I've read a lot of things online lately about social justice issues and the way those who fight to conquer them, or even just raise awareness, battle against detractors and, too often, each other. The conversation tends towards the vicious or the dismissive, but it is rarely kind and no matter the consideration of the particular issue being discussed, there is very little consideration for others.
Consider this, for example: the way actress and comedienne Leslie Jones has been criticised for her role in the new Ghostbusters film - a sassy, streetwise transport working who stands in sharp contrast to her three white, super-intelligent scientist counterparts - despite the fact that the film is, otherwise, a sort of feminist Holy Grail with all four of its principal protagonists being female.
Or perhaps you might want to look at the way Zoe Saldana has been treated for her role in the forthcoming biopic about Nina Simone?
Or, for something a little more recent, the response to the massive showing of solidarity in response to the Brussels terror attacks when there has been little to no recognition of similar (often worse) attacks in non-European countries.
Now, don't get me wrong, every single one of these is an example of people highlighting entirely legitimate issues. It is worrying that the one person of colour in the new Ghostbusters is portrayed in such a stereotypical way (although it is also worth pointing out that we haven't seen the film yet, so all such criticism, however justified, should be prepared for the possibility, however small, that the filmmaker's decisions are vindicated). It is worrying that the role of Nina Simone has not been given to a dark-skinned black actress instead of Saldana, who has obviously been chosen as a more marketable proposition. It is worrying that the media and social media response to terror in western European countries is so much greater than similar events in non-European (and especially Muslim) countries.
These are genuine issues, and people are right to highlight them as part of the effort to make the world a better, fairer place in the future. But where, might I ask, is the kindness?
People interested in social justice are very often criticised by more right-winged thinkers for complaining about everything, for coming across as entitled, prudish and against all freedom of expression. Generally, I disagree with this assertion. It is completely right to critique those aspects of our culture that reinforce harmful stereotypes or fail to represent large portions of our population the way they see themselves. Everyone has a right to media representation, to be recognised as being part of this world and the events that happen in it. Sometimes, however, I fear that the critics of 'Social Justice Warriors', as they like to call us, have some fair points to make.
You see, we can't seem to stop fighting each other. Another prime example would be the response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. No sooner had black actors highlighted the terrible lack of recognition they were receiving at this year's Oscars than every other social justice issue was being raised in counterpoint. Once again, they were all important issues that deserved attention, but they were each being raised as if their pet issue was the only one that really mattered and that everyone else was just being whiny and unreasonable. None of them seemed to see the irony, nor did they appear to understand that all of the issues they were raising were of equal importance. The black community was right to complain. Women were right to complain. The LGBTI community was right to complain. About the only complaint that wasn't valid was the assertion that #OscarsSoWhite was racist to white people, but that's so rarely a legitimate complaint that I don't think anyone (other than the usual half of the internet) was taking Charlotte Rampling seriously anyway.
This is a problem because we're all human. The very thing we're trying to highlight to others, that we're all equal and we all matter and deserve representation, because we are all the same species is the very thing which seems to prevent us from seeing beyond our pet complaints to understand the validity of another's, or to recognise that, just because there's more than one issue doesn't mean that people are wrong to support the one which doesn't happen to be your own. We're all hypocrites and, indeed, our intense, universal desire to call out hypocrisy in others is the single most hypocritical thing about us.
The vitriol launched at the new Ghostbusters was inappropriate, not because it's necessarily right to portray Leslie Jone's character as a stereotype, but because the film should still be celebrated for the issue on which it has made progress.
The attacks against Saldana, including from Simone's own estate, were inappropriate, not because it isn't awful that the film studio chose a lighter-skinned actress, but because Saldana should still be lauded for her success and popularity in spite of the fact that she isn't white.
In these issues people need to learn the different between criticism in the literary sense, which can reveal our sensitivity and concern for particular people groups who we feel are not being represented fairly, and attacks which reveal only the darker side of human nature.
The same is also true of the response to the public outpouring of grief over the Brussels attacks, in that we should not be attacking people for mourning such an event, but instead, we need to hold the media to account for the way it reports world events.
Above all else, however, we just need to learn to be kinder. We need to be kinder in listening to another's point of view, kinder in how we choose to represent others in what we create and kinder in how we deal with social issues that, far from conflicting, are all supposed to be working together to make the world a better place. By all means be angry, but restrain your anger when dealing with other 's who, ultimately, want much the same thing.
And in case you think this is just another self-righteous article about how we all need to be more X or Y, then let me add this: I need to be kinder - much, much kinder.
I was angry when I saw the response to last week's terror attacks. I was furious that people were recolouring their profile pictures and lighting up world monuments to support Belgium when Turkey had just suffered two attacks on a similar scale and hardly a word had been spoken about them. I was ready to rant with the best of them about the hypocrisy of it all, and then I read a friend's status update, also furious, reminding me that she had every right to be in mourning over Brussels. We were both angry and, in a way, we were both right, but her anger was fuelled by the lack of kindness and consideration from people like me.
As should really be no surprise, Jesus has the best to say on this topic when he tells us to love one another. He was certainly not devoid of anger at the wrongs of the world - his spectacular clearing of moneychangers and traders in the Temple courtyard is proof enough of that - and he frequently highlighted hypocrisy in those who argued with him, but he was kind to the most unlikely people and, as the only human ever to hold the real moral high-ground, he sets an example we must struggle and strive to follow. He tells us to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44), and "love your neighbour as yourself" (Mark12:31). The apostle Paul also reminds us that "love is patient, love is kind", "it does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." (1 Corinthians 13:4,5)
If all this sounds impossible to attain, then that's no surprise too. Jesus concluded the first passage I quoted by saying this: "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) The kind of attitude we need when we seek a fairer, more just world is no less than that of our perfect God himself, but however should we achieve such a lofty goal?
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:23-26I may be making a case for us all to be kinder, and I truly believe that we need to be, but the Bible makes it clear that this isn't something we can achieve through any merely human teaching, nor through effort of will alone, but only with the help of the Holy Spirit of God. I look at the world and I look at myself and I am constantly reminded of just how much we need God to achieve anything of worth. The more secular our morality becomes, the more it will self-destruct as we tear each other apart in our 'righteous' anger.
Yes, people really are stupid, and we're mean, and short-sighted and full of hatred and a thousand other things, but as Jesus himself said, "let any one of you [that's us] who is without sin be the first to throw a stone..." (John 8:7)
