DagSeoul: Positions, Populations, Punk, Poetics

Love how I’m an ableist for talking about the problems with that photograph. This is what...

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:30:00 +0900

Love how I’m an ableist for talking about the problems with that photograph. This is what tumblr has become. If you don’t agree, then you enable rape. Great. So appropriate, SocialistTEXAN—agree with them or else…

You’ve earned ignored status.

Both implicatures and explicatures are important. An implied claim is present in spite of not being...

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:24:00 +0900

Both implicatures and explicatures are important. An implied claim is present in spite of not being explicitly stated; present even in the logic. Often what’s implied in an argument is called an unstated assumption. And unstated assumptions must be true for the explicit claim or claims to be true. Implications are very important and we ought to always examine them. To get angry at me for pointing out what is implied with the photograph of Michelle Obama is just fucking silly. We limit unhelpful and harmful implications by narrowing focus and being explicit.

I think you have implication confused with inference And nothing of my claims about the photo and the story have had to do with mere inference.

So nice try, but no.

these two posts keep me focused. i forget the goal sometimes.

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:36:37 +0900

these two posts keep me focused. i forget the goal sometimes.

dagNotes: On Fascist Masculinity

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:21:25 +0900

dagseoul:

I feel like writing this post because we are taught to endure a kind of fascist masculinity in whiteness that I have suffered with my entire life. I am absolutely traumatized by it. I promised myself, long ago, when I face it from now on, I will respond to it with others by confronting it in public. This makes me the rude asshole sometimes. I’ve had several periods in my life where I’ve endured violence: from threats, to beatings, to broken bones, to guns. It’s all at the hands of men. I suffer from my experiences and society wants me to suffer quietly and alone as a victim. I am not a victim. And, I am not alone.

If you’re like me and have suffered several kinds of violence enough that you are triggered even by the mere suggestion of violence, this is a crucial ritual. Once triggered, no matter how slight, we will suffer all the indignities that violence leaves in its wake until we retake the ground that was attempted taken or threatened taken or physically taken from us. It’s not just a peace of mind we lose. We lose our connection with our communities. And that’s what fascist violence is all about: singling people out. The fascist creates his own community, singles his victims out as outsiders, as bad eggs, as weak, as different, and he attempts to extinguish them or consistently threatens to. This doesn’t have to be about nationality or ethnicity. White men often use fascism to organize their social groups, their classrooms, their work spaces, their blocks.

Capitalism rewards fascists and singles out victims. And many white men have learned to manipulate their public lives using the threat of violence to get what they want. When these men don’t like the way a conversation that becomes a disagreement is going, they will eventually threaten violence. Let me quickly summarize the story that has led to me composing this post. Praise and I had a conversation about what books students in Korea should be reading. She was interested in getting ideas for short stories to teach Korean high school students, and she moved the conversation to Facebook involving over 600 other people.

Here’s the summary: Inevitably, teachers want to teach their favorite books, which is a mistake. Good teaching is not reading good books with students. And, in Korea, inexperienced teachers often insist their students read incredibly difficult stories and books in English classes by authors like James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, William Shakespeare, and Ralph Ellison. It’s ridiculous really and quite culturally imperial. Our job, in Korea, is to help students reach a level of English to perform well on tests and to permit them to be able to proficiently use English at their future jobs, to comfortably speak the kind of English they will need to use. That’s what native speaking English teachers are brought to Korea to do. We are not cultural educators. Korea does not need that from us; they can approach our cultures as they choose to. Yet, so many people insist they are and behave as if they are experienced Professors in Literature and Philosophy, which they are never even close to being.

My readers will know how I react to teachers insisting teaching difficult material is necessary and good and good teachers should do it. My response is “Go home. Korea doesn’t need you. You aren’t a good teacher. You’re an occupier.” People know this about me. I’ve been teaching long enough to be able to talk pedagogy to practical classroom application with any teacher. I don’t lose these arguments. And let me be clear who the makes these these arguments: inexperienced, idealist, liberal whites. I really do, as you know, get a kick out of publicly calling them out.

