The “Kick me in the nuts til I cry” girl.
A conversation with a “well-meaning”, presumably liberal woman who reached out to me days after an email-leak proposing 4 separate protest/demonstration ideas to disrupt, bring attention to, and/or raise money for the people of Palestine.
Since this was a private conversation, I spoke in a certain way with an understanding of who I was talking to, and I’m sharing this because I think this perspective is important, particularly for people in the Tipper community who call themselves supporters of Palestine. I still have liberal tendencies (i.e. malignant people pleasing, etc) myself that I’ve yet to entirely grow out of, as I, too, grew up in the United States.
The way I speak 1-1 with people I believe I can reach is not reflective of how I might speak publicly on an issue.
Many “leftists” say things like “It's not my job to educate you!” And frankly, I reject this approach entirely. It IS my job.
Their initial message to me, days after the email leaked to Reddit.
2. It's hard reading back on this because I was, in many ways, acting at least in part out of self preservation, which I am not proud of, because this is about Palestinians. In 1-1 conversations I try and communicate tactfully using whichever language I feel would be most effective. That's why I'm adding these notes under each slide to clarify and reaffirm what I believe to be "correct".
3. Click image for sources to the claims i listed here.
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5. The initial email I responded to (where my reply went viral on reddit) read as the following (coward):,
What’s up Keota!
Big fan of your music and the political action you’ve taken recently. You are quite brave.
Wondering how I can get involved in the upcoming protest? I have been involved in socialist / anarchist causes since occupy Wall Street and have tix to RR both days.
Happy to supply posters, signage, or anything else needed to help the cause.
BassMusicBoi
(Click here to see the full email thread)
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9. Obviously we can't all hold the correct position right away. This greatly pains me. Hopefully even the mere idea of this protest happening ultimately contributed to this person arriving at their current perspective, which was the intention in the first place.
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11. I regret saying "It's OK" here--I think her and I both know it's not. But her reply gave me hope, nonetheless, because it more or less confirmed my hypothesis going into this that disruption would ultimately lead some people to arrive at a more useful understanding of why disruption is important in times like this.
12. Here I offer some advice. I try and get in what I can because I know attention can be fleeting on this topic. When I said "thinking in terms of decades", i mean this, of course--but that should never be an excuse to "take one's time" as far as taking actionable steps to wedge one's self in the gears of the machine that facilitates something as unthinkable as genocide.
13. Here I offer some more advice. Not specific or unique to the issue of Palestine but I still think largely important to mention. The separation of families (by way of chasing the "American Dream") is possibly the greatest psy-op of all time, all in the name of individual prosperity--something truly antithetical to community in every way, and subsequently, organizing and achieving actionable change, etc.
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15. I offer more "basic" advice (having difficult conversations), some of which was arguably sounding like "liberal-cope" on my part (how we all play different roles) but still valuable perspectives to have if it means winning someone over and not having them feel there is no other way they can contribute besides literal militant or direct action.
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17. Please email me @ keota-music@pm.me if you have any resources, orgs, books, etc, you think I should add here as I further build this website and make it more of a portal for like-minded people who want a better world for all.
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19. What can I say? I'm a softie.
I shared this conversation in the hopes to shed some light on where so many Americans are at right now, but to also to show how distruption—or even merely the discussion of it—can and does have profound impacts.
Would this person have arrived at their current perspective were it not for entire swathes of the Tipper fan-base throwing tantrums and losing their God-damn minds over a leaked-email that suggested his final show might face some form of disruption to bring awareness to a genocide he'd never uttered a word about?
Maybe.
Is it too late to only just now be arriving at a perspective that understands the necessity of disruption, anger, or even “violence” in times like these?
Maybe.
Do we still have a long ways to go, with potentially countless more needless deaths and suffering to be avoided/prevented with the help of ordinary US citizens (You) organizing en masse?
Abso-fuckin’-lutely.
No matter how much shame or embarrassment you carry; no matter how long it's been; no matter how many people have perished for nothing—it is never too late to wake the fuck up and do your part to prevent things from getting worse. The only chance one might ever have to honor those lost—even after years of silence, or even opposition—is to get over your own self absorbed embarrassment, ego, etc, have some humility, and join the fight.
You can't expect forgiveness (plus it's certainly not mine to give). You can't expect anything. The only expectation that you should have is that countless people will continue to suffer without as much international support, civilian or otherwise (and that includes you), as possible, and that it will only get worse, before it gets worse, before it gets better.