No One Hired You

How can you watch these people and chronicle their doings and ask them questions and not grow yourself? In what world do people have nothing to teach you? There is no person in this world who can not teach you something, why do you think you can just look at them? 

How can you go to a place that you say doesn’t want you, and then be invited in? How can you go to people who say they despise you for being born, and then be asked about your thoughts? How can you enter into a land that speaks a completely different language, and then assume you know what the fuck you’re talking about when you come back?

You went to a Nazi rally, you don’t know Nazis now. You went to a Confederate blurgh, you don’t know the Confederacy. You did not go into these places in good faith, you went in to observe lesser people than you. You went into these places assuming you are a better person, for whatever reason. 

Do you accept gay people as people? Good for you, you get an award for doing the bare minimum. Does that make you a better person than them? Why do you think so? What do you base that on? That you accept gay people as people and they don’t. 

Is that where the world ends? If you want to make utilitarian arguments - ever - then you are never the better person. If you are making utilitarian arguments you are presupposing that being a shitty person to some people is fine if you are shitty to fewer people than “other” people. 

Equality of personhood is not the result of math, ever. You are an exact equal to everyone. You think your degree makes you smarter than someone else? You’re wrong. You think you’re a moral and righteous person? You’re wrong. That’s what equality means. You cannot profess to believe in equality and yet still insist you are better than some people. You don’t absolve yourself by admitting you’re not the best person, that is not humility. 

You absolve yourself by listening to others as equals. To whom are you writing your article about having been to a Nazi rally? You are not writing to the Nazis. Why aren’t you writing to the Nazis? Do you think they have nothing to say? Do you think they aren’t good people? But you are!

You’re writing to your group of people, telling them about this or that from the outside world. You are telling me about outsiders. You don’t even notice! You’ve excluded all of these people simply by forgetting they exist when they’re not around. Except for when someone needs to scare you, then the outsiders are coming! The Nazis who you’ve lived next door to for your entire life are going to kill you at any moment. 

The Nazis next door believe you’re the Nazis next door because they’ve been told by a vast media empire that you’re the Nazis. You are not a better person to them. You are the greater of two evils. They acknowledge gay people are people, they know this because they believe gay people are a threat to their way of life, because they’ve been told that by a vast media empire.

You think it’s fine to send 500 lb bombs to Israel because that’s the lesser of two evils in regards to Trump. Is it math that keeps you from doing the same to any other group? There’s too many gay people for me to put them into the greater of two evils category, but there’s few enough Palestinians for me to deem it the lesser of two evils to vote for the guy who is currently assisting in their extermination. 

Why are you morally righteous compared to anyone? I 100% know with 100% certainty that I am not a better person than anyone in my family. But you would despise them for their beliefs and consider yourself better. At no point do you consider learning from them. What is there to learn? 

What makes you the same!

What makes them the same as me is if you knock on the door, in any shape, in any trouble, even now, in these days of fear and hatred and suspicion, you will be fed. You will be clothed. You will even be given a place to sleep. Would I do that? I don’t think so. But there are a massive number of unhoused refugees in Chicago. I try to give at least some to every single one of them. Because that’s all I can do! But I know they wouldn’t do that. 

We are not better or worse than each other, we just do what we can do! Everyone is trying to do good things. Even the people you know are monsters. It’s just that when monsters think they’re doing good it is actually very very very very bad. 

Why is this? Why do we have to misunderstand our words, our beliefs, our knowledge, our ability to communicate with people when that is all we have had for the entire existence of humanity? People tell you that you are good and they are not. 

Whether or not you believe that your religion is one of peace or whatever, when you go to someone’s house and tell them that they need to listen to you, to become better people, you are entering someone’s house to say, “You Suck!” That’s not peaceful! Leave them alone! You are instigating conflict in a way that you believe makes you a good person!

How is it possible to convince yourself to go up to a stranger and say “you’re an evil person” and that makes you the good guy in this exchange? Well, it’s possible because that person will die and go to hell forever if you don’t! Are you going to let everyone you meet burn? No! You’re trying to help people! You’re just very very very very bad at it!

People do not need your morality enforced upon them. Is this your community? Are all of you together on this? Then great! Your morality is your morality, there is no morality that can be effectively enforced upon anyone who rejects it.

People are always going to fuck, even if you don’t want them to! Leave them alone! No one hired you to fix anyone! Be in a community of people that share and then leave other communities alone! They don’t need you!