Mental Hygiene In Times Of Nastiness · 7:44pm Jun 5th, 2020
In view of the recent blog posts that have filled most of your timelines, I think some measures of mental hygiene are warranted. In times of conflicts, low wages, rampant housing insecurity, riots, a global pandemic, and the all-around destitution of the public sphere, it is important to be aware of how discourse is used, meddled with, and even weaponized.
It still needs to be said that black lives matter. It does. There is no question about it. It is not negotiable.
But even such a should-be mundane statement like “BLM” will have its detractors. And they have specific rhetoric that anyone ought to be aware of—because it may sound logical at first, but instead relies on a sleight of hand that uses how we interpret or even define words.
I will echo a post I wrote yesterday on Cyne’s wonderful blog—You should check it out. I will build on it. Here are, I believe, three healthy advice on how to better face and understand the retrograde anti-BLM rhetoric we are currently experiencing.
1. Data is not facts
This is a crucial distinction to make. Data is data. It does not carry any analysis, reflection, or critique in-itself. It is raw, unexplored, often partial, and needs to be consistently corroborated. Facts are instead built on such a careful analysis to shine a light on a situation or issue. Decisions are not made on raw data alone—or rather, it should never be. That is why we have data scientists going through heaps of data to draw conclusions. In French, data science is interestingly called “science of decision-making.” There is a reason for that. Numbers carry no meaning in and of themselves if they are not thoroughly analyzed.
Do not be swayed by data alone. Be aware of people mixing data for facts
A lot of people do not make a distinction, and a small group will use this confusion as a tool. I want you to pay attention to the latter type. Data is an easy argument, but a fallacious one. People peddling data under the veneer of facts are often pushing a narrative. By declaiming their data and words are facts, they manipulate discourse to push their own agenda. Data is used to reject grievances, arguments, even just raising issues with a situation, system, etc.
The tactic is easy: an issue is raised, a data point is used as a counterfactual argument. It sounds logical and that is where it is insidious. Because nothing has actually been said, been analyzed, and been disproven here. Data is not proof in and of itself. A data point doesn't substitute itself to facts.
Do not get me wrong, data is important but it cannot come alone. Raw data is easy to collect. Analyzing and critiquing it is a lot harder, and time-consuming. Be skeptics of people who are so eager to shoot down grievances with data cheap shots.
These days you see people spreading the “Despite making 13% […]” datum: a vile tactic to defend police violence, militarization, and the all-around pummeling of American society (you see the same excuse [in favor of brutality] on the shaky data point that "Poor People Commit More Crime"). But it is a datum, not a fact, it does not say anything about the American history of racialized poverty, of violence against minorities, and of the scars of slavery and of segregation that are still very present today.
Beware those people selling you data as facts. This is how they push a narrative that validates many breaches of human rights.
2. A statement does not imply a negation
I ended the first piece of advice with an example; I will start with one here. You must have seen people replying to “BLM” with the “all lives matter” slogan.
Stating "black lives matter" does not come with an asterisk attached to it, a would-be fine print that says that only black lives matter, or that black lives matter more, or that not all lives matter. A statement does not imply a negation.
That is a simple but effective mental hygiene reflex to have. When someone says "BLM" for instance, some may have this sudden desire to reply with the "all lives matter" counterpoint. They should pause there and ask themselves: “Is 'BLM' actually the negation of all lives matter?” The obvious answer is no, of course not.
The goal of BLM is not to cheapen some lives in favor of others. It is to reassert that in this “best of worlds” where all lives should matter, some lives are in fact cheapened. And in this case, it is black lives.
If you've ever felt this sudden urge to fight against a negation that was never uttered, there is a solution to this feeling. You must believe in the good faith of people. A statement that speaks of some people usually does not come at the expense of others.
Specifying does not imply excluding
People who imply it does are selling you a narrative that has a conflict as its base. Yes, there is something rotten in the implication that statements include their unspoken opposite: a hidden negation. It means that conflicts sit at the heart of any statement or opinion. It is a parasitic way of thinking that is more damaging to your mental health than anything. It implies people are addressing you in bad faith, always, and that you should be paranoid about hidden negative meanings lying everywhere, waiting to be unconcealed.
Take statements as they come. Be aware of this rooted idea that stating something always somehow implies an opposition. Being specific helps to see problems and to address them, but it does not erase or cheapen other problems that remain in our world. Struggles are not exclusionary. Believe in people's good faith.
