My reaction to Pendleton's "poly hijabi" comment and "obviously this Trans Black woman is getting paid by the DNC" position made me think, "This gives the same energy as calling Kat a DEI hire". I wasn't sure why that was my thought because they aren't one to one, but this article put it together./1
It's the dismissiveness. On the right "DEI" and being Black means they can dismiss any qualifications or success you earned because you only earned it for being Black. On the left, they dismiss your ideas, feelings, and experience because you're Black, of course you'd have those thoughts./2
Non-marginalized people have a privilege to assume their feelings and ideas aren't biased because they're the default. Black people think a way because they are black, while Pendleton has this idea (maybe subconsciously) have a tabula rasa approach to their perspectives./3
There are a lot of feelings I have on this, and that could be said, but it's a lot for a Bluesky thread. ultimately, I don't know if Pendleton's anti-blackness is a core part of her being or just a nasty by-product of being raised in a white-centric culture. However, it is worth noting/4
While there are actual fascists, oligarchs, and nazis running the government, Pendleton seems to have put a lot of their focus and energy into fighting a "small" Black content creator.
Much of what you say in this post is true. Socialists should focus on advocating Socialism, rather than shaming people for how they vote. But… are you sure you’re “too far left” for the Democrats? Opposing the DPRK is quite concerning.
You articulated my feelings better than I could have. Although it still... infuriates me how a certain section of "leftism" is more concerned with... feeling superior to others? Especially privileged, middle class "leftists" who, as you rightly say, see it as a sort of rebellion rather than survival
Those of us, mainly the more marginalized (though I myself are more privileged than other trans people), are attacked as if we don't KNOW the candidate's positions. As if harm reduction itself is a wrong position to have. It's upsetting, because it makes their "activism" more performative, more akin
to a tantrum. Of course we know Kamala wasn't gonna defend trans rights against the SCOTUS, we're not idiots. Of course we care about Palestinians and that "ask Israel to pretty please stop bombing and then do nothing" was an asinine position to have.
candidate was going to take the presidency. And those of us outside the US are also much more afraid of what president Musk can do against climate change provisions and the world economy and basically WW3.
Do I still trust a Democrat? Of course fucking not.
But we were stuck in a room with 2 people trying to kill each other, one has a knife and doesn't know if they should use it; the other is carrying a machine gun and promised to use it on everyone. Privileged people who can hide sat it out, then blamed everyone for the shooter winning.
(This is not to say that there is no blame in the Democrats for running on "we're conservatives, too!", or Republicans for voting for hate. This is specifically about the middle-to-upper class holier-than-thous who lecture everyone from their cushy armchairs like a tearoom Bohemian)
Lovely writing Kat <3 I love reading your writing it makes me get really reflective and inspires me to journal down my thoughts. I will never get the idea of comparing voting to using a butt plug out of my head now though 😂
I’ve watched your content for such a long time and have enjoyed all of your talks around queerness, polyamory and the trans experience. You have overall given so much information to me and honestly helped me widen my perspective on concepts. Your post was beautifully written.
For someone who didn’t watch “smaller content creators” she sure had a lot to say about you. I’m sorry you had to deal with that and i found your blog post to be an interesting and thought provoking read.
Very well expressed. I felt it really improved my understanding of not only the Pendleton situation, but the larger state of affairs.
As a Canadian, my ability to influence your politics (legally) is extremely limited, but you can be sure I'm doing all I can to avoid similar outcomes up here.
It is easy to lose sight of the vulnerable when u yourself feel you are as vulnerable as them. When you are not. (not u kat) and coming to terms with the fact u are not as vulnerable as trans black women must be hard to deal with when your brain is wired to filter out black voices …
i have too much impatience to type out more of my thoughts but i just want to say, I enjoyed your blog. Being a fan of you longer than Madeline (and off of tiktok for over 3 months now) i was shocked to read this side of them. Granted, i’d only interacted w TV & financial advice videos from them.
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But we also know US politics, and no 3rd party
Do I still trust a Democrat? Of course fucking not.
As a Canadian, my ability to influence your politics (legally) is extremely limited, but you can be sure I'm doing all I can to avoid similar outcomes up here.