Positive Assertion: I am begging you to take up space

I need liberal majoritarians to learn how to positively assert things. I’m so fucking sick of watching this country go down the toilet because white folks, straight folks, cis folks don’t want to “be impolite” by taking up the same amount of space their alt-right cousins and Trump-loving aunts do when they start talking about how they think the country is going down the toilet, how the second coming of Christ is around the corner and “those sinners” will be punished, how immigrants and/or trans people are inherently evil and destructive.

A whole reason (one of many) why the Dems lost this election so handily is because they positioned themselves as “hey we’re better than that asshole,” and like, sure, but you’re not going to sell anybody that way (and they didn’t). Positively assert what you will do, who you will protect, what you are supposedly fighting for. Fuck off with this centrist-courting nonsense. Fuck off with not wanting to be rude. If you want to look back in a decade and feel even remotely okay about the role you played in this era of American history, I strongly recommend you learn how to take up space with Republicans the same way they’ve been taking up our space for the last I-don’t-know-how-long. Tell them to shut up about trans people, who are just trying to live their lives in peace. Tell them that good guys with guns have had a million and one chances to save lives and they sure haven’t shown up. Tell them that abortion is healthcare, that if they feel so strongly about the sanctity of life they can sign up for surprise mandatory organ transplants. I’m begging you to be a bitch, be a jerk, be an asshole to these people. I know many of you are capable of it because I’ve been watching many of you you treat the Free Gaza movement like shit for the past year. I’ve been witnessing many of you say mean shit to trans people for a decade (and that’s just what I’ve witnessed as a cis person).

I’ll end with this: if you’re white, and if you’re not visibly disabled, and if you’re not too visibly gender-fucky, you can get away with a lot more than you think you can. You would be astounded at some of the things I’ve gotten away with saying to jerks, bigots, and dipshits, and at the end of the confrontation the people who always give me the most grief are my fellow lefties. I miss opportunities too — I have times where I wish I’d spoken up and I didn’t. I use those experiences to prepare for the next time, for the next chance to tell a bigot their behavior is unacceptable. And by and large I get away with it, because I’m a cis white lady and I’m average height and people don’t find me terribly intimidating until I put them in their fucking place. This is my job. This is your job. You have to take up space with your beliefs and you have to be bitchy to the correct people. That’s all I’m asking.