This blog is a labor of love. Given the degree to which most people with a disability are disenfranchised they need access to blogs such as mine. Need is a powerful word and I believe it is apt. I have a very wide readership now and write so that an average person can understand larger points made by scholars. I do my best to solidly ground what I write in a practical day to day way that any person with a disability can relate to. My intent is to merge scholarship and activism in large part because I refuse to go down the bioethics or disability studies rabbit hole. This is not a knock against either field, both are rigorous fields of study in academia I enjoy.
A few months ago I was forced to start aggressively moderating comments. Too many comments I was getting were nothing more than vicious diatribes. I have no idea why there was a striking increase of such comments but it reflects my life long ability to piss people off. The most recent group of people to be upset with me are Catholic bioethicists and Catholic commentators. What did I do? I published an article about sexuality and an experience I had as a young man. I thought my essay was ancient history but I knew it would generate a buzz and buzz it did. It is my hope this buzz will die down. Thus it was with trepidation that I read Jennifer Fritz comment on one of my recent posts. Link: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jenniferfitz/2014/05/how-not-to-do-religion/ Apparently Fritz is a long time reader and I must say I burst out laughing at the last line of Fritz's "How Not to Do Religion".
Edited for a strong language warning on the link. W.P. is many things, but choir boy he is not. Or rather, he’s like choir boys really are, not like their mothers imagine they are.
I want one and all to know I was never a choir boy. Not with my voice and utter lack of musical ability. I was instead an alter boy! Yes, as a bipedal child I was an alter boy. Let that one stick in your craw and ruminate over. One last point, Fritz is correct choir boys and alter boys are nothing like their mothers imagine them. Golly, I hope my mother is not reading this!
4 comments:
Thanks! I actually believe there is an uptick in hate comments generally. Being Aboriginal and disabled and light skinned opens me up to a good deal of subtle prejudice - and sometimes not so subtle. Just speaking truth angers many people.
Michael, Part of the hate comments is simply internet related. One can blow off a great deal of anger in an anonymous comment. It is why I rarely read the comment section to almost all mainstream articles. For me, hate comments routinely come from posts I have written that concern the cure industry. Another source of hate comments are related to taking pride in a disability as an identity. The hate comments come and go. They do not bother me that much--I likely have read thousands of them in the last two years.
Dear Bad Cripple: Your articles are excellent.
I have found that people are becoming far more aggressive in their attacks.
Maybe that is good. At least you know someone is reading it.
Dear Bill,
Sorry to burst your bubble, but your mother already knows.
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