Long thread about class & privilege, and some clarifications. Please mute if you’re not interested.

A tweep I admired has blocked me because she was apparently upset that I equated bigoted ignorance to a social class. This is my 1st point: it IS a social class on its own from an anthropological POV, independent of a hierarchy (1)

Hierarchical class systems are things such as say, the caste system in India (and Sri Lanka) & systems put in place through perceived (& acquired wealth). Some woke man child also attacked me on my statement & I didn’t defend it b/c I didn’t feel the need to justify myself. (2)

Moving on, people in positions of wealth/power or “higher class” & those from humble livelihoods & modesty are all part of this hierarchical system which is absolutely damaging & ruins the opportunity for those who do not have the means or privilege. (3)

The best example I can give to distinguish between this hierarchical class vs the seperate social (and rather importantly, political class) is Trump’s America. Trump is the about definition of a bigot. (4)

One could claim that his supporters are from educationally challenged or low socioeconomic or working class backgrounds. The truth is, they aren’t. A vast number of them are from wealthier, privileged backgrounds. Trump appeals to the racial hate rhetoric in both. (5)

One could also then say similarly that Bernie supporters are also from a myriad of backgrounds, and belong to their own social class as well, based on their political alignment. This exists not along a hierarchy but independently. (6)

I used the term “low class” to describe bigoted behaviour on the basis that it IS low, disgusting behaviour to pick on people based on their race/ethnicity etc. it is absolutely low behaviour to question the life choices of others (which is what I was discussing at the time) (7)

Whilst I do apologise for how the term was received & definitely misunderstood, I still stand by what I said. It is ABSOLUTELY low to pick on people for their choices & for their existence unless their existence merits critique (see: Trump, George Pell, Pauline Hanson) (8)

I am disappointed, I guess because I expected more of this tweep, to know better than to equate someone to their 280 characters. Having said that, of course no one is obligated to deal with my crap on here of course (9)

The takeaway is this: her actions resulted in self reflection on my part and I always welcome it. It has given me to not be defensive but also pay attention to how my chosen semantics carry a weight, & that this weight could be a very heavy one. (10)

Point is, we are all learning as well. I definitely am. The way I was raised meant I had to unlearn many toxic & privileged ways of thinking, & I am absolutely deep in the process of that. So I apologise for the collateral damage that occurs in this process (11)

To her I say: thank you helping me learn a little bit about myself. It doesn’t reduce from my life to be blocked by someone, but we don’t live in a vacuum on here & there are tweeps whose thoughts I immensely value (12)

Finally, it’s also not my job to please everyone so if anything I say upsets/offends you, you are welcome to call me out on it/reach out to me. Your feelings being hurt matter to me (your opinion is another matter however). Causing upset & harm to others isnt something I do.(13)

To conclude: if you approach me with rationality, I will always respond with the same. If you see me clap back to people it is because there’s a thinly veiled attack in their approach which either a)may be a personal trigger or b) is a poor way to approach someone. (14)

I don’t owe any explanations to anyone but if I don’t take the opportunity to learn then I myself am a hypocrite. So here’s to learning. The end.