Neil Gaiman writes "Why defend freedom of icky speech?"

[BainsBane]

35. In your opinion

Which is influenced by your subject position. If, for example, you don't see something as racist or misogynist doesn't mean it isn't. If I, for example, don't see something as homophobic doesn't mean it isn't. Who we are influences how we view society, including it's cultural messaging. Some are more aware of certain messaging than others.

My point in my previous post has been repeatedly denied on this board. I don't know if you were around when someone's repost of a Rude Pundit blog entry was hidden by a jury. All hell broke loose. People were certain HOF was responsible, which I don't believe is the case since no one I know was the alerter or on the jury. Nontheless, people wanted a scapegoat and turned to the familiar one. Freedom required posting bigoted, misogynistic, and homophobic slurs, and it also required banning people who objected to such language in order to preserve "freedom of speech." The complete irony of it all was entirely lost on those making the argument.


My sense is that when people have always held a position of privilege--whether race, class, gender, sexuality, cis, or ableism--or have identified with that privileged group, they often have no awareness of the extent to which their views are bound by their own subject positions. That can be changed. People can learn to interrogate their own assumptions, but many, perhaps most, refuse to do so.
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