So, I did it on Praise’s wall. Maybe not the thing I should have done. I know, but I was merely insistent and a little rude when the person I was arguing with patronized me and Praise. The argument got heated and Praise deleted the post. A few weeks later, a former friend of Praise’s called her to disinvite us to a party because the husband of the woman I argued with “wants to fight” me the next time he sees me. Very childish, but in spite of the lame threat, there goes my trigger. It was so small a triggering, though, that it took a couple of weeks for me to begin encountering dreams of violence and waking with a fear of being attacked that I haven’t been able to shake for three days now. This hurts me. I’m not afraid to admit it. We need to talk about these things and reject victimization.

I’m proactive about this. I have to be. Little things like this can derail me for weeks. I talked to Praise about it and listened to her. We went out and talked all night about it. I need that; I don’t think it does her any good. But I have to release all the energy that’s been created inside me over the last few weeks.

Here’s how fascist white masculinity works. The white man backs a position or makes a claim himself; or, as in this case, the white guy has a position he hasn’t stated, but he feels abused. Should you disagree and refuse to change your mind, the white man will threaten violence. Those are the two basic components. If there is distance between you and the fascist, he will continue his threats until he is made to stop. If he threatens in person, one must either relent or confront the violence with violence. In other words, every thing becomes about acknowledging and authorizing the white man and his message. A “no” or “not interested” is never permitted. You cannot ignore these guys.

I became an antifascist because I grew up in Oklahoma surrounded by fascist white men and their fascist children and I am a student of the Reagan era. I was born during the Vietnam War; I was teaching by the time George W Bush was POTUS. I have witnessed much violence and have decided the only thing I can do is confront it and make it stop. I willingly use my body to make it stop. It already has been well abused. I realize not everybody is up for the task, and I don’t blame others for not participating.

Back to my story about the teachers—a husband and his offended wife. Let me be clear about this kind of fascist male. He is into MMA and fighting. He is proud of his wife’s elitist education. He sees value in it. They both are smug about their privilege as if it’s something they transmit to students. He did not participate in the argument. He is merely getting off playing cop. When I do run into him in Seoul, and it will happen, he will likely not confront me. Should he. He will get my standard don’t fuck with me you fucking occupier speech and, like most of these men who aren’t straight up boneheads, he will cry foul.

We know what white fascists do when they don’t get their way and aren’t permitted to play cop. They call the cops. When their individual violence isn’t permitted, when their threats are met with a public stand opposing threats and threatening behavior, when they realize that they have little support in the face of a justified response, they shamelessly call upon state violence to back them up. This is a learned masculinity. I’m from the United States. It’s a traditional white masculinity. It knows no political affiliation. You’ll meet white socialists, liberals, libertarians, conservatives, Christians, atheists who all implement it. It’s straight up fascist behavior. It’s taught to men. Some of us reject it.

I am tired of this behavior from men I know. I am tired of the fucking seed for it that festers within me. I am tired of the rotten culture of fascist violent rhetoric and action that white men daily threaten and participate in through business and public action. I’m tired of their performed innocence when they get called out for being pigs.

I’m writing this because I have to. I have to talk this trauma out now until it passes. Until then I will not get a good night’s sleep. I will not be able to focus on my work. But I will not be afraid. I will not be silent. I will not apologize. I will wait. I will work with my friends. And I will take care myself if I have to. I am not ashamed of this and, if you are like me, neither should you.

Thee Straw Man 101: Projecting (dis)Order

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:19:28 +0900

dagseoul:

bethefoodoflove:

““If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the pavement.””

