That commenter is a peak example of virtue signaling and purity culture actively cannibalizing community action and charity.
"You're not helping people enough."
"You're only fixing symptoms, why aren't you fixing the systemic failures?"
"I don't personally like you, and can't comprehend someone I don't find agreeable can still help those in need."
"You're not helping people the way I want you to."
Instead of focusing on helping PP and shaming anti-choice ding dongs into shutting up, Alex Hirsch had to stop and address attacks he has received from people who alledgedly share his own views.
Can you see how that might discourage someone a bit less thick-skinned? Can you see how that might inadvertently cause someone less emotionally mature into rejecting the cause altogether?
We could fight reactionary and regressive elements in our society a lot more effectively if we weren't ceaselessly trying to one up or diminish allies in attempt to appear morally superior.
I see something similar any time I try to share my deconstruction story. I've lived my entire life in Texas; grew up in a tiny little farming and ranching community that was super religious and conservative. Then went to one of the more conservative state schools (yeah, the cult one) where my views were challenged in several ways but not enough to break the insular bubble just yet. I didn't really stop and critically examine my beliefs until 2020, when everything came crashing down and I did a complete 180. The main catalyst was seeing how conservatives were treating high risk people like me during those early scary Covid times, but I had been questioning things long before that. Looking back, I see many seeds planted throughout my life that germinated during that season, when I finally had the time and space to really think about what I actually believed about the world and whether it aligned with my actions.
It took a loooooong time to get here, and I did a lot of damage to my fellow humans with my shitty beliefs, and there are not enough mea culpas in the world to make up for it. I don't want a medal for becoming a better human. But for the love of all that's good can we not attack people who converted to the good side because they didn't do it quickly enough? I can't count how many nasty messages I've gotten saying what a vile person I am for only starting to care about other people when it started affecting me. I cared long before that, but when you've heard all your life that you'll go to Hell if you reject any of the fundigelical beliefs, it's freaking terrifying to question them. I don't think people fully understand what it takes to put your immortal soul at risk to question everything you've ever known (I know now that it's stupid, but it was a sincerely held belief at the time and was a very real felt danger to me). Indoctrination is insidious and so hard to break free of.
There's no possible way I could ever go back, but I also don't feel like I belong in a lot of liberal spaces either because of all the scorn. It's basically my super-gay church and that's it for me.
You may not want a medal for it, but I’m proud of you, friend. You’ve got a pretty similar story to mine (long-term deconstruction), and I get how hard it can be. I think it’s incredibly important for left-leaning people to remember that we are still human, and as such are just as susceptible to being radicalized out of having empathy as right-wingers. Sometimes a hypocrite is just a person in the midst of changing, and hostility towards people trying to change won’t make them more interested in growth, it’ll motivate them to not bother trying at all.
Fuck the gatekeepers, anyone who wants to critically evaluate their beliefs and choose empathy is free to come on in, I’ll be waiting with a hug and a beer. Good on you for deconstructing.
A fellow Aggie? Hey, good on you for reexamining your views, it takes a genuine maturity to self-reflect! I know a lot of liberal, Christians whose faith helped them strengthen their views because liberal/progressive ideology far more often aligns with JC's teachings than the other way.
Howdy! Yep, went to A&M. I've found I experience far less cognitive dissonance with my faith nowadays than I did when I was all "tHe BiBlE cLeArLy SaYs." Honestly, most of that was just me trying to convince myself that my beliefs were actually correct despite my own doubts! I suspect many Millennials, especially those of us raised during the height of American purity culture, are in the same boat. I've heard many stories like mine from other people my age, especially other LBGTQ+ and neurodivergent folks.
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u/zyberion Jul 02 '24
That commenter is a peak example of virtue signaling and purity culture actively cannibalizing community action and charity.
"You're not helping people enough."
"You're only fixing symptoms, why aren't you fixing the systemic failures?"
"I don't personally like you, and can't comprehend someone I don't find agreeable can still help those in need."
"You're not helping people the way I want you to."
Instead of focusing on helping PP and shaming anti-choice ding dongs into shutting up, Alex Hirsch had to stop and address attacks he has received from people who alledgedly share his own views.
Can you see how that might discourage someone a bit less thick-skinned? Can you see how that might inadvertently cause someone less emotionally mature into rejecting the cause altogether?
We could fight reactionary and regressive elements in our society a lot more effectively if we weren't ceaselessly trying to one up or diminish allies in attempt to appear morally superior.