Post A1Y3qBRsoSOcDM9fI8 by LorenAmelang@spinster.xyz
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 (DIR) Post #A1Y3qBRsoSOcDM9fI8 by LorenAmelang@spinster.xyz
       2020-11-25T05:47:34.089321Z
       
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       A strategy against “wokeness”? Or at least a name for being reasonable in social interactions…  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/style/loretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html(Typical NYT paywall - sorry)What if Instead of Calling People Out, We Called Them In?Jessica BennettNov. 19, 2020Loretta J. Ross, a visiting professor at Smith College, is challenging them to identify the characteristics, and limits, of call-out culture: the act of publicly shaming another person for behavior deemed unacceptable.A radical Black feminist who has been doing human rights work for four decades, she was one of the signatories of a widely denounced letter in Harper’s Magazine, for which she herself was called out. “There’s such an irony for being called out for calling out the calling-out culture,” she said. “It really was amusing.”The antidote to that outrage cycle, Professor Ross believes, is “calling in.” Calling in is like calling out, but done privately and with respect. “It’s a call out done with love,” she said. That may mean simply sending someone a private message, or even ringing them on the telephone (!) to discuss the matter, or simply taking a breath before commenting, screen-shotting, or demanding one “do better” without explaining how.Calling out assumes the worst. Calling in involves conversation, compassion and context. It doesn’t mean a person should ignore harm, slight or damage, but nor should she, he, or they exaggerate it. “Every time somebody disagrees with me it’s not ‘verbal violence.’” Professor Ross said. “I’m not getting ‘re-raped.’ Overstatement of harm is not helpful when you’re trying to create a culture of compassion.”There was call-out culture when Professor Ross was young. “We called it ‘trashing,’” she said, referring to a term used by Jo Freeman, in an essay in Ms., to describe infighting within the women’s movement.During quarantine this summer, she began offering an online course called Calling In the Calling Out Culture, and is working on a book of the same name.“‘We’re on Indian land,’ ‘we’ve got trans students,’ ‘we’ve got buildings named after slave owners.’” The hardest part, she said, is “to convince them is that they aren’t each other’s enemies.”“You can’t be responsible for someone else’s inability to grow,” Professor Ross said. “So take comfort in the fact that you offered a new perspective of information and you did so with love and respect, and then you walk away.“We have a saying in the movement: Some people you can work with and some people you can work around. But the thing that I want to emphasize is that the calling-in practice means you always keep a seat at the table for them if they come back.”#lorettajross  #cancelculture  #callingin