Post by Heightism Report on Dec 16, 2020 22:23:28 GMT
I want to write a brief explanation on why I'm always focusing on keeping our message clear. I want to hold myself to the same standard as I hold everyone else here, thus, this post is to offer some explanation as to why I oppose certain types of content here. I want all of you to feel welcome to post here even if I disagree with certain content, thus, hopefully, this post will clear the air.
First, what do I even mean by "keeping our message clear?" The following is a paragraph from the forum rules. It supplies a good intro regarding keeping our message clear.
"Don't go off on tirades that draw battle lines between us and other groups wholesale. We're not here to battle other groups and causes, we're here to battle heightism and heightists, so let's not bog ourselves down with the weight of attacking other causes. Yes, there may be times when people use other causes to try to diminish our cause, and there may be schools of thought in other causes that act as obstacles, and we'll definitely address those issues, but let's address those issues individually as they come to the forefront. This forum welcomes all people who face heightism, are allies to the cause, or are interested in learning about the issue, so no matter what background someone is from or what other causes they support, we'll welcome them with open arms. Heightism is its own issue, with its own nuances and sub-issues within, so let's not muddy the message by trying to fight several battles simultaneously. Heightism is a ubiquitous issue in society, thus, we're going to need allies from all facets of society if we ever want to make any progress."
Basically, it's totally understandable(and even productive) to point-out other social justice causes for their hypocrisy against us, but it's only productive when done from a standpoint of calling-out the hypocritical way those individuals discriminate against short men in ways that they would throw a tantrum over if done to their group. An example of what's not productive is when these critiques are voiced in such a way that reveals that you're doing so from an extreme right wing viewpoint. If critiques are obviously more right wing in tone than anti-heightist, the only people who will potentially take the post seriously are other extreme right-wingers. Only a complete idiot would deny that politics are extremely divisive in this day and age, and when you choose to shill for a political party on a heightism forum, you're running away a bare minimum of 50% of your audience. We barely have an audience as it is, so it's not smart to paint ourselves into a partisan corner. We have few participants here, but we get hundreds of lurkers, and we don't know how many of those lurkers would become participants if they weren't forcefed partisan beliefs having nothing to do with heightism. There are a million places to discuss political views, thus, it won't kill you to stay focused on heightism while you're on this forum.
On the other side of the coin, we've had a few feminists here who tried to shoehorn borderline misandry into their posts to try to gain group leader status. This is just as unproductive as espousing extreme right-wing views, due to it running off most of your audience. To bring this point home, those feminists didn't convince any right wingers to oppose feminism just like the right wingers can't convince any of those feminists to become Trump supporters, so why not just focus on heightism? In addition, feminism is a touchy subject here to begin with considering that it has spawned much of the narrative where women try to gain pseudo-empowerment by discriminating against males that are perceived as low status, including short men. Feminists don't really police this behavior amongst themselves, thus, there's no way we can accept their rhetoric wholesale, therefore, we call them out for that behavior here.
So, no matter whether we're talking extreme right wing or left wing views, taking-up either side wholesale carries a tremendous amount of baggage that muddies the conversation when we're trying to discuss heightism. Heightism is not a left wing or a right wing issue because it's ubiquitous throughout all of society. Both Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren have made extremely heightist statements, and Wall Street, which is stereotypically right-wing, created the "executive presence" stereotype that rewards tall men, while feminists and BLM advocates Melissa Harris-Perry and Oprah Winfrey have made outwardly heightist statements, thus, it's obvious that one side of the political spectrum is not any more responsible for heightism than the other side. For that reason, we make ourselves look completely ridiculous(and biased) if we only hold one side accountable for its actions. This isn't a matter of my opinion, it's a matter of fact considering I supplied examples of proud heightist individuals and entities from both left wing and right wing schools of thought, and for that reason, partisan rhetoric not only scares away our potential audience, but it also allows the heightist elements from the side we don't criticize to escape repercussions. For this reason, we need to keep politics separate from our tone, except when necessary to point-out blatant hypocrisy etc.
It also makes us look silly when we make statements that sound like we're saying no other forms of discrimination exist in 2020, except heightism. On the other hand, we're absolutely not going to spend time advocating for other causes here because:
1)those forms of discrimination aren't the topics we're here to discuss
2) There are multitudes of other places to find support regarding those other isms, thus, there's no reason for us to add those isms to the mix here
3) If we merged support for other forms of discrimination that get widespread support into our content here, those forms of discrimination would hijack the conversation 100% of the time.
However, when we make statements that sound like we believe that no one else is ever discriminated against in 2020, we've backed ourselves into a corner we'll never get out of. Like I said in another recent post, we're not ever going to make any progress if we shoehorn partisan political rhetoric into our narrative, refuse to allow people who pursue other social justice causes to participate, and make statements that make it sound like we're the only ones who face issues in society. You can't expect society to take on your cause when you refuse to allow anyone from said society to participate.
