#wordsmatter

I wrote a poem again. And, well… this one crawled out of a considerably darker corner of the basement. It deals with fascism, genocide, dehumanisation, violence, death, and some other subjects that really ought to come with a warning label and a small cup of tea. Hence the CW for this post... I do like that poem. Quite a lot, actually. Writing it was cathartic. Sometimes the things that fester in your head need to be dragged into the light, given a name, and made to sit quietly on the page instead. Whether I publish it is another question. I’m still deciding whether this particular little monster belongs in public, or whether it should remain locked in the cupboard where I keep the other things I write when the world gets particularly unbearable. I'll give you one small look: We are not your citizens. We are not your subjects. We are what you get when the hunted grow teeth. What do you think? 🖤 #Poetry #DarkPoetry #PoliticalPoetry #AntiFascist #NeverAgain #QueerPoetry #WritingAsCatharsis #WordsMatter

There is a reason I take the endless stream of anti-queer slurs, lies and accusations seriously. Stochastic terrorism is when people in positions of influence repeatedly spread hateful or dehumanising rhetoric about a group, creating an environment in which violence against members of that group becomes more likely - even if they never explicitly tell anyone to attack. And yes, this can and does include state actors. Calling queer people “groomers”, “predators”, “degenerates”, “child abusers”, or some other invented monstrosity is not merely “words”. When those accusations are repeated often enough, they manufacture a target. They tell the public who supposedly deserves suspicion, hatred and punishment. Words become permission. Permission becomes action. That is why “it was just a slur” is such a grotesquely inadequate defence. A lie repeated often enough can become a weapon. And when powerful people keep handing that weapon to an angry crowd, pretending not to know what might happen next is simply dishonest. We should take the words seriously, because history has shown us what can follow when we don't. #QueerRights #LGBTQIA #TransRights #StochasticTerrorism #HateSpeech #WordsMatter