Within 6 hours of birth, a newborn turns their head toward their mother in an act of trust and reflexive empathy. That’s how early reflexive empathy starts in human beings.
Over time, reflexive empathy diminishes after hurtful experiences, or life. Trust is shattered because people will people and that new, trusting reflexive empathy is never the same. This is also natural and actually a sign of growth, even if it hurts.
When I read about CaityGate I thought of reflexive empathy. The story basically comes down to this:
This has resulted in people blocking her, and she in turn has had to block people. I would recommend going to the original tweet thread and reading her follow-up tweets and explanations.
Unfortunately, the more a person takes a defensive posture, the deeper the hole is dug. You dig?
At this point it doesn’t matter if she follows me or blocks me or if I follow her or block her.
But what does matter is who she is, beyond her popularity with the progressives. I made the mistake of telling my husband I thought she was an anarchist with the little “a” (that’s a nod to David Graeber in the before time). Husband immediately corrected me and said “She is a progressive, not even an anarchist with the little ‘a’.”
He’s right.
There’s a long list of things I don’t like about her (including her accent, sorry Caitlin! LOL) and the choices she’s made and what she writes about and and and and. But the key word in that sentence you just read is “choice.”
Let’s remove the political persona out of Caitygate completely. What do I know? Well, she is a human. Which means she was born with individual rights and autonomous freedoms and maybe I’m wrong here, but is Australia a constitutional republic like the USA is? I don’t think so, but I’d love to be wrong! I think they’re common law or something (according to Wikipedia) and that means laws are only established based on what’s been predicated in court. Yikes. So….. if people who make Facebook posts about getting together to discuss their frustration with the lockdowns are getting arrested and then charged and found guilty, then there you go. A law was made and all future law is now predicated on this law, which is.. closure of speech. Free speech go bye bye!
Maybe that’s something a popular Australian writer wants to avoid like the plague. Getting arrested in front of her children. Being the one to predicate a law which clamps down on speech in Australia. I mean, I wouldn’t want that kind of responsibility or that shit hanging over my head. So..
But again it comes down to choice and who she is. Beyond being a human with individual rights not recognized by the very Continent she lives on. What else is she?
Well, I know she is a wife, and her husband loves her. I know that if given an opportunity to go to rallies or protests she might pass. I don’t have any proof of this so don’t start rumors, ok?
She’s private. Have you noticed? She doesn’t go too deep into her personal life, which can sometimes be a detriment. People who are jumping into Caitygate might forget we are dealing with a real life human being.
But, I think she’s a little wary of public events, and always has been. I think in the few years we’ve been following each other on Twitter, I only saw a video or photo of her at one public outdoor event. And, I think it was because she was a guest speaker, or pressured to speak. I get the sense that she is fiercely protective of her children (although I don’t know how old they are or even if they are her biological children or even if she really has children, I think she mentioned it once though which is why I bring it up), and I also get the sense that she has made her home a sanctuary and that she finds a lot of peace in her artwork and just being at home.
Do you know how many people I’ve come across that suffer from anxiety, depression and trauma and have spent their entire life being scapegoated by everyone around them at all times that when the lockdown happened, they actually felt like it was a blessing in disguise? They started to feel better and since the world at large was forced to stay inside, it gave those people a chance to heal from the damage? I personally know a victim of abuse who breathed a huge sign of relief because her abuser was always threatening to come around and harass her and with the lockdown he was pre-emptively kept away. And, that the mask is actually something that can help them to feel accepted and assimilate into a society that has always humiliated them at every opportunity?
Many people think of Caitlin as a courageous powerful writer who is often quoted by very influential people, brought onto their podcasts and lifted up as this powerhouse of critical thought. Her Tweets make her come across as strong, a fierce voice for the oppressed progressives who identify. But, we all know our online personas cannot even begin to interpret who we really are.
Personally I’ve always just thought of her as an artist. Her “Going Rogue” podcast reminds me a little bit of a down homey Radiolab (even if much of the content isn’t what I agree with) and putting animation to her poetry is something I’ve always wanted to do.
But, I mean, I get where her critics are coming from. She’s got a huge following and her writing is powerful and her poetry is sweet and her podcasts are great (if you’re a progressive). Why doesn’t she jump on the anti-Covid bandwagon and join in on fighting tyranny?
There’s that pesky C word again. NO, not that one.
Choice.
It’s her choice to be a progressive, it’s her choice to keep her accent, it’s her choice not to Covid-cover what others are already Covid-covering, it’s her choice to recognize she’s not an American, it’s her choice to write a lot about American imperialism, it’s her choice. It’s her choice to say what she has to say or not say what she won’t say.
We better get back to some reflexive empathy, peeps. We better tap it somehow.
The splintering is real. BLM protests are ok, but anti tyranny protests are not? If BLM and anti-tyranny ever got together, the establishment and its rising police state wouldn’t have a chance. If the progressives and the real left ever got together, the quackery and fuckery of the fake elections wouldn’t have a chance.
We’re trying to build shit here, people. Not break it down.
Unclench, now unblock.