A friend of mine reposted this screencap, and I thought it deserved a rebut of some sort.

There’s a difference in alienating an ally because said oppressed group is nice to you versus being an ally because oppressed groups are nice to you.



No one is an ally to an oppressed group because someone from that group was nice to them. That’s not usually why people support anything. Of course you should support groups of people because they deserve basic human rights.

But if I’m actively engaging in actions that are in support of reversing injustices, and people from your demographic are going to belittle me and treat me like shit, or demean a demographic I am a part of - then you should not be surprised if I say, “alright, have fun going it alone”. Don’t expect people to stand side by side with you and help you through your fight if you’re going to be a shit head to them. That’s not how it works.



Of course hearing stupid shitheads espouse opinions like “I hate men” and “fuck white people” shouldn’t cause men and white people to stop being opposed to sexism and racism. But when a social justice movement stops saying, “we want to be treated with the same respect,” and converts their dialogue to “I hate men” and “fuck white people” - why would I want to be in alliance with such a movement? I can still be in support of equal rights for women, and be against racism while saying fucking your movement. There’s no such thing as an ally when it comes to believing in, and speaking out for equal rights. That’s just being a decent human being. Allies represent specific ideological and political movements in this case - and if you’re telling me to fuck off, I have no obligation to be an ally in your movement.



If the idea of “alienating allies” bothers you so much, here’s an idea: don’t treat people like shit for who they are. The entire reason why your movement needs to exist is because people are already treated like shit for who they are. Why you would act so hypocritically, and then wonder why people don’t want to support you, becomes lost on no one but yourselves.