—

-Leon Trotsky (via indianaantifa)

or, you know

get better at arguing

because maybe you’re just shit at convincing people and, to make matters worse, quick to resort to violence as a way of projecting your emotions of inadequacy born from your inability to engage with others in productive discourse, leaving you to resort to machismo and hyper-masculine bravura to prove your ideological superiority

(via bethefoodoflove)

Here we go again. Yes. Because reasoning with a pogrom works, reasoning with a lynch mob works, reasoning with bashers works, reasoning with boneheads works. Your entire “projecting your emotions of inadequacy” routine is precious yet appropriately self-serving. It’s a boring response. Typical. Very knee-jerk. And simply incorrect.

Three things.

1. On the masculinity-machismo claim: I’ve seen plenty of women kick some serious ass. Anti-fascist action has little to do with masculinity.

2. On ideology and antifascist action: Antifascist action is precisely not ideological. Anti-fascist action is not about establishing an order; it’s not about composing individuals as good subjects; it’s not about interpellating. Antifascist action is about preventing the violent enforcement of a particular kind of white supremacy and the violent intimidation that accompanies that white order. Antifascist action is a response—a deliberate response that organizes only when provoked. When the action ceases, its organized action ceases. This is what “antifa is in the area” is all about. It organizes when necessary. The social movement against fascism, on the other hand, is not in itself violent.

3. A straw man that represents self-loathing and being threatened: Your opinion is infused with loathing and threat. You imply antifascist action is immoral and hypocritical while explicitly stating it’s masculinist and primarily violent. In other words, you, not the antifascist straw man you’ve created, have projected specific qualities that belong to violent fascism upon antifascists. Moreover, you willingly imply you’re not as threatened by organized, militarized, capitalist white-supremacy. That’s evidence enough, in my opinion, that you’re generally self-loathing about your relationship to white power and generally threatened by what it means to step up to that order. We call that dread. In other words, you tend towards compliance with an order to permit you a means to civil disobedience because that means to civil disobedience is permitted. The violent fascist order is something of a sine qua non for your idea of ethical protest.

No matter what you might have to say about antifascist action, at least it’s an honest and direct approach to handling a social problem we claim need not be permitted for society to exist. The disorder is not in the response to fascism, it’s fascism itself.

i’m going to reblog a few things that are on my mind now…fucking tumblr hive mind always...

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:17:00 +0900

i’m going to reblog a few things that are on my mind now…fucking tumblr hive mind always bums me out. i ask a rather useful question about the lazy and possible harmful use of a photograph and go on to discuss the reduction of rape to the threat of violence by victim advocacy and how i don’t think that’s a good thing and now I’m harming rape victims and a cop-lover. and so it’s clear that the only people we’re supposed to critically think about are the people who post as right wing assholes who we all already agree are assholes. we’re not supposed to critically think about ourselves and they way we construct our arguments and distribute information and images.

i get so wrapped up in this rather festering wound in tumblr—bloggers policing solidarity and enforcing consensus in all sorts of creepy ways. it’s not good.

i’m going to reblog two posts, one from a while ago about antifascist action and the other from almost two weeks ago on fascist masculinity. it’s been on my mind and now, today, it’s back on my mind. i want the posts here.

let’s not pretend there’s nothing problematic and snide in putting that photo up of...

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:04:34 +0900

let’s not pretend there’s nothing problematic and snide in putting that photo up of Michelle Obama with the rapist. gtfo.

By the way, I’ve written about violence and my relationship to it. And I welcome your asks or...

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:59:00 +0900

By the way, I’ve written about violence and my relationship to it. And I welcome your asks or mail with concerns and your stories. I will never greet you with anything but open arms when it comes to telling your stories or asking for clarification about mine.

But don’t go misrepresenting my writing. My archive persists. What I’ve written is there. And my asks are always open. I answer almost every one.

An injury to one is an injury to all.

Texas really does suck.

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:56:40 +0900

To summarize, AGAIN, and for the last time.

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:47:00 +0900

My point is that the photo does nothing to confront the reality of the situation but reduces rape to a specter that haunts rape discourse. In other words, the most the photo can say, without adding context, is that anybody can be a rapist. That claim is not something any sane member of the discourse community would disagree with. It’s not engaging. So, it’s a lazy implication at best. There’s where my opinion comes in. I think saying, “Hey, guys anybody can be a rapist” is not at all helpful and for many reasons I don’t think I need to go into right now.

