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It is my experience that, if you create a "safe space" for a minority group, sparing them the stress of having to explain themselves to clueless outsiders, the level of criticism, argument, discourse, etc inside the group INCREASES. People challenge and spar with each other https://t.co/Q4GytO9DJH
@simon_penn_r I created a "safe space for brown friends" group on FB, and I worried that it would end up being an echo chamber. But the folks in there question+doubt+challenge each other a LOT. In fact, they get to do it more effectively when they don't get distracted by noise. Makes me think
For eg, feminists arguing internally about how to best achieve their goals have much more rich, interesting, thought-provoking conversations when they don't have to be interrupted to explain "women are people too" to newbies every 20 minutes
This would be true IF all they did was talk amongst each other. Which absolutely isn’t the case. In practice, all of the people I associate with live and operate in the real world, and being real experience to the table https://t.co/Ue0RBukjk3
This is an extremely unproductive statement that tars an entire outgroup with the same brush + disincentivizes outgroup members from aspiring to be better. If you expect the worst from them, that’s what they’ll give you https://t.co/ofXxAr58cW
Let’s address these point by point. It’s correct that a safe space is limiting- but what people don’t seem to realize is that the world outside of it can be even more limiting because of the problem of abuse. Folks understand this intuitively re: children https://t.co/AAdiczdusQ
2. It’s true that not all outsiders are clueless. The problem is that it only takes 1-5% of clueless outsiders to ruin the experience/atmosphere for everybody. People appreciate this intuitively in the context of house parties, which typically aren’t open to public
3. Re: ideology-specific challenges, I think this is a function of the quality of the people you have in the group. I make it a point to only invite people who are skeptical of being overly ideological. Which is another example of how a limit on one variable can open up discourse
5. Yes, keyword being “reasonable”. It’s also likely true that a lot of safe spaces coddle more than they nourish, but this is a function of how you manage the place rather than anything intrinsic to the place itself
Most brown people I know would much prefer to never have to ever even think about their skin color, let alone talk about it. The problem is that the world will keep reminding you of it, in ugly and painful ways. So it makes sense to get ahead of the issue https://t.co/ikIUFr2tu0
This mistakenly assumes that everybody inside the box lives there 24/7. Look at me, I’m right here out in the open engaging with strangers. Stepping out for a breather at a noisy party clears your mind and lets you reengage productively https://t.co/jt9k483uus
If you live in a home with locks on the doors where you don’t let strangers in, if you’ve had private conversations with friends, if you’ve ever said “let’s go somewhere we can talk”, then you already intuitively understand the utility of creating a shared private space
of course, creating and maintaining an effective safe space that is nourishing but not coddling is A Lot Of Work https://t.co/SLQuSkwYIt
I realize it might be worth taking some time to articulate what I've learned about how to run and manage a community effectively, particularly for those of you who are newer and don't know my style. It's a lot more painstaking and involves a lot more work than most people realize https://t.co/bV3GtX22mp
I can also say that in my experience, people who feel nourished and respected inside the group feel supported and energized to go out and have constructive conversations with outsiders in public (as I am doing now) https://t.co/2gzdX0UjNi
Just remembered I actually have an essay about this https://t.co/OynOHoQeSZ