Angle Is Everything

The thing about everything -

- that we hold to be fast and true -

- is -

Angle Is Everything

I:

Q: Who are you?

A: What exactly are you asking - by asking - who are you - ?

Q: For a start, I'm asking you to tell me your name. 

A: Does my name matter - ? Does my name - impart anything meaningful - ?

Q: Names are harmless! Besides, without your name, how do I know who you are - ?

A: What if my name is Sue Anne or L'kesha - ? Or - Mohammed or Jesús - ? Are these names - harmless - ? Moreover - do these names - tell you anything meaningful - about who I am - ?

What if - you're asking my name - on an application for a job - as a tailor or a pilot or a personal assistant or a chief operational officer - ?

Are these names harmless - ? Moreover - do these names - tell you anything meaningful - about who I am - ?

Verily - if names engage our assumptions - about who possesses such names and what they who possess such names are - vis a vis - labels, lens, isms -

- is any name - harmless - ? - much less - meaningful - ?


II:

Q: Well. If you won't tell me your name, what are you?

A: What exactly are you asking - by asking - what are you - ?

Q: I suppose, I'm asking you to tell me your gender and your race.

A: Does my gender and my race - matter - ? Do either or both - impart anything meaningful - ?

Q: Yes, they matter! Your gender and your race tell me a lot about you! Besides, without either, how do I know what you are - ?

A: What if - you're asking my gender - on an application to join a sports team or a questionnaire for a giveaway - Or - you're asking my race - on an application to attend a school - or a questionnaire for a product review -

Does my gender - matter - ? Does my race - matter - ? Do either or both - impart anything meaningful - that must be known - in order to impartially consider my application and my questionnaire - for either or both - ?

Moreover - how do my gender and my race - tell you a lot about me - ?

- by what you assume - to be true - on the basis of nothing more than gender and race - ? verily - vis a vis isms on the basis of nothing more than gender and race - which is the very definition of sexism and racism - ?


III.

A: Who am I - ?

My father named me in honor of the fifth pillar of Islam. My mother named me in honor of the season of light in the northern hemisphere, during which the southern hemisphere celebrates the birth of Christ. My dearest named me in honor of the rite of mercy and forgiveness and freedom and liberty, in the Land of Israel, and the most sacred month of the calendar of Islam.

But. My legal name. Is the name that was appointed me by the people who bought me from the people who sold me.

A: What am I - ?

I am no gender. For gender is a social construct that limits who I am and what I can be. By nothing more. Than arbitrary classifications of morphological expressions of 'sex chromosomes'.

I am no race. For race is a social construct that limits who I am and what I can be. By nothing more. Than compositions of ancestors via arbitrary boundaries of nations, religions, and/or melanin.

A: Knowing - my name, my gender, my race - my nation, my religion, my melanin - tells you nothing about me -

Instead - my name, my gender, my race - my nation, my religion, my melanin - engages your isms - such that - on the basis of nothing more than labels - you avow knowledge of me that is based on assumptions and assumptions alone -


IV.

Q: But your name does tell me about you - ! In fact - it tells me a lot about you - !

A: Does it - ?

Q: Well - yes - !

A: Does my name tell you - what I believe - ? Does my name tell you - my personal credo - ? Does my name tell you - the virtues I live by - ? Does my name tell you - that which I hold dear and dearest - ? Does my name tell you - what matters to me - ? Does my name tell you - who I love - ?

Q: Well - no - But your name tells me your nations and your religions - That's something - isn't it - ?

A: Is it - ? What do - the nations of my parents - have to do with me - ? What do - the religions of my parents - have to do with me - ?

- for is not the merit of me - me -

- not the nations of my forebearers - nor my forebearers' religions - ?


V:

Q: But - without names - without genders and races - how do I know - who and what - people are - ?

