LGBTQIA+ on Sidechat | Why does no one believe that social isolation as a tool of social change won’t work? I’ve suggested that disowning transphobic people and antiabortion people could help. But no one seems to agree. Why?

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LGBTQIA+ 19h

Why does no one believe that social isolation as a tool of social change won’t work? I’ve suggested that disowning transphobic people and antiabortion people could help. But no one seems to agree. Why?

Anonymous 19h

on the one hand, at the individual level, it makes perfect sense to wanna cut off people with regressive worldviews. and I certainly don’t blame anyone for doing so, cause I can’t tolerate that shit either on the other: *total* social isolation is counterproductive to growth & healing. part of the reason why US culture is such a toxic mess is because we’ve broadly accepted the belief that punishment is an effective means of forcing change upon people who harm others

Anonymous 17h

I’m personally just not exactly sure what you mean by “disown”. you can end friendships with those people, but that’s far from them being socially isolated, and even if everyone did that there would be others who share their views. “disown” in particular is usually used to refer to parents kicking out their kids, and if you’re the parent of a transphobe, it’s your responsibility to educate them. I’m generally against the idea of kicking your kids out for any reason.

Anonymous 17h

I can’t see the other comments, and I’ve only blocked cops and TERFs. So take that for what you will

Anonymous 17h

It’s not necessarily that people don’t agree, in my experience. It’s that they don’t want to go the distance, so they invent reasons not to. That’s not to say that ALL their points are illegitimate or wholly wrong, just that you should think critically about what the speaker gets out of their position

Anonymous 17h

i do! because it does work!

Anonymous

#1 19h

realistically, people are much more likely to correct their perspectives via consistent direct exposure to human diversity, whereas belittling them often leads them to develop a sense of persecution / martyrdom which in turn motivates them to double down but obviously that reality is kinda miserable to navigate when you’re the one someone else has to use as a stepping stone towards being a decent person, so idk, it’s a complex conversation

Anonymous

#3 17h

My idea is that advocacy groups should use social isolation as a method: encourage the public to disown people until they change.

Anonymous

#4 17h

They change their ways?

Anonymous

OP 17h

i've seen it happen more often than not, but that's also just from my experiences which may or may not apply more broadly. i think part of why i've seen it work is because the people it's been used on wanted to maintain connections to family/friends and were willing - albeit reluctant - to change for that. idk if it works when we're talking about strangers across the country, unless there was a broader network to carry that "shunning" far and wide

Anonymous

OP 15h

I think that’s just… already happening as much as it will though? Anyone who’s keeping up with a social advocacy group is *already* not friends with people with opposing beliefs. If the problem was like 3% of people, maybe this would work, but when it’s closer to 50%, it’s not ostracization, it’s just polarization. You can’t say “just use peer pressure duh” when being inclusive isn’t even a majority opinion. I wish it was, but calling on some advocacy group won’t make it so.