Yes, at this point in time, society wouldn't participate even if we rolled-out the red carpet, but as time goes by, the fact that we reached our hand across the aisle all along the way, and society slapped it away every time proves our point that society's exclusion of us proves how hypocritically people despise short men, while advocating for their own causes. This evidence is more important to us in the long run than whatever some of you think you're gaining by being partisan and shilling for your particular political affiliations.
The same thing goes for redpill rhetoric. From one perspective, it'd be foolish for me to state that a substantial reason why people are able to despise short men so openly is because we're men, which supposedly means that we live perfect lives with no difficulties. We are living proof that this isn't the case, thus, entities like redpill address this issue. However, just like in the case of politics, it'd be foolish to pretend like it's a good idea to take on the complete baggage of redpill when a substantial portion of their philosophies have nothing to do with heightism. Why take on baggage that doesn't help us advance the narrative relating to heightism? Besides, many redpill entities help perpetuate the "confidence" nonsense that doesn't hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions, thus, we can't sign-up for their rhetoric wholesale considering they perpetuate some of the nonsense that r/short does, which is ironic considering redpill and r/short are supposedly mortal enemies.
These reasons are why I'm always hammering the point that we need to keep our message clear. I don't care what political affiliation any of you have, I don't care what other groups you oppose or support that are outside of the realm of heightism, I merely care that you think heightism is wrong and want to do something about it. Let's work together, stop scaring our audience away with partisan rhetoric that doesn't advance our cause, and let's learn that leaving the lines of communication open when people across the aisle refuse to communicate with us puts us in a better position in the long run. I'm not asking anyone to sugarcoat anything or kiss the ass of other groups, I'm merely asking everyone to accept that heightism is a universal issue and being biased toward a non-heightism related entity ignores the fact that heightism is found in every element of society. If we tell the hard, unfiltered truth where it is needed, but use just the right amount of finesse, we'll eliminate a few of the obstacles we're now facing.
Edit: Also, In the time that I've been involved in the anti-heightism cause I've seen our potential nucleus of advocates disintegrate for reasons having nothing to do with heightism. There were many feuds(some ridiculous, some understandable) that have persisted, then, many defected to become "Confidence Casanovas," while others started trying to work their political beliefs into heightism discussions, which led to those misguided individuals being known more so for their political beliefs than their anti-heightism work. I didn't start addressing heightism to advance a Republican narrative, be accepted by feminists, or to develop a fake Casanova act, I came to address heightism and heightists. Nothing more, nothing less. Once again, if we'd keep our message clear and focus on heightism and heightists, we wouldn't have to deal with many of the side issues we're now facing. Yes, there are numerous things within the world of politics and popular social justice causes that need to be discussed here, and we will discuss all of those things, but just know that the goal of these discussions should be to discuss the related heightism, not to beat a partisan drum.
Thanks to the few of you who take the time to post. If you have any questions about this post, feel free to ask in the comments.
First, what do I even mean by "keeping our message clear?" The following is a paragraph from the forum rules. It supplies a good intro regarding keeping our message clear.
"Don't go off on tirades that draw battle lines between us and other groups wholesale. We're not here to battle other groups and causes, we're here to battle heightism and heightists, so let's not bog ourselves down with the weight of attacking other causes. Yes, there may be times when people use other causes to try to diminish our cause, and there may be schools of thought in other causes that act as obstacles, and we'll definitely address those issues, but let's address those issues individually as they come to the forefront. This forum welcomes all people who face heightism, are allies to the cause, or are interested in learning about the issue, so no matter what background someone is from or what other causes they support, we'll welcome them with open arms. Heightism is its own issue, with its own nuances and sub-issues within, so let's not muddy the message by trying to fight several battles simultaneously. Heightism is a ubiquitous issue in society, thus, we're going to need allies from all facets of society if we ever want to make any progress."
Basically, it's totally understandable(and even productive) to point-out other social justice causes for their hypocrisy against us, but it's only productive when done from a standpoint of calling-out the hypocritical way those individuals discriminate against short men in ways that they would throw a tantrum over if done to their group. An example of what's not productive is when these critiques are voiced in such a way that reveals that you're doing so from an extreme right wing viewpoint. If critiques are obviously more right wing in tone than anti-heightist, the only people who will potentially take the post seriously are other extreme right-wingers. Only a complete idiot would deny that politics are extremely divisive in this day and age, and when you choose to shill for a political party on a heightism forum, you're running away a bare minimum of 50% of your audience. We barely have an audience as it is, so it's not smart to paint ourselves into a partisan corner. We have few participants here, but we get hundreds of lurkers, and we don't know how many of those lurkers would become participants if they weren't forcefed partisan beliefs having nothing to do with heightism. There are a million places to discuss political views, thus, it won't kill you to stay focused on heightism while you're on this forum.
On the other side of the coin, we've had a few feminists here who tried to shoehorn borderline misandry into their posts to try to gain group leader status. This is just as unproductive as espousing extreme right-wing views, due to it running off most of your audience. To bring this point home, those feminists didn't convince any right wingers to oppose feminism just like the right wingers can't convince any of those feminists to become Trump supporters, so why not just focus on heightism? In addition, feminism is a touchy subject here to begin with considering that it has spawned much of the narrative where women try to gain pseudo-empowerment by discriminating against males that are perceived as low status, including short men. Feminists don't really police this behavior amongst themselves, thus, there's no way we can accept their rhetoric wholesale, therefore, we call them out for that behavior here.