3. Be self-reflective
I will now be tying my third point with point two. I have just described an instinctive reaction that we may experience when facing a statement we do not agree with at first glance. We ought to be aware of those reactions. Humans beings are animals capable of self-reflection. Let's not flout that gift. Whenever we feel that heat rising, that urge to answer, to provide our grain of salt, to abate that instinctive want to reject something that does not rub us the right way…
Just pause and think about it
This heated sentiment does not come by itself; it has deep-seated reasons and one can learn from them. We can snatch those moments in the bud, hold that heat, understand it, harness it, and grow with and from it.
Politics is cruel and mean, but it is important. Progress, no matter how one interprets the word, is important. We ought to move forward for the better. And it starts with better mental hygiene. And I hope the three items that I regularly use to keep myself sane can also be of use for you.
If you have this urge to answer, “All lives matter” to someone saying “BLM,” stop and ask yourself why you have this instinctive answer coming to mind. Is it well-founded, or is it something that was inculcated to you? Is it your own conclusion, or something you have just heard and are about to parrot?
This moment of awareness and reflection, in the heat of the moment, is hard, but it is also key. One can learn from that.
All in all, be aware of cheap tactics, numbers for the sake of numbers, of fallacies in our judgment, and of instincts that are often items that were taught to us, and which we regurgitate without thinking. We are all fallible, but we also cannot afford to sit in the fence on this issue.
Racism and police brutality do not have a debatable middle point. Morally, it is condemnable. And it should be condemned. Do not get dragged away from this truth by cheap arguments and implications that posit as facts. As a human being, you are better than this. If you are still undecided or wary of voicing your opinion on the matter, I will not throw the stone at you. I am not the best person to pontificate here. I just want to offer some advice so you can spot when someone is using rhetoric to muddy the water, to dump on BLM as a bad faith movement.
Black lives matter matters.
Thank you for making this post! There's a lot of terrible reporting that tries to sway opinion away from protesters and toward the cops attacking them, and it's good to understand when people are trying to manipulate you.
Black lives matter, and fuck fascists!
I agree with you
No thanks. Woke Twitter and the general public completely disagree with every point you make btw.
Racism and police brutality are terrible, I just wonder what the riots are going to do to fix it, or even what specifically needs to be changed.
Thank you for pointing out these important issues, and thank you for doing it so with a clear structure.
5278049
[citation needed]
5278049
I'm not trying to sway the general public and woke twitter, whatever is filed under those hazy categories, anyway... I'm addressing the people that follow me, the people I like, and the people who're willing to listen. It's a hard period and trying to have a steady but resolved way to approach and look at things is healthy.
5278054
Closes my book on French History
Uh... apparently a lot.
5278049
Whispering... why do you change your name constantly?
5278054
Police is brutally repressing peaceful protestors. That is a fact. There is a lot of other stuff going on, but that specific kernel is one that is not debatable.
Police is brutally repressing peaceful protestors.
There are looters and riots and--
Police is brutally repressing peaceful protestors.
But the ideology--
Police is brutally repressing peaceful protestors.
The identity politics--
Police is brutally repressing peaceful protestors. That is unacceptable. If it is acceptable for you, you are telling me that the state has the right to used trained troops to suppress dissent among its citizens. If that is acceptable to you, then that's good for me to know. It means we have no common ground for further discussions and I won't waste my or your time.
5278054
Riots are the language of the unheard. When words fail - which means democracy fails - the streets become the new town square. Riots are violent and messy, that's true. But pushed to the brink, people will seek change in the streets. You cannot expect people to kneel in silence while a boot is slowly squeezing their necks.
For lack of fixing, maybe riots will at least help destroy a racist status quo.
5278062
Almost like we've written several blogposts on the subject, been very public about it, and talked with you personally about it on a number of occasions.
Leave us alone.
5278049
i.postimg.cc/zG4gnfqh/Wow-Pony.png
5278075
We... have never exchanged a word in private... wat?!
5278070
Rioting will accomplish nothing beyond destroying local economies, goods and services to not return to those communities and make them even poorer, and heighten tensions. The only way we'll stop seeing black boys on the front page of NYT is not rioting in the streets, it's electing officials that are willing and able to actually punish or remove problem officers before a small problem with behavior becomes a big problem and fatalities, it's maybe fixing the internal and external forces that keep people poor and committing crimes.
But yeah nah let's bump fuck tha police and whatever "song" about gang violence and committing crimes by whatever thug fresh off a dime is putting out while burning shit, and then blame the cops for dispersing riots.
