I meant to add this recommendation ages ago, but I highly recommend the book "I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World" by Kai Cheng Thom.
As someone who's gotten minor celebrity status in queer communities in so called canada, Kai's book describes amongst many topics, issues that have plagued activist/social justice/queer communities in the pre-covid era such as the dogmatic social behaviour and hypervigilance associated with certain in-groups. She writes from a nurturing, nuanced, and understanding perspective, while shedding light on some of these social phenomenons and the consequences she has experienced and witnessed as a trans woman of colour.
From a blurb: "In a heartbreaking yet hopeful collection of personal essays and prose poems, blending the confessional, political, and literary, acclaimed poet and essayist Kai Cheng Thom dives deep into the questions that haunt social movements today. [...] I Hope We Choose Love proposes heartfelt solutions on the topics of violence, complicity, family, vengeance, and forgiveness. Taking its cues from contemporary thought leaders in the transformative justice movement such as adrienne maree brown and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, this provocative book is a call for nuance in a time of political polarization, for healing in a time of justice, and for love in an apocalypse. "
The following two articles may be useful in developing concepts to try to explain to your old friends the changes in your experiences, insofar as you have them, as you switch from a morally privileged position (that is, from a position that has majority support) to a morally unprivileged position (that is, to a position that doesn't) - and noting that I personally think the peak of woke was something like six years ago now, keep this in mind if you find yourself in the majority position again:
Re "I might not agree with everything the writer says". I think people (SJWs? USians?) need to (re)learn how to FORAGE. Sift through the meh & bleh to find the fuck yeah. Puritanism and customization for ever smaller niches have made this a "suspicious activity". Either it's 100% pure & correct or it's tainted by (eek) "wrongthink...
I meant to add this recommendation ages ago, but I highly recommend the book "I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World" by Kai Cheng Thom.
As someone who's gotten minor celebrity status in queer communities in so called canada, Kai's book describes amongst many topics, issues that have plagued activist/social justice/queer communities in the pre-covid era such as the dogmatic social behaviour and hypervigilance associated with certain in-groups. She writes from a nurturing, nuanced, and understanding perspective, while shedding light on some of these social phenomenons and the consequences she has experienced and witnessed as a trans woman of colour.
From a blurb: "In a heartbreaking yet hopeful collection of personal essays and prose poems, blending the confessional, political, and literary, acclaimed poet and essayist Kai Cheng Thom dives deep into the questions that haunt social movements today. [...] I Hope We Choose Love proposes heartfelt solutions on the topics of violence, complicity, family, vengeance, and forgiveness. Taking its cues from contemporary thought leaders in the transformative justice movement such as adrienne maree brown and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, this provocative book is a call for nuance in a time of political polarization, for healing in a time of justice, and for love in an apocalypse. "
https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/I/I-Hope-We-Choose-Love
Thanks for your recommendation, Taz!
You have so many good books on this list! And so many I haven’t read as well
Welcome to the after! Some various resources, by an author who tries pretty hard to explain ideas without being shitty to the people who hold them:
On how we (as a society) congratulate ourselves for liking people we don't interact with, and justify our hatred of the people we do:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/
On why we should be nice even if it looks advantageous to be mean:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/02/23/in-favor-of-niceness-community-and-civilization/
On why not every "space" can be, say, feminist:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/12/a-response-to-apophemi-on-triggers/
On how the social justice movement destroys its own:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/06/14/living-by-the-sword/
On how the social justice movement uses language as a weapon:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/07/social-justice-and-words-words-words/
Not immediately social justice related, but a consideration of why things are the way they are:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
Uh... no idea how to summarize this:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/
On politics as fashion:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/04/22/right-is-the-new-left/
This is ... also complicated:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/14/fearful-symmetry/
The same author has a new blog here, after a thing; this article is about how this whole thing keeps happening:
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-online-culture
A review of a book that argues we overvalue intelligence:
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-cult-of-smart
On how Republicans should really look around and notice that their natural allies are Marxists:
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/a-modest-proposal-for-republicans
The following two articles may be useful in developing concepts to try to explain to your old friends the changes in your experiences, insofar as you have them, as you switch from a morally privileged position (that is, from a position that has majority support) to a morally unprivileged position (that is, to a position that doesn't) - and noting that I personally think the peak of woke was something like six years ago now, keep this in mind if you find yourself in the majority position again:
http://paulgraham.com/orth.html
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fsS4tC8eTB8eALnSQ/moral-privilege
An article talking about what some of the rest of the country is looking at, and why they never cared:
https://morecrows.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/unnecessariat/
On why the social justice movement did what it did, and why every movement will, basically, do the same thing:
https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2020/12/15/motive-ambiguity/
Re "I might not agree with everything the writer says". I think people (SJWs? USians?) need to (re)learn how to FORAGE. Sift through the meh & bleh to find the fuck yeah. Puritanism and customization for ever smaller niches have made this a "suspicious activity". Either it's 100% pure & correct or it's tainted by (eek) "wrongthink...
Oooh—foraging is an excellent term to describe this. It may be messy and unpredictable, but it's also much more satisfying!
Oooh, thank you! I have read just four of those books, and one of those podcasts, and I am always looking for more of both.
Excellent—happy to help!
Miki Kashtan (bio here: https://mikikashtan.org/) has been working in this space for many years. She is a certified nonviolent communication trainer. Her blog is here: https://thefearlessheart.org/
Thanks for adding your recommendation!