If you can’t decide on a new year resolution, try this one.
Stop pathologising dissidence. That’s it. That’s the resolution you (and everyone) should make.
Or, in other words — for the pedantic folks — “stop othering dissidence”. Some people don’t pathologise it, ie, they don’t go around diagnosing people who think outside the box; but they “other” these dissident people nonetheless. They put labels on them, create a us vs them dynamics, encourage partisanship and rivalry between the “good sheep who go with the crowd” and the “wacky weirdos who dare not comply”.
That’s something we should all promise to stop. Right now. For yesterday. 2025 is coming, we’re no longer burning witches in the Middle Ages, for fuck sake.
If you dislike disruptive people, okay. You do you. But please, PLEASE stop “othering” them. Allow them to exist in society. Allow them to live without so much retaliation. Are they hurting anybody? No. They’re not. They’re just, literally, thinking outside the box and speaking to anyone who might be interested. So, live and let live. It ain’t rocket science.
I’ll give you a personal example: every now and then, when I mention the fact I don’t get on very well with other women in certain contexts, there’s ALWAYS someone in the crowd who says “autism!!! You’re autistic!!!” (Well, sometimes not dramatically like this, but you get the idea). Why is that? Are these people TRULY AND GENUINELY advocating for autistic visibility? Do they TRULY AND GENUINELY have a track record of raising awareness about ableism, writing about it, donating to the cause, etc?
No. They are not.
100% of the times (with me, anyway), these are closeted conservative women with a lot of internalised misogyny (and in denial about it) who simply want me to “stop going out of line”.
I won’t get into why, feel free to speculate, I’m simply stating a fact. It’s super easy to see their cries of “neurodivergence” is just a cover-up for “oh, so you dare stepping out of line, Lucy? We’ll punish you then! We’ll other you! We’ll exclude you! We’ll let everybody know that you do not belong and should be discredited — with a diagnose of ‘silly other, haha, don’t listen to her’ — at all costs”.
.
All because… I offered people new perspectives on life? All because I’m not protecting the status quo? Really? That makes me automatically “other”? Are you sure about that? Think again, friend. Think LONG AND HARD one more time, because I GUARANTEE you that if you drop this fear that is making you conform like there’s no tomorrow, you’ll see that I am actually defending your best interests as a woman... In this patriarchal world that constantly feeds us, well, you know, patriarchal bullshit as a “gold standard”.
Dissidence isn’t always chaos and horror. Sometimes it is simply sticking the middle finger to the powers-that-be rightfully, because we can’t stay second-class citizens forever. We don’t deserve that. We all deserve dignity. All of us. All women. It’s not just the “small minority of autistic women who are too particular and ritualistic and that’s why they care about these unimportant details”. No, idiot!!! These are not details, these are our HUMAN RIGHTS we all deserve to have. All. Of. Us. Even the ones who are confused and still defend the enemy.
That was just one example. But what I’m saying here doesn’t only apply to feminism; it applies to every fight for dignity, social and individual alike. When you say UTTER BULLSHIT like “only autistic people would think outside the box and feel sceptical of authority”, what are you really saying? Truly? Huh?
I’ll tell you what: only “the other”, “the different”, “the outcast minority”, “whoever-is-not-me-and-my-folks”, can do any of that. Me and my folks? Oh, we just recoil in fear and obey like good sheep the perpetrators of this dystopia we’re all living under. But don’t worry, it’s not cowardly to do that. Oh, no, not at all, in fact let’s “other” the people who try to bring us a better world, just so we don’t have to deal with the shame of admitting we’re too afraid to follow suit.
THAT is what’s up.
THAT IS WHY it is in everyone’s best interest to get out of the motherfucking way of today’s revolutionaries and dissident people.
For the world’s sake, let’s at least allow those who unapologetically embrace dissidence, to do so in peace. Enough envy already. Enough in-fighting. Geez. We won’t get anywhere productive if we keep having this “crab bucket mentality”.
For 2025, let’s all promise to do better.