June 18, 2020

Horse 2721 - If You Say "All Lives Matter", I Will Assume That You Don't Actually Believe It

In response to the protests which have happened across the world, following the murder of George Floyd under the knee of Minneapolis Police, a common refrain which has been posted in response to the slogan 'Black Lives Matter' is the deliberately undermining reply of 'All Lives Matter'; mostly by people who don't actually believe that to be true.

Suppose that you are a school teacher. You are sitting in the staff common room at lunch time and you can hear one of your students being beaten up. We'll call her Alice. Not only that but you can determine from the cries of the student being beaten up that the ones laying into her are the class prefects Bridget and Cosette. What do you do?
Any sane teacher would call Bridget and Cosette into the staff room for a severe talking to. You would tell them off for acting so cruel.

Let's suppose for a second that Alice comes from a poor family. Let us further suppose that Alice's parents work for the parents of Bridget and Cosette. Let's further assume that Alice is actually something of a troublemaker who is known for lashing out at Bridget and Cosette.
As the teacher, do you blame Alice for the circumstances which she finds herself in and give Bridget and Cosette hockey sticks so that they can do their job of being prefects better?
If you were to do that, I would probably be justified in my opinion that even though you might be an academically brilliant teacher, you lack basic humanity and common sense.

Suppose that you have a fourth student in the class called Doris. Doris has finally decided to speak up for Alice and wants to get your attention to do something about it. Do you listen to Doris? Or do you listen to Karen, whose mum is on the Parents and Teachers Association and can threaten to withdraw funds from the school? Suppose Karen thinks that just because she hasn't personally experienced any bullying that "all children matter". Is she wrong?

Suppose further still that I been incredibly sexist in my hypothetical example and the names are actually Adrian, Bradley, Colin, Darren, and Kevin. Does any of that make a difference because they're just boys and boys just do that kind of thing?

I hope that I have laboured the point beyond what is reasonable. If one of your students is being beaten up by other students and you want to spruik the line that "all children matter" and yet do nothing to address the issue of your student being beaten up, then you are not only a monster but a liar. If you are a student in this example who stands to the side and wants to spruik the line that "all children matter" but do so because you haven't actually experienced any trouble, then you too are a monster and a liar.

In lots of countries with histories of colonialism, slavery, indigenous dispossession and the like (which includes my own country), we have people who after hearing that people have been beaten up by police and security forces, then blame the victims for their own systemic neglect. 'All Lives Matter' is the equivalent of being more concerned that the children who you bothered to look after are worth more than the one that you have lost and the utterance of that slogan generally demonstrates that the person saying it, fundamentally believes that it is not true.

It is no coincidence that in those same countries, the people who fundamentally do not believe that all lives matter, consistently vote for governments who then enact policy which is consistent with those beliefs. Political parties who then run marketing campaigns to get reelected, will conduct market research and know that people actually do not fundamentally believe that all lives matter, will then adjust their marketing and messaging so that everyone can feel good about the voting choices that they make. Often the purpose of marketing and messaging is to make the consumer feel good about the purchase that they have made; which in this case is paid for by votes.

Dear White People who want to say "All Lives Matter",
If it is true, then act like it. Shut up. Listen. Act. Everyone who wants to say that "All Lives Matter" either proves that fact by listening to the cries of their fellow citizens, or proves that they do not believe that it is true, by vomiting up slogans that are worth less than cat vomit.
The world doesn't need to hear your stupidity which proves that you are a monster and a liar because that has pretty well much been the default position which perpetuates the problem.
Stop lying when you say that you "don't see colour". Either you are actually blind or wilfully lying; there are no other options here. Just because you don't personally experience problems doesn't mean that they don't exist. Shut up. Listen. Act.
Love, Rollo.

Actually if anything, I will admit that I am being radicalised online by people who want to say that "all lives matter" because that indicates to me that these are the people who are monsters and liars. Again, if the people who do go around saying say that "all lives matter" actually believed it, then they probably wouldn't be saying it and thus undercutting the sentiment and real worries of the people who have a very very legitimate complaint.

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