Important editorial note:
I've said pretty frequently the guy who did in Floyd doesn't deserve to be named and deserves to hang. The other officers involved deserve repercussions. The city officials, mayor, chief who ignored complaints on his behavior failed to remove him which lead to him assaulting someone he knew previous to becoming an officer, they deserve anger as well. My views on the movement aren't armchair reading DoJ statistics from my cushy mansion on the "right" side of town. I currently live in the 'hood and have for most of my life, and my views stem from serving four years in juvenile detention for assault with intent, as well as years spent trafficking and soliciting.
5278062
Yikes, yeah, hopefully, they don't resort to murdering children. The french revolution was not pretty indeed.
5278070
Why not destroy the buildings of the people who've actually harmed them?
5278081
We have, but it's okay. Most people have five-second memories and don't remember things like souring our relationship with Krickis and starting shit to get us forced out of their discord for shits and giggles.
5278091
Windows can be rebuilt. Lives can't be resuscitated.
People are worth more than a few dollars and if you think in the long-term, moments of high tensions like we have today are the opportunities to usher in a better future where more people will actually be able to earnestly participate in the economy you're so willing to defend.
You're asking people to believe in a generational change for the better. But a generation is at best thirty years, it's not a carrot dangled in front of American minorities for more than a century now. It's not working anymore.
Your current comfort is not an excuse to defend a destructive status quo for a non-negligible part of the US population.
5278069
Yes. Police is brutally repressing peaceful protestors, is a horrible thing that should not have happened.
No. violence and looting is not a good thing and should not have happened.
Don't demonize me for asking a simple question.
5278094
i was actually referencing 1848 , 1958, or 2018. Though i guess 1789 also counts.
5278095
What... the fuck are you even talking about.
5278062
Holy jeebus, dude. I knew there was something strangely familiar about this person. Now all these comments I've been reading over the past couple days make so much more sense.
5278100
I don't mean the US or global economy. I meant what I said. After Florence the places that got looted, which were centrally located and convenient, did not return. I'm not asking for "generational" change. I've been asking for people to actually get involved, to actually challenge unopposed incumbents, to actually perform actions that would change things for the better since 2004.
Also businesses started by a single family and built with everything they've had can't be replaced.
5278109
I wasn't aware it was possible to stutter over text but it's ok you don't remember.
5278101
No, see, that horrible thing? That is the cause of all that is happening. Violence on the side of citizens is already addressed by laws. The police brutally repressing peaceful protestors, that is widespread and hence evidently not an issue for the power structures that are in place. It has become evident because there are cameras and it's coming to light.
It is a problem that has to be addressed before all the rest, because if you can't trust those that are sanctioned to use violence then you can't trust them to solve the other issues, you can't ask the protestors to fight two battles. They already have all their hands full with the well equipped forces brutally repressing them.
5278111
Oh please, kindly shove it.
5278101
If you think looting is equal to decades of generations of abuse, murder, and mafia like activites of the police, then you might want to re-examine your priorities if a human life is worth less than a few thousand dollars.
5278129
If you want people to join your cause you probably shouldn't attack them needlessly. It is entirely possible to hold those two opinions, separately. Neither devalues the other.
5278124
My problem is only with the looters and destruction, the protests are fine and yeah, the police system needs to be reformed from the ground up. Because in the police culture there's a feeling of unease around citizens in general. I feel like most incidents of brutality would end with that. The human element also doesn't help.
5278129
HOW does the looting affect the police? When did I say the protests were bad? WHAT UNIVERSE AM I IN?
I'm just saying they shouldn't steal from innocent people and destroy their property?
5278162
Woke Twitter disagrees with you. There are people loudly proclaiming that looting and rioting is completely fine... if perpetrated against non-blacks.
5278162
Then then take your fucking left foot out of your mouth and complain about the police, who are doing those exact things.
5278174
Destroying and stealing from businesses?
5278150
Wonderful, we agree on that.
So, looting and rioting not triggered by police brutality (the instances in which it is a reaction would automatically disappear once the basic problem is solved) could be dealt with by a form of law enforcement not occupied with doing horrible things to peaceful citizens.
I think that means most of our energy should be focused on solving the problem of police brutality and systemic issues causing people to feel the need to go in harm's way to protest. The whole looting and rioting should be solved as a consequence, and not be a distraction right now when we have already identified the root issue of it all.
5278169
A single amoeba could figure out a better bad faith argument than you. Just get out of here.
5278178
Glad that we came to an understanding of sort good chap! So which systems are the ones that are causing the issues?
5278179
I don't know how many times I need to bring back up that my views and points are couched in personal experience with the people doing and saying these things.
