Only a matter of time

I see so many statements floating around on the internet framed as reasonable moderation. Calls to stay away from extremism. They sound measured. Mature. Balanced. Especially to people who don’t actually have to live with the consequences of oppressive systems.

But they’re almost always reductive.

They treat loaded topics as if they aren’t rooted in loaded realities. They act like talking about sexism, homophobia, and racism is the problem… instead of the fact that hatred is still ALLOWED to exist. They frame the right to express xenophobia as an inalienable liberty… and the refusal to share space with people who want to harm you as intolerance.

When you adopt these kind of views, you reveal more than you realize. You reveal your worldview and your position in the system. These aren’t calls for unity. They’re calls for compliance. For the oppressed to accept their position without making the dominant group feel uncomfortable.

Appeals to “unity” that don’t center justice don’t actually make space for marginalized people. They criticize those who name the systems that are designed to harm them. And this is where the paradox of tolerance steps in. When we tolerate ideologies that rationalize oppression… we create space for oppression to expand. And the clock starts ticking toward tragedy. One group’s “freedom” becomes another group’s erasure.

That’s not neutrality.

That’s complicity.

This is what people mean when they say neutrality favors the oppressor. When you make space for hatred… the space for safety shrinks. You give an inch. Then a foot. Then a mile. Power consolidates with the aggressor. And once the idea of eliminating a group has been normalized… once they’ve been sufficiently dehumanized… once the language of disappearance feels casual…

It’s only a matter of time before something irreversible happens.