Black and Brown Woman Exhaling

I'm tired of the glorification of oppressive white/hetero/male behavior. I don't want to see mass media about what Neo Nazis are doing or the idiotic post from that Google employee, I don't want to read the posts about how disheartened this media coverage makes you feel. These people have been misbehaving for centuries yet we're still surprised and fascinated; then we share their behavior widely, discuss it in our daily lives and are astonished at its persistence. We've given the downward-leaning, white/hetero/male-focused narrative our attention for long enough.

We're sadists and masochists, our society, and the media is a reflection of that. They run numbers on trends and base coverage on what they know we'll consume. So, why is it not mass media when a traditionally marginalized community gets funding to alleviate a rural food desert or builds a new pipeline into a leading industry? Or when a woman becomes a billionaire or leader in her industry? Why are you not as faithful at these things as you are dejected when you hear about another shooting? Why do you so eagerly consume and echo instances of oppression rather than liberation? How do you not see this perpetuates oppression?

Use your voice to echo the upward-leaning narrative focused on women and communities of color. In 2019, this is equally as present as the opposing narrative, and yet we still feed the awful behavior with our attention and belief in its power.

The personal, social and institutional investment in this sickening, immature, and antiquated behavior is the only thing still giving it power. Stop fueling the return on that investment and fuel something better and more productive. Please.