So, no matter whether we're talking extreme right wing or left wing views, taking-up either side wholesale carries a tremendous amount of baggage that muddies the conversation when we're trying to discuss heightism. Heightism is not a left wing or a right wing issue because it's ubiquitous throughout all of society. Both Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren have made extremely heightist statements, and Wall Street, which is stereotypically right-wing, created the "executive presence" stereotype that rewards tall men, while feminists and BLM advocates Melissa Harris-Perry and Oprah Winfrey have made outwardly heightist statements, thus, it's obvious that one side of the political spectrum is not any more responsible for heightism than the other side. For that reason, we make ourselves look completely ridiculous(and biased) if we only hold one side accountable for its actions. This isn't a matter of my opinion, it's a matter of fact considering I supplied examples of proud heightist individuals and entities from both left wing and right wing schools of thought, and for that reason, partisan rhetoric not only scares away our potential audience, but it also allows the heightist elements from the side we don't criticize to escape repercussions. For this reason, we need to keep politics separate from our tone, except when necessary to point-out blatant hypocrisy etc.
It also makes us look silly when we make statements that sound like we're saying no other forms of discrimination exist in 2020, except heightism. On the other hand, we're absolutely not going to spend time advocating for other causes here because:
1)those forms of discrimination aren't the topics we're here to discuss
2) There are multitudes of other places to find support regarding those other isms, thus, there's no reason for us to add those isms to the mix here
3) If we merged support for other forms of discrimination that get widespread support into our content here, those forms of discrimination would hijack the conversation 100% of the time.
However, when we make statements that sound like we believe that no one else is ever discriminated against in 2020, we've backed ourselves into a corner we'll never get out of. Like I said in another recent post, we're not ever going to make any progress if we shoehorn partisan political rhetoric into our narrative, refuse to allow people who pursue other social justice causes to participate, and make statements that make it sound like we're the only ones who face issues in society. You can't expect society to take on your cause when you refuse to allow anyone from said society to participate.
Yes, at this point in time, society wouldn't participate even if we rolled-out the red carpet, but as time goes by, the fact that we reached our hand across the aisle all along the way, and society slapped it away every time proves our point that society's exclusion of us proves how hypocritically people despise short men, while advocating for their own causes. This evidence is more important to us in the long run than whatever some of you think you're gaining by being partisan and shilling for your particular political affiliations.
The same thing goes for redpill rhetoric. From one perspective, it'd be foolish for me to state that a substantial reason why people are able to despise short men so openly is because we're men, which supposedly means that we live perfect lives with no difficulties. We are living proof that this isn't the case, thus, entities like redpill address this issue. However, just like in the case of politics, it'd be foolish to pretend like it's a good idea to take on the complete baggage of redpill when a substantial portion of their philosophies have nothing to do with heightism. Why take on baggage that doesn't help us advance the narrative relating to heightism? Besides, many redpill entities help perpetuate the "confidence" nonsense that doesn't hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions, thus, we can't sign-up for their rhetoric wholesale considering they perpetuate some of the nonsense that r/short does, which is ironic considering redpill and r/short are supposedly mortal enemies.
These reasons are why I'm always hammering the point that we need to keep our message clear. I don't care what political affiliation any of you have, I don't care what other groups you oppose or support that are outside of the realm of heightism, I merely care that you think heightism is wrong and want to do something about it. Let's work together, stop scaring our audience away with partisan rhetoric that doesn't advance our cause, and let's learn that leaving the lines of communication open when people across the aisle refuse to communicate with us puts us in a better position in the long run. I'm not asking anyone to sugarcoat anything or kiss the ass of other groups, I'm merely asking everyone to accept that heightism is a universal issue and being biased toward a non-heightism related entity ignores the fact that heightism is found in every element of society. If we tell the hard, unfiltered truth where it is needed, but use just the right amount of finesse, we'll eliminate a few of the obstacles we're now facing.
Edit: Also, In the time that I've been involved in the anti-heightism cause I've seen our potential nucleus of advocates disintegrate for reasons having nothing to do with heightism. There were many feuds(some ridiculous, some understandable) that have persisted, then, many defected to become "Confidence Casanovas," while others started trying to work their political beliefs into heightism discussions, which led to those misguided individuals being known more so for their political beliefs than their anti-heightism work. I didn't start addressing heightism to advance a Republican narrative, be accepted by feminists, or to develop a fake Casanova act, I came to address heightism and heightists. Nothing more, nothing less. Once again, if we'd keep our message clear and focus on heightism and heightists, we wouldn't have to deal with many of the side issues we're now facing. Yes, there are numerous things within the world of politics and popular social justice causes that need to be discussed here, and we will discuss all of those things, but just know that the goal of these discussions should be to discuss the related heightism, not to beat a partisan drum.
Thanks to the few of you who take the time to post. If you have any questions about this post, feel free to ask in the comments.