Tuesday rallied behind acclaimed Indian author and activist Arundhati #Roy after a top New Delhi official reportedly approved..
Hello #Education friends! I'm working on a manuscript that describes philosophical foundations of #PublicEd in the US, describes how the enterprise went off the rails with misunderstanding of “#progressive” and more, and places #schools within the administrative state in the US (with a call to reinvent the work of that state so that it’s more person- and mission-centered). Thread continues …
You don't have to be focused on any of the above topics, just have something interesting to say, and a decent webcam to record with (unless you live near #Portland and want to record an interview in person!) Bonus points if you're willing to appear nonsexually topless on screen with me, but definitely not required. I'm also happy to blur your face out or whatever else you need, if you want to keep your identity anonymous.
And if you'd like to check out previous interviews I've done, you can see them here: https://www.toplesstopics.org/interviews/ (please keep in mind some of these are really old when I was a lot worse at conducting interviews, I think they're better now 😅 )
I got pushback on #kbin for saying this, but I think that the fact many #leftist or #socialjustice content creators and influencers continue to use #twitter is hypocritical, and undermines their integrity. I might create a larger blog post explaining my thoughts on this. But I guess I would like to hear from #mastodon what you think of this take. I can understand users who still need to use it for their job or livelihood, but not creators who encourage their audience to follow them there.
@Roundcat I do agree with what you're saying to an extent, although I've also heard from many people of colour (especially #Black) that the mass #TwitterMigration is very white dominated, because we have the privilege of running when things become dangerous or undesirable for us. #Mastodon still has a white-dominated issue, and unfortunately there have been #racism problems due to many instances not yet having gone through the growing pains of the various communities on #Twitter, or worse that some of them are actively run by bigots and/or their enablers.
For many people of colour, Twitter was NEVER really safe but it gave them a platform to widely share their existence and protest where they otherwise couldn't. They arguably have to work harder than anyone else to build their online communities and supportive networks, so I personally don't blame them for being hesitant to completely abandon it. For them, Twitter is more than a social media platform. It's a lifeline, a fundamental source of human rights information, resources and support networks. Twitter, even today, simply has an unmatched level of accessibility, popularity and influence on society. #Reddit has a similar problematic history yet is also a crucial source of information for various marginalised groups.
I personally chose to jump ship since it was getting too toxic for me as a #LGBTQIA+ and #neurodivergent person, but I also acknowledge that I had the privilege of being able to do that with only the slightest amount of inconvenience; I never particularly liked Twitter, and had other outlets available to me so it was an easy choice to make. Twitter did majorly help advertise my #YouTube content when I was first starting out in early 2018, so I can empathise with why many #leftist and #progressive content creators still use it.
It's one thing to try and rigidly comply with our principles, but reality is that we all live under a broken system, and those of us who are marginalised often have to play that system in order to survive, share our stories and resources on how to implement systemic change. If we waited for the perfect circumstances/platforms to do this (free of moral contradictions, compromises and sacrifices), our voices would just fade into obscurity. For many, abandoning ship is letting the bigots win - I wouldn't be surprised if silencing progressive and/or marginalised groups was THE reason Elon bought Twitter in the first place. Ultimately, it's a very personal choice whether someone decides to remain on Twitter or go elsewhere. On the surface the former is hypocritical, but the rhetorics used against it are full of privilege and purity politics which have their own air of hypocrisy to them.
There are no easy answers, except that we're all just trying to get by in this hostile, rigged system and turning on each other only serves to benefit and perpetuate that system.