there are a few political words i tend to strongly disagree with using when it comes to political analysis: 1. hate. hate is an emotional response. it doesn't really aptly describe either distress from structural oppression or bigotry. it also clumps them together.

being hateful of the people a system greatly favors is a perfectly reasonable emotional response but is it constructive to talk about how much you hate them and base an entire political analysis on that? no. you can still feel hate. i do. hatred towards a lot of things.

things i wish were different, people and political things. but is my political analysis based on that? no it is based on the liberation of all people from oppressive structure whatever they may be.

and hate when used to describe bigotry is misleading because hate is harder to control as an emotion but bigotry is much more workable. someone might hate someone and there's not anything we can do. but bigotry is acting on those beliefs and that we can do something about.

2. tolerance. it should be noted that tolerance is not bad. it is neutral. if bigotry/hate is bad, tolerance is neutral. tolerance however is privileged because who tolerates whom (is that correct grammar?). it denotes the majority not embracing the minority but tolerates it.

it comes from a place of power. and persistently it's used patronizingly. i don't want tolerance. i don't want people to merely accept that i am here. i am here whether people accept it or not. embracing our differences and celebrating them is better. but still not perfect.

3. privilege. and i know it's ironic since this thread uses this word. but privilege has become this weird thing that has mutated on its own. and people use it too lightly. parents not divorced? privileged. went on holidays as a child? privileged.

and i am not saying that this isn't beneficial. of course it is. but maybe growing up in poverty with married parents is less of a privilege than growing up with divorced but middle class parents. i think we risk it being reduced to nothingness.

consider this list an ongoing thread that is non-exhaustive