When the social media conversation is good.
It can happen. I promise.
Careful readers will notice a typo in the above tweet. It should have been, “too, to hide my shame.” So of course this one gets spread around.
It’s pretty amazing, how much I convince myself that society has moved forward, and then, well, I am disabused of that notion.
But here’s where I take heart: There are good people out there living quiet lives who can think critically and make good decisions for the good of the rest of us. They will save us, eventually.
Ohio has a new Don’t Say Gay bill that is even more draconian than Florida’s. Someone posted on Twitter a video of one of the bill’s sponsors scurrying away from the press scrum, and in what I thought was a helpful move, I posted the above tweet with a link to both the news story and the bill, itself. Educators and activists do not love this bill, and you shouldn’t either, once you’ve taken time to look it over here. It just more demonization of a group that really doesn’t need the hassle.
The first responses to the tweets were predictable. The posters suggested I am gay (I’m not, but so what if I was?), or that I’m a pedophile (I’m not, though I was raised by one and am happy to chat about using that as a tossed-off insult).
My rule of Twitter engagement is you continue to exchange comments so long as someone doesn’t call a name and/or doesn’t post something egregious. So someone who calls me a pedophile gets a response from me, and then I mute them. Life’s too short.
I was in there playing Whac-A-Mole, but then other people started weighing in. The beauty of the collective — educators, parents, teens, and grownups whose orientation I don’t know — made me smile. There was scant name-calling, and a lot of asking for sources when a poster would weigh in and say that kindergarteners are being told to essentially “pick a team,” or name their orientation in class (they’re not). The Florida law and Ohio bill set up a non-event, and then address it. What a waste of space, but bless people like this:
Amen.
Thanks for pushing back against the ignorance we are awash in.
As usual, I agree with you. When people talk about the importance of shunning social media if it can't be shut down, because of the Nazis and White supremacists and cruelties and death threats*, I think about all the connections and reassurances and information shared by people who want to build, ar building a more equitable and sustainable society and world.
And God bless you and your discourse policy. Which are important as communication to silent onlookers, to testify to honesty and kindness and good though sometimes ferocious manners.
* Which are really there, and online recruiting for which is very worrisome.