Connecting Dots of Awareness
I previewed the new Gillette Razor Company tasteful and sensitive ad that supports an anti-bullying campaign. Bravo.
Following that, on a GMP Friday Call with Publisher, the question on the floor was: “Why can’t we all just get along.” If I’ve heard that once, I’ve heard it a zillion times. It is the battle cry of the weary who don’t want to hear another word about misogyny, racism, and refugees. “Stop Complaining” is polite privileged speak for issue-denial and victim-blaming. In other words, if you feel bullied, it’s your own fault. Ugh.
Misogyny is Bullying
If women would just stop complaining about
- unequal pay, laws regulating their bodies, reproductive systems, and personal healthcare,
- second class citizenship with its physical and mental abuse, lack of consent, not being heard, and being dismissed, and
- assaults, beatings, rape, and incest,
– maybe we could all just get along.
Racism is Bullying
If African Americans would just stop complaining about
- police brutality and their “shoot first” mentality,
- unequal justice, the 13th Amendment, slavery vestiges, gerrymandering and voter suppression, unequal pay, the school to prison pipeline, poor to no health care, clean drinking water, the prison-industrial complex, unequal pay, and limited job opportunities, and
- second-class status,
– maybe we could all just get along.
Anti-immigration is Bullying
If naturalized citizens, immigrants, refugees, and those seeking political asylum would just stop complaining about
- The US refusing refugee and asylum.not to the United States,
- the US concentration camps where they face abuse, rape, starvation, access to toilets, beds, and self-care, their families being split, detention facilities, death threats, war, and starvation, and
- death, torture, and starvation in their home country,
– maybe we could all just get along.
Silencing Native Americans is Bullying
If Native Americans would just stop complaining about
- companies that want to destroy their land with pipelines, poisoned water, and raped resources,
- the genocide of their people, the quality of life on the reservation — including a lack of good education, healthcare, jobs, unequal pay, and equal justice, and
- not being accepted as US citizens, unequal justice, and denial of their voting rights,
– maybe we could all just get along.
All Human DNA is Genetic Soup
There is no reason under the sun that anyone, a genetic conglomeration of hundreds of generations, needs to feel fear, shame, less than, or exclusion because of their sex, gender identity/fluidity, skin, hair, size, faith, country of origin. And yet, it happens every day. The very people who wish we could all get along are the privileged – mostly white, mostly men.
Privilege is a State of Mind
An astute caller on the GMP Friday Call with the Publisher pointed out that “privilege” is not about what you have, it’s about what you don’t have to endure. In short, it’s living a life without fear.
The privileged can walk down the street without fearing for their life. The privileged don’t fear the police and don’t worry about being assaulted or raped. In fact, the privileged don’t understand the problem with rape, pedophilia, or incest — if you’ve got an itch, scratch it. The privileged know they are welcome anywhere they choose to go, are first in line for jobs, and never worry about being followed by security every time they walk into a store.
The privileged know, with certainty, that if they leave their house in the morning, they’ll be back in the evening in relatively the same state. The privileged expect to make it through their day without encountering law enforcement, being frisked or handcuffed, sexual abuse, physical abuse, or bullying. They don’t make waves and live unscathed until someone else complains.
All Humans are Human
The key to for us all to get along is a societal understanding that all human beings are human beings, all animals are sentient, all plants are alive, and clean air, water, and food are essential to life. We are all engaged in survival and we need each other to survive.
As a culture, we need input from a diverse population, bringing ideas forged by experience to the table. Historically, cultures that exist behind walls or reject immigrants and refugees die. Homogeneity spawns stale thinking, diminishes creativity, ambition, discovery, and exploration. These missing sparks of life diminish a society socially, economically, and artistically.
Never Normalize Bullying
Under our current government policy of nationalism and white supremacy, the United States has lost it position as a global leader, created societal norms of division, hate, and cruelty, abdicated all semblance of justice, law and order, and responsibility, disregarded the people in favor of the oligarchs, and sided with other autocratic governments around the world as our life-giving resources are squandered for greed — not a smart long-term goal since starving people can’t eat money and dead people don’t shop.
Diversity Inspires
Diversity is our friend. Human-ess is our common thread. No one is less than or more than human.
I look forward to the day we can all get along and the bullies are vanquished, the Equal Rights Amendments is passed, Black Lives Matter is national policy, the 13th Amendment is modified to remove slave labor and end the school-to-prison pipeline, government no longer controls women’s reproductive rights, and human beings, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, faith, or heritage have the universal healthcare, equal rights, equal pay, and equal justice.
Be the catalyst and stop bullying wherever and whenever you see it.
We are NOT the LAND OF THE FREE until we are ALL FREE and EQUAL!
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GMP Friday Calls with the Publisher, 3 PM ET, 12 PM PT
Lisa Hickey, Publisher of The Good Men Project and CEO of Good Men Media Inc.:
“Here’s the thing about The Good Men Project. We are trying to create big, sweeping, societal changes—–overturn stereotypes, eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia, be a positive force for good for things like education reform and the environment. And we’re also giving individuals the tools they need to make individual change—-with their own relationships, with the way they parent, with their ability to be more conscious, more mindful, and more insightful. For some people, that could get overwhelming. But for those of us here at The Good Men Project, it is not overwhelming. It is simply something we do—–every day. We do it with teamwork, with compassion, with an understanding of systems and how they work, and with shared insights from a diversity of viewpoints.”
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