This is a very focused blog. One of the few comments I received on my old s9y blog was, “The technical content is great, but it could use fewer political and religious diatribes.”
We don’t exist outside of these social, political, or economic systems, though. We are not separate from our own unconscious and its biases. At the end of the day, if I truly believe in equality, in liberty and justice for all, then I must be willing to work for that.
The other crucial problem is that my silence will be interpreted as assent, which is a serious problem when my silence is interpreted as supporting something I deeply oppose.
Black lives matter. Black quality of life matters.
Defunding and demilitarizing the police is an excellent first step. But actions speak louder than words, and we really have to change those actions as a society; we have to start believing that petty crime does not justify lethal force, and genuinely prosecute those who act otherwise. We should find it normal for police to de-escalate a situation.
And police reform (at a level that genuinely impacts the statistics and improves the lives of actual people) itself is only the first step. Defunding the prison system and releasing non-violent offenders who were swept up in the war on drugs is overdue as well. This is a problem we made ourselves, and our cultural narrative about it drives it toward being a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What’s next after that? I don’t know. That’s where listening to other people is important. All I can guarantee is that we will accomplish nothing if we deflect or ignore the topic entirely.
Further food for thought:
- The Implicit Association Test
- You Are Two, a video by CGP Grey about the invisible mind
- Delusions of Gender, a book by Cordelia Fine about how culture shapes reality
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