This post would not exist without the inspiration and consent of Anti_Intellect, whose blog targets fellow black gay men but welcomes all readers, “bringing us all closer to greater human dignity and respect.” Many thanks to him for his thoughtful, engaging work.
Dear Black People: Stop overvaluing White people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely good. I beg of you.
— Anti_Intellect (@Anti_Intellect) October 30, 2013
@Anti_Intellect was talking to his people, so with his permission I decided to translate his message to people who share my identifiers:
Dear White folks: Stop undervaluing Black folks, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely good.
Dear men: Stop undervaluing women, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely fragile.
Dear hetero people: Stop undervaluing LGBT* people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely good at decorating.
Dear cis people: Stop undervaluing trans* people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely rare.
Dear liberals: Stop overvaluing Republicans/conservatives/Tea Partiers, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely powerful.
Dear Southern people: Stop undervaluing the complicated nature of history and science. Just stop.
Dear polyamorous people: Stop overvaluing monogamous people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely calm.
Dear people raised working class: Stop overvaluing rich people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely good. And stop planning and voting as if you’ll be one any day now.
Dear people who are financially stable: Stop overvaluing poor people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely evil or uniquely poignant in fiction. Their lives are real and it could happen to anyone.
Dear educated people: Stop undervaluing people without degrees, whether it is that they are uniquely evil or uniquely in control of their circumstances.
Dear non-religious people: Stop overvaluing religious people, whether it is thinking they are uniquely hateful, uniquely hypocritical, or uniquely unified.
Dear human people: Stop mis-valuing everyone who seems different from you, whether it is that they are uniquely evil, uniquely good, uniquely enlightened, or any more bizarre than yourself. We’ve all got too much work to do on ourselves to be worrying about everybody else.
Oh yeah, and stop mis-valuing yourself too. A small change will accomplish more than any big guilt-trip.
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This post originally appeared on quixtic.com
Dear people who are neither overvaluing nor undervaluing others, or themselves: We know you’re out there, so just keep muddling through, and we’ll all get there with you too, sooner or later; don’t get discouraged and stay the course.
Exactly this. »applause«
Yes because ALL southerners have little to no appreciation or regard for history or science… smh.
Dear People, Your beautiful.
I dig it. I like the word choice of “overvaluing,” inclusive of harmful and seemingly harmless ( but not) stereotypes.