5278175
Yes. You have seen the videos and pictures of police busting windows and taking shit from shops, right?
Christ, just because the law says that businesses are people doesn't mean that it's true. (Because they aren't, in case you didn't know.)
Very well said, and it's easy to see here who are the fascist sympathizers, and who prioritize their own comfort and social order over the lives of oppressed minorities.
5278169
"Woke Twitter/Facebook/Social Media" is a myth invented by reactionaries and populated by agents provocateur and a minuscule number of fringe idiots. Just like "All LIves Matter" was coined by a popular white supremacist (the same one who coined "alt.right" BTW).
No one is saying that riots and looting are good. What they are saying is that riots and looting are unfortunate but understandable given that peaceful protest have for many generations now been met with violence from the state. When people like Colin Kaepernick peacefully protested police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem, people like you attacked him for being "disrespectful" and "dishonoring our military", and demanded his head on a platter. And ultimately nothing whatsoever was changed by those peaceful protests, except more and more fascists and racists outing themselves publicly.
When peaceful protests do not work, when they are met solely with violent repression, why bother being peaceful? Non-violence in the face of an opponent who does not consider you to even be human or deserving of human consideration is not morally principled, it's suicide.
5278190
No, I haven't seen any of those videos, do you know what to search to find them?
5278182
Why? I think we already agreed on it.
Police brutally repressing peaceful protestors.
If you want to go more in detail, then a separation of officers and "civilians", a militarization, a focus on violence and not de-escalation, and underdeveloped social services, along with what appears to be racial bias.
A step by step solution seems to be a bit out of scope for the comment section here, and also something society as a whole should address once the repression of dissent stops.
What I'm quite sure is not helping addressing the problem is complaining about the looters and rioters when we identified the root cause. To quote you on the parts where we agreed:
5278184
What, I thought "woke Twitter" was saying that? But now it's just "personal experiences"?
Seems like my statement still stands.
5278194
I guess I mean that I see the word systematic racism and I'm not sure what exactly it means, I was hoping for a brief explanation. I don't think that police cause poverty and such right?
5278198
Well, racial bias is that PoC get longer sentences for the same crimes, and get put down as a consequence by the prison system. I mean, they used the dataset to train an AI to aid in sentencing and it was dealing out longer sentences to PoC based on what humans did before it. Poverty and societal destruction are some of the consequences of that.
What that tells us is that there is bias baked right into the system.
Oh, and also all the PoC who died or suffered following their encounters with law enforcement, but it is not my place to tell that, it's theirs. Which, by the way, they have done for many years and are doing right now.
5278193
It's all over Twitter, videos and such showing police smashing the windows of businesses, destroying medical supplies and water for the protesters, of them destroying and taking items from protesters (usually with the protester getting assualted as well)...all that stuff isn't hard to find.
5278192
Hi, oppressed minority. The mother of my sole living relative in Poland had a neat arm tattoo from her time at camp, my grandfather had family executed by Soviets before escaping Czechoslovakia, I've been accused of nasty things for wearing a headscarf, fired from a position for speaking my language with a co-worker, accused of theft by another because "you know how you people are", threatened with moderator action if I didn't stop calling out racist and harmful portrayals of my people here on this site, and involved in a few diatribes leveled at me for either prominently displaying the fact that I'm either trans or Romany.
"People like you" I supported Kaepernick you twit. From day one of the current unrest I have said that the cunt who killed Floyd doesn't deserve to be named and deserves to hang.
I've also personally attended a peaceful protest here in my city. It was nice, the police told a counter-protester to leave or they'd arrest them.
Stating that destroying people's lives and livelihoods and demonizing people for doing their fucking job is less effective than the same people holding the same views that I do exercising their God-given right to run for office and vote to remove or replace the fascist and racist unchallenged incumbents in our governmental organizations, or offering at a community level ways out of the cycle of crime and violence.
5278239
Do I read every single comment?
5278213
Some of those are legit but most are pretty iffy, there's no context, they don't ask the cops why they're breaking windows, anybody can dress up as police and the stuff being put in their cars? What would they do with it anyway? Put it back in the shop that just got looted so it can get stolen again?
They likely don't even know where the stuff came from and they're putting it in their own cars for goodness sake, those things usually cameras in them. people would know if they didn't log those items as confiscated.
5278256
You read every single comment? And really, I was just asking for advice on how to look it up, it was new information to me. Sorry I'm not omnipotent.
So Data is not facts huh and yet...
i.imgur.com/BMQBsUb.png
5316612
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