“Feminists are just a bunch of man hating bitches. They just think every cis het white male is a terrorist. There go those social justice warriors calling everyone a bad person just for existing. Jeez if you hate humanity that much just go away. Urgh, they just want everyone to be victims just like them.”
If you run in social justice circles, heck, if you’ve ever seen a social justice themed post of any kind, you will probably see some variation of the comments above. The prevailing opinion is that social justice activists hate the world because we call people on ableism, on sexism, racism, transphobia and transmisogyny, on privilege. That we see everyone as a bad person and that’s why we don’t believe that intent matters, because we think everyone is guilty. That our anger is the same thing as hate.
But that’s not the reason for the anger. We’re not angry because we hate the world. Even when we joke about hating the world, it is not actually what we feel. We are angry because we think more highly of the world. We think that human beings, that we, have the capacity to be better. And like someone who really loves someone, we want humanity to be the best them they can be.
I fight so hard, I scream, and cry, and argue, and burn myself out over and over again not because of hate but because of love. I am like a mother fighting for her child. I see all these thing trying desperately to weight down my baby, and I am fighting because I know that they can fight off these weights and become great. I fight because I truly believe that one person can change the world, and that you, every one of you, has the ability to make a difference. That you can make the world a better place. That you have it in you to change everything.
My anger when you refuse to see the things holding you back. The things that even as they make you treat others as less than worthy, as not deserving of dignity, you let the world do the same thing to you. Because when you allow yourself to believe that there is ever a reason for a person to be treated as lass than a human being, you justify every single person doing the same to you. Every time you accept that premise, you add another chain to your wrists.
I don’t hate humanity. If I did, I wouldn’t try so hard. I wouldn’t believe that you could be better. I wouldn’t sacrifice my well-being for you.
When you see me stop trying. When you see me give up and accept things as they are. That is when you will know that I hate the world.