A: Ah - therein flourishes the insidious lie that everything we hold to be true - vis a vis labels - is true - that is - therein flourishes the very foundation - of isms -

Indeed - we have become so blindly accustomed - to the veracity and the validity - of names, genders, races - nations, religions, melanin - verily labels of every kind that categorize all kind -

- that we steadfastly refuse to acknowledge - the arbitrariness and the meaninglessness - of labels - despite our own experiences of arbitrary judgment and meaningless categorization vis a vis labels -

- that we vehemently disavow the unequivocal fact that labels - can and do, have and will - harm - despite our own experiences of harm vis a vis isms -

A: Haven't you - at one time or another - been subject to assumptions that have been erroneously arbitrary and harmful - on the basis of your name, your gender, your race - ? your nation, your religion, your melanin - ?

Q: Well - yes - But - not often -

A: So - because you attest to your experience of an infrequency of error and harm directed towards you -

- which - to be honest - may be true - via deliberate and intentional avoidance of experiences of error and harm - vis a vis labels - or - may not be true - as error and harm are not always visible or overtly perceived - vis a vis isms -

- this - is the basis for the legitimacy of your request for my name, my gender, my race - ? my nation, my religion, my melanin - ?

Q: Yes -


VI:

A: Furthermore - your request for my name, my gender, my race - my nation, my religion, my melanin - is legitimate and harmless - ? valid and necessary - ? meaningful and informative - ?

- because - you - by some miracle of adamantine resolution - are immune from the engagement of assumptions - on the basis of labels - vis a vis your isms - ?

Yet -

- have we not already established - that - my name, my gender, my race - my nation, my religion, my melanin - impart nothing - as to who and what - I am - ?

Indeed -

- I believe in veritas -

- my personal credo is honestum -

- the virtue I live by is lux -

- that which I hold dear and dearest is liber -

- what matters to me is fidelis -

- who I love is all kind -

Does - my name, my gender, my race - my nation, my religion, my melanin -

- engage assumptions, you hold fast and true - that cohere with my truths, as I have avowed them, herein - ?

Or - do your assumptions - cohere with your truths - ?

- lies - fueled by your isms - rationalized and justified, sanctified and nobilified - by assumptions of ignorance legitimized by hubris - ?

~ Fin ~

More

Every time -

- we reduce our selves and each other - to names, genders, races - nations, religions, melanin -

- we engage isms and actuate misanthropy -

For -

- it is no less sexist - to classify ourselves into homogeneous groups on the basis of gender -

- than for some of us - to make assumptions about others of us - on the basis of gender and gender alone - whereby we justify the different treatment of some of us by others of us - on the basis of sexism -

- moreover - it is no less racist - to classify ourselves into homogeneous groups on the basis of race -

- than for some of us - to make assumptions about others of us - on the basis of race and race alone - whereby we justify the different treatment of some of us by others of us - on the basis of racism -

Verily - 

- the legitimization of sexism and racism - on the grounds of validating a gender and validating a race - uplifting a gender and uplifting a race - advancing a gender and advancing a race - is no less sexist and racist -

- than villifying a gender and villifying a race - on the basis of gender and gender alone and race and race alone - which is the very definition of sexism and racism -

Moreover -

- the institutionalization and promotion - of policies - that benefit some of us and only some of us - on the basis of gender and gender alone and race and race alone - is categorically and unequivocally - sexist and racist -

- likewise - the classification of us - on the basis of gender and race - is categorically and unequivocally sexist and racist -

For -

- the institutionalization of these arbitrary categories - imbue these categories with the power of fabricated and manufactured - validity and veracity -

- verily - the power of absolute truth - 

- that we know with certitude - to be false and untrue - by our own experiences and by the experiences of all of us -

Yet - still -

- we persist - in engaging sexist and racist - agendas - in championing sexist and racist - causes -

- throughout our society - in public discourse, in public policy - in private discourse, in private policy - with irresponsible and flagrant disregard towards our complicit perpetuation of sexism and racism -

Until we stop -

- our overt and tacit acceptance, endorsement, advocacy of labels, lens, isms -

- our names, our genders, our races, etc. - our nations, our religions, our melanin, etc. - on applications, on questionnaires, etc. - across political campaigns, across media campaigns, etc. - 

- will continue to propagandize harm on the basis of labels and labels alone and assumptions and assumptions alone -

- with nary a qualm for the truth of our mutuus -

- M

Addendum to this post is @ My Name Is Sui Qua Alius (tvfs)

See also Unravelling the Fictions of Isms (tvfs)