In addition, without an explicit statement in the story and anarcho-queer’s posting of it that the photo is only meant to represent rape as a specter and the claim that heroes can be rapists, too, then there’s a terrible surplus of other nascent associations based in broad generalizations about sex, gender, and race, class, too, that will hang out with the photo for whomever sees it to also assign to it and the story. It’s necessarily ambiguous that way. That’s a flaw of the journalistic form and of photography and we’ve got a long tradition of criticism about it and how to address the problem. My point is that we must make the claims and associations specific and keep the focus as narrow as possible.

To say my point is about anything else is to distort my intent and words. Send all the asks you want. I’ll just repeat this explanation.

My post is not about victims and rapists and Michelle Obama and victim advocacy and whatever else you’re going to insist it’s about. It’s about the problematic rhetoric and the broad generalizations that are present, must be present, for that photo to work with the story.

socialistexan: dagseoul: Socialisttexan, read my initial post. Get the fuck out that the photo...

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:17:00 +0900

socialistexan:

dagseoul:

Socialisttexan, read my initial post. Get the fuck out that the photo says anyone sitting next to you can be a rapist. What utter horseshit. As I mentioned, you’re trying to add context to excuse a broad (useless and possibly harmful) generalization.

Anarcho-queer could have posted the news without the photo.

I ain’t trolling shit, asshole.

You don’t want to go anywhere near where you’re going right now. Hell yes anyone can be a rapist, don’t you even try to fucking deny it. Also, yes, people thought of as heroes can be pieces of crap. That shit happens, a lot. It’s saying “hey, this guy did something great, he was even got to met the First Lady, but actually he’s not that hero and he shouldn’t have met her because he is actually horrible” and honestly that you are implying what you are implying is utter horseshit. Also I read your shitty post. Fuck. Your. Self.

You’re coming off as more concerned about the perception of public figures more than you do about the survivors of this man’s (alleged) attack.

You still haven’t read my post. It’s about the reduction of rape to a spectre. It’s not about the FLOTUS and her reputation. I don’t know where you’re getting this.

Here’s what I’ve written about it:

three important points

the point is not to make rape a reduction to be used to make rhetorical points that go without saying because nobody in the discourse community would ever disagree;

the point is not to passively racialize a story with a photograph;

the point is not to passively invoke sexist tropes with a photograph.

The context you’re offering is not in the story and not with the photograph. The photo is always without context other than the metadata: when it was taken and by whom and at what occasion, and with what camera, et al. This is a long understood and well documented problem with the use of photography to accompany text journalism. And you can deny that all you want to make a point nobody will disagree with and that simply does not need to made. Nobody is saying he can’t be both a hero and a rapist. And that photo doesn’t challenge the status quo in discourse about rape in any way. It merely associates and rather lazily so.

Stop putting words into my posts that aren’t there. I have a narrow focus and have clearly explained it. And you’ve tried three times now to make it appear I’m whining about Michelle Obama’s reputation. Cut it out.

You’ve made your point and made it clear you don’t want to consider my point of view. Good job. I’ll leave my only possible response: I disagree.

"I ain’t trolling shit, asshole."

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:12:40 +0900

“I ain’t trolling shit, asshole.”

- Socialisttexan.

Ok then.

i wish kanye had forgot the prick/leader : swallower/follower analogy. i know he’s...

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:11:00 +0900

i wish kanye had forgot the prick/leader : swallower/follower analogy. i know he’s forgotten much better than i’ve ever thought of, but that’s beside the point. i always end up let down by every fucking big shot i ever decide to like. that analogy is bugging me. i just can’t listen to the album now. and then the way he over-emphasized it during his SNL performance. he likes the analogy.

and i’m not going to feel bad about calling out the rotten heterosexism in the analogy and in the metaphor he creates because i agree with the politics in his rap and like him.

cis dudes really like their suck my dick/cocksucker insults.

