I’ve gotten a number of anti-choicers and defenders of traditional marriage, who seem to think that I can be swayed by their judgments and personal opinions, commenting to me on Facebook and here on the blog. I’ve also had a few fellow pro-choicers express that they think my language has been too harsh, too blustery, too acidic and that I should try to be more polite. Rather than reply to each one as they come, I’ve decide to post a permanent response.

In case it wasn’t clear I am going on the record to state that I’m not playing nice anymore. I’ve tried to be polite, to respectfully disagree, but it gets me nowhere. The gay-haters, the misogynists, the corporatists, the anti-choicers, the planet-killers, the racists, the classists, the all-around ass-holes of the world do not give a flying-monkeys ass about facts, ethics, or reason. They couldn’t care less about the rights of women, gays, non-whites, animals, the planet, the poor, or any other person or thing being exploited for profit. As long as they can remain blissfully delusional that the American Dream is still available to the straight white male, they will gladly support the status quo.

I’m sick of the dipshittery. I’m sick of being expected to pay lip-service to idiocy, to treat bull-shit opinions as if they’re as valid and valuable as facts for fear of offending people who do not care about me or the things important to me. These people aren’t playing nice. Why should I? Why should any of us?

While we, who oppose the ideas and opinions of the uber-conservatives, are trying to reason nicely with them, they’re out to make same-sex marriage illegal, to make all cases of abortion illegal, to strip Unions of their power, to end minimum wage, and to all but eradicate the EPA. We do not have the luxury of being polite or of respectfully disagreeing. Time is of the essence, and it’s running thin fast.

Playing nice with people who do not respect our rights as a human beings is not going to work, it never worked. These people do not see women, LGBTs, non-whites, or the poor as equals, and no amount of polite language will change that. When women, like Alice Paul and Gloria Steinem were arrested for standing up for the rights of women, and when the former and her fellow suffragists were abused in jail, do you think that was a sign that the people they stood against respected them or cared about how nice they played? What about Civil Rights activists, like John Lewis? Do you think the cops, who beat him and his fellow marchers with clubs and attacked them with tear gas as they marched to Selma, saw them as equals? Women’s and Civil rights activists did not succeed by being polite or using nice language; they called the sexists and the racists out for what they were and demanded to be treated as full and equal citizens. We will not effect positive social changes by politely asking, “Please, sir, may I have some rights?” Sometimes social justice for the oppressed and marginalized require us to stand up and shout, to call a racist a racist or a misogynist a misogynist.

I expect to make enemies. I expect to be called names. So be it. I can fling mud, too; only mine will be mixed with cold hard facts, so I promise it’ll sting a lot more when it hits. Suffice it to say that the gloves are off and the fight is on.