We have a long, long, LOOOONG history in this world of demonizing people we disagree with, and who threaten our hierarchies and our egos.
Whenever there's a person who shows up making some kind of ripples of change in the Status Quo, whoever doesn't like that change will jump on the person and try to destroy their reputation, try to turn others against them as a human being, and try to discredit everything about them.
Quite often, completely false rumors about a person will get made up and circulated in order to get people who might LIKE the changes and therefore be supportive of the person, to turn against the person.
How can you tell if a person is being attacked in this way? It's easy:
The attacks are NOT directed at the person's IDEAS, but at the PERSON THEMSELVES.
It's called AD HOMINEM
So let's say I lived in the 17th century and started a school for girls that taught Knighthood, this would have probably happened to me. Even if I published an opinion piece about teaching girls to be Knights, they probably would have pulled this crap on me.
Who is "THEY"? "THEY" would be the people who NEED the current structures of "society" and "hierarchy" to stay exactly as they are, so THEY can continue to have the POWER and PRIVILEGE that they're used to.
GIRLS becoming KNIGHTS? Who ever heard of such a thing?! GIRLS wearing armor? Wearing pants? Learning sword fighting? Learning the Chivalry code?
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
GIRLS being given RECOGNITION and CREDIT for being STRONG, BRAVE, and IMPORTANT?!!!
HOW AWFUL!!! IMPOSSIBLE!!!
Why is it so awful?
Because if GIRLS were taught the same as BOYS: how to be KNIGHTS, then the privilege and power of Knighthood would no longer be exclusively Male.
AND that means that MALES could no longer be manipulated with promises of being rewarded with MALE PRIVILEGE and ELITISM.
It would mess up the CONTROL and POWER, and would wreck the standing Hierarchy, which means people in power would LOSE their control and power positions, especially when the culture of FEAR broke down.
SO, when I started that Knighthood School for Girls, they would have come for me. Not because there's anything actually "WRONG" with girls learning to become Knights, but because it would SCREW UP their POWER, because it would SCREW UP the status quo and fear-culture.
ALL CULTURES that have POWER HIERARCHIES have OPPRESSION and FEAR, and use REWARDS OF ELITISM and PRIVILEGE to manipulate and create followers.
So when someone shows up that throws a wrench in it, the first thing "THEY" do is try to QUIET the person down, get them to "go away" or lose their drive and confidence. If and when that doesn't work, "THEY" will try to SMEAR the person so others don't listen to them and don't follow them.
"THEY" try to get people to turn against the person categorically, and see the person as a "BAD WOMAN" or a "BAD MAN", or at least as a "CRAZY PERSON".
Humans fall for it quite a good deal of the time.
If this doesn't work, they might literally attack the person.
Many people who have invoked or represented POSITIVE CHANGE from a place of fairness, freedom, and love have actually been killed throughout human history.
Freedom, fairness, and love are destroyers of POWER MONGERS, and they know it.
So the next time you hear that so and so was really a "bad person" because he or she did or said such and such, don't just JUMP ON the train, turning against them like a witch-hunter.
Take some steps back and look again, in a more objective light.
Whenever there's a person who shows up making some kind of ripples of change in the Status Quo, whoever doesn't like that change will jump on the person and try to destroy their reputation, try to turn others against them as a human being, and try to discredit everything about them.
Quite often, completely false rumors about a person will get made up and circulated in order to get people who might LIKE the changes and therefore be supportive of the person, to turn against the person.
How can you tell if a person is being attacked in this way? It's easy:
The attacks are NOT directed at the person's IDEAS, but at the PERSON THEMSELVES.
It's called AD HOMINEM
So let's say I lived in the 17th century and started a school for girls that taught Knighthood, this would have probably happened to me. Even if I published an opinion piece about teaching girls to be Knights, they probably would have pulled this crap on me.
Who is "THEY"? "THEY" would be the people who NEED the current structures of "society" and "hierarchy" to stay exactly as they are, so THEY can continue to have the POWER and PRIVILEGE that they're used to.
GIRLS becoming KNIGHTS? Who ever heard of such a thing?! GIRLS wearing armor? Wearing pants? Learning sword fighting? Learning the Chivalry code?
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
GIRLS being given RECOGNITION and CREDIT for being STRONG, BRAVE, and IMPORTANT?!!!
HOW AWFUL!!! IMPOSSIBLE!!!
Why is it so awful?
Because if GIRLS were taught the same as BOYS: how to be KNIGHTS, then the privilege and power of Knighthood would no longer be exclusively Male.
AND that means that MALES could no longer be manipulated with promises of being rewarded with MALE PRIVILEGE and ELITISM.
It would mess up the CONTROL and POWER, and would wreck the standing Hierarchy, which means people in power would LOSE their control and power positions, especially when the culture of FEAR broke down.
SO, when I started that Knighthood School for Girls, they would have come for me. Not because there's anything actually "WRONG" with girls learning to become Knights, but because it would SCREW UP their POWER, because it would SCREW UP the status quo and fear-culture.
ALL CULTURES that have POWER HIERARCHIES have OPPRESSION and FEAR, and use REWARDS OF ELITISM and PRIVILEGE to manipulate and create followers.
So when someone shows up that throws a wrench in it, the first thing "THEY" do is try to QUIET the person down, get them to "go away" or lose their drive and confidence. If and when that doesn't work, "THEY" will try to SMEAR the person so others don't listen to them and don't follow them.
"THEY" try to get people to turn against the person categorically, and see the person as a "BAD WOMAN" or a "BAD MAN", or at least as a "CRAZY PERSON".
Humans fall for it quite a good deal of the time.
If this doesn't work, they might literally attack the person.
Many people who have invoked or represented POSITIVE CHANGE from a place of fairness, freedom, and love have actually been killed throughout human history.
Freedom, fairness, and love are destroyers of POWER MONGERS, and they know it.
So the next time you hear that so and so was really a "bad person" because he or she did or said such and such, don't just JUMP ON the train, turning against them like a witch-hunter.
Take some steps back and look again, in a more objective light.
