“It is critical to note that our biases against the other are empowered less by our assumptions of their otherness and more by our assumptions about our own normality.” NormalBiasAssumptionsNormalityOthernessOtherHeteronormativityNormativeHeteronormative Author:Jamie Arpin-Ricci
“Deviant' is the weapon of the normative to discredit and demonize the Other.” NormalOthernessDevianceNormativityNormativeDeviant Author:Jamie Arpin-Ricci
“When you're accustomed to being considered 'normal', difference feels like a perversion.” NormalQueerPerversionDevianceHeteronormativityNormativeDeviantHeteronormative Author:Jamie Arpin-Ricci
“One of the deadliest tools of powerful systems is narrow definitions of what is "normal" and the reduction of difference to deviance.” NormalDevianceNormativityNormative Author:Jamie Arpin-Ricci
“One of the biggest problems with so-called "cancel culture" is not the "cancelling" itself. Instead, it the crisis of imagination that exposes our collective inability to engage the complexities of social issues with nuance. What generally happens is that when there is any significant call for accountability and justice, it is uncritically deemed "cancel culture", pointing to the few extremes as "proof". Without question, ruthless public shaming and ostracization is never ultimately beneficial to all involved. However, that fact is too often forced through a binary lens that fails to address the individual and systemic issues at play, posit restorative/transformative consequences, and require better, more informed accountability. This is further complicated by the tendency of those with social privilege to lean into the rhetoric of "dialogue" and some variety of "bothsidesism" that fails to address underlying systemic imbalances of power and relative impact of social issues, all while policing tone and emotion as though anger and hurt are disqualifying. If there is a tendency for some to lean too strongly into "cancelling"- a legitimate issue that we need to address- it is largely because it is an attempt at correcting the over-emphasis on biased, normative systems that benefit the privileged and perpetuate harm.” PrivilegeCensorshipNuanceCancel CultureNormativeCancelledCancelling Author:Jamie Arpin-Ricci
“Some things that are common should never become commonplace- usual, expected, the "norm". Hate crimes, for example, are increasingly common. Never stop being outraged by them.” HateJusticeCommonNormalRacismInjusticeLgbtqHate CrimeNormative Author:Jamie Arpin-Ricci