What the Eff is Going on?
Blog Spaces Unsafe Spaces...
Here I was caught up with my own personal issues (lot going on) while not realizing there was some effed up situations happening on The Women of Color Blog (BrownFemiPower) and Nubian's blog (and a few other spaces as well).
When I first started blogging, Brownfemipower and Nubian were part of a community of bloggers that truly inspired me because of the content of the posts. These bloggers put their politics out there in a raw and personal way. What they posted was (and continues to be) thought-provoking, challenging and REAL. What is truly effed up is the ways in which bloggers are continually "punished" and "attacked" for that very reason.
The blogosphere is great in so many ways, but it NOT a safe space by any means...and can never really be one. This is especially the case when it comes to blogs that are actively working towards an anti-oppression agenda. Shame, shame shame. It is truly upsetting and disgusting. It seems that folks cannot handle dialoguing about the "difficult" topics (i.e. racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) These are the topics that requires one to challenge oneself, for one to be challenged. These are precisely the kinds of topics and discussions that are so NEEDED in order to work towards anti-oppression.
This is the same old story, again and again and again. Damn.
I really don't know what to say, except that we need to continue challenging one another - no matter how draining it gets. We take the timeouts when needed, but keep going on.
Peace.
PQ
ps. Brownfemipower, if you're reading this, please know that I've been trying to post on your site and my comments just won't publish for some reason. Let me know.
Blog Spaces Unsafe Spaces...
Here I was caught up with my own personal issues (lot going on) while not realizing there was some effed up situations happening on The Women of Color Blog (BrownFemiPower) and Nubian's blog (and a few other spaces as well).
When I first started blogging, Brownfemipower and Nubian were part of a community of bloggers that truly inspired me because of the content of the posts. These bloggers put their politics out there in a raw and personal way. What they posted was (and continues to be) thought-provoking, challenging and REAL. What is truly effed up is the ways in which bloggers are continually "punished" and "attacked" for that very reason.
The blogosphere is great in so many ways, but it NOT a safe space by any means...and can never really be one. This is especially the case when it comes to blogs that are actively working towards an anti-oppression agenda. Shame, shame shame. It is truly upsetting and disgusting. It seems that folks cannot handle dialoguing about the "difficult" topics (i.e. racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) These are the topics that requires one to challenge oneself, for one to be challenged. These are precisely the kinds of topics and discussions that are so NEEDED in order to work towards anti-oppression.
This is the same old story, again and again and again. Damn.
I really don't know what to say, except that we need to continue challenging one another - no matter how draining it gets. We take the timeouts when needed, but keep going on.
Peace.
PQ
ps. Brownfemipower, if you're reading this, please know that I've been trying to post on your site and my comments just won't publish for some reason. Let me know.
posted by pomegranate queen at 7/23/2006
8 Comments:
pq, girl, i don't have any damn clue what is going on!!!!!!! i'll email vegan and see if she knows...
btw, thanks so much for the support--and i've been reading your site, tho not commenting much--i'm so fucking sorry you're dealing with the relationship shit. especially when you have so much other shit to deal with. i hope hope hope things will get better soon--both in your personal like and with this insane fucked up miserable war...
i'm so glad to hear from you!!! :)
i'll try commenting again and see what happens, but I'm following your postings.
thanks and i'm definitely staying positive....i know things will get better in my personal life...there's beautiful things amidst the not-so-beautiful things (that's life)....i'm counting the blessings and looking towards the beautiful things...
I wish I could say the same for the war situation...my thoughts and prayers are with the people that are going through this hell...
i'd like to think that, one day, there might be a safe space online.
It may not be the blogosphere, but it doesn't have to be, as there has been space online before the blogosphere, and folks will continue to create space online, intentionally or unintentionally, for years to come.
Blogs, as they exist today, may be easy to start, but for the most part, these systems were implicitly designed without safe space in mind. For example, there don't seem to be easy-to-find templates that specify the kind of space a blog will be, by explicitly defining boundaries. Also, moderation schemes currently in use are written to fight spam, not trolls, and simply don't easily let a larger community help a blog owner in defining and maintaining a safe space online.
In other words, those who designed, coded, and continue to maintain blogging infrastructure are, perhaps unknowingly, part of a virtual institution, and as such, also help to shape the kind of discussions which are easy to have online, but also to squelch the ones that are /hard/ to have, such as these ones which have stirred so much controversy...
hi l.wu,
thanks for the comments.
I'm not sure if a space can ever be totally safe, but you are right, there are online spaces that work towards being a safe space and are for the most part...
it's just the blogosphere that isn't and can't really ever be.
interesting point about those who design, code and maintain the blogging infrastructure...yes, they are part of a virtual institution...
thanks for the comments.
Its official people have just lost the mizufucking minds. I'm nubian belle is bitch lab and hoffa is buried in my closet somewhere with the star of india and lepruchans.
Safe space ijust think it needs to be a strong space and i think it is becoming one
wow, you put that real well...
"a safe space needs to be a strong space"
ya, we can work towards that...definitely.
In addition to safe spaces needing to be a strong places, in my opinion--even though I personally would find this really hard to do, is creating a place where we can call out "trolls" for who they are, and able to moderate pretty stringently and even try to ignore some straight out offensive rhetoric and personal bashing.
Again, I think as we see, it is very difficult, almost impossible considering our histories, beliefs, work and even fragile work in progress (for many) strenght to fight face on supremacy, racism, and sexism in the face of our many struggles with those that ardently disagree with us and also degrade our persona and worldview.
Salam Anar Queen,
I think you might enjoy a site about Saveh anars:
http://www.pomegranate-garden.com/
I would like to know about who did the painting of an Anar tree in your blog titled "Tuesday"...
Hope to hear from you!
Jacqueline Mirsadeghi
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