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:59:07 +0900

three important points

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:56:00 +0900

the point is not to make rape a reduction to be used to make rhetorical points that go without saying because nobody in the discourse community would ever disagree;
the point is not to passively racialize a story with a photograph;
the point is not to passively invoke sexist tropes with a photograph.

Oh the ambiguity.

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:42:00 +0900

“DUDE” no. You’re wrong. The story is not “Hey, the guy next to you could be a rapist.” The photo doesn’t say that all. It says many things. It says nothing. It’s not at all explained. It’s, shall we say, always already out of context. That’s the problem. A very big fucking problem.

But continue to try to add some context to it that isn’t there. Be my guest.

Socialisttexan, if you’re going to make a point about what I write, then at least read my entire post. It’s clear you didn’t because I address your concern within the first post about the photo. It’s clearly right there. I wrote:

Is your point merely that this cop was awarded for bravery but is yet an alleged rapist? That’s not at all interesting and not at all informative. Why the photo with Michelle Obama? Did you mindlessly post the photo that accompanied the original story? Or do you agree with it’s logic? If so, then how come?

Lazy and self-righteous is not going to work here. Adding context to something that is clearly and purposefully without context and for a very devious reason is not going to work.

Socialisttexan, read my initial post. Get the fuck out that the photo says anyone sitting next to...

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:34:00 +0900

Socialisttexan, read my initial post. Get the fuck out that the photo says anyone sitting next to you can be a rapist. What utter horseshit. As I mentioned, you’re trying to add context to excuse a broad (useless and possibly harmful) generalization.

Anarcho-queer could have posted the news without the photo.

"When people deplore sexism and racism but make allowances for their proliferations in pornography,..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:30:03 +0900

“When people deplore sexism and racism but make allowances for their proliferations in pornography, pornography has achieved its aim: the creation of acceptance for materials that publicly practise and advertise the hatred and domination of women of colour.”

- Joyce Wu, Not a Fantasy: Racial Hatred and Misogyny in Pornography (via dagseoul)

anarcho-queer: ‘Hero Cop’ Charged with Raping Two Women at...

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:19:00 +0900

anarcho-queer:

‘Hero Cop’ Charged with Raping Two Women at Gunpoint

Am I supposed to be happy about your attempt to reduce rape to a spectre that we can place next to a smiling FLOTUS?

You’re the fucking worst person on tumblr today.

What's the point?

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 +0900

Hey look anarcho-queer is circulating a photo of an alleged rapist sitting next to Michelle Obama because that is supposed to make a point

about what?

Want to tell a story about a rapist? Tell a story about a rapist, then. Want to say all cops are bastards? Then say it and stick to the point.

The story has nothing to do with Michelle Obama. Unless you’re trying to make another point via an implied association: or worse, you’ve lazily implemented the kind of association that relies on broad generalizations about social status, race, gender, sex, and class in order to encourage readers to properly infer unstated and unsavory assumptions that manipulate often unconscious and oppressive notions about others merely to increase the emotion for your story. There’s a surplus of unstated associations that seep from this image if you associate it with the headline “HERO COP IS A RAPIST”. And none of them are accurate, none of them useful.

If this was not your intent, then I’d like a reason for the photo to accompany the story. Is your point merely that this cop was awarded for bravery but is yet an alleged rapist? That’s not at all interesting and not at all informative. Why the photo with Michelle Obama? Did you mindlessly post the photo that accompanied the original story? Or do you agree with it’s logic? If so, then how come?

Let me be clear. Why not just admit you have nothing much to say about anything with rigor, with good writing, but plenty to say via snide association that is rather fucking meaningless and useless, most likely harmful and lazy. Do I need to explain how this photo works with this story?

Tumblr is mostly awful. And this is an example of how awful it can get without even trying very hard. I’m sure anarcho-queer is being lazy, but it’s a dangerous and uncritical laziness. And I’m not going to silently observe it.