The future of the fediverse isn't to make it a bastion of solitude for white sensibility and inaction. There are so many other platforms that are built for that.

The future of the fediverse is us learning how to speak and communicate each other even when we are upset and conflicted.

The future is being able to talk with energy and passion without resorting to insults and bigotry.

A big part of Masto struggles with that. And they don't want to change.

Just as we see the white identified people's of various countries fight to preserve their dwindling privilege, we see that some struggle in the fediverse right now.

The world has changed. This is not debatable. People are sick and fucking tired of dealing with the toxicity of whiteness and it's inability to be rational in the face of progress.

The fediverse is not going to be another monument to whiteness. That time is over.

This upsets a lot of people.

Oh well.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. We all have to make the choice on what kind of community we want to build.

Do you want actual progress, or do you just want to some more token friends that you can to 'prove' you like 'diversity'.

Do you want to learn or do you just want to build a community that just affirms and validates your own biases?

We're all making some hard decisions right now concerning who will allow in our space.

This is a necessary process.

@Are0h

Just be careful, hate can fester in anyone's heart given enough power.

Yes, people of European descent have had their run at exploiting most of the people of the world, and yes the system of white supremacy in the USA absolutely needs to be dismantled (And the EU needs to face up to its own racism too)

But being able to dehumanize someone, to kill ones ability to empathize with the other, can happen to any human who holds power long enough.

@Are0h

A good example is Trevor Noah's monologue on how Donald Trump is America's first African president.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FPrJxTvgdQ

He cut clips between horrible things Donald Trump said and similar things other African dictators had said.

@alienghic This is only relevant if you one completely ignores the history of colonialism on the continent.

And Africa is not a country, so there's no such thing as an African president.

@Are0h ok Donald Trump and Robert Mugabe have definite similarities. Also its totally fair to refer to European dictators of the mid twentieth century.

@alienghic Yeah of course. The both support white supremacy and work to continue it's legacy for their personal gain.

Yes, absolutely. That's where it originated.

@Are0h Mugabe was scarred by white supremacy and colonialism.

The Daily show clips show Mugabe speaking using the language of racism.

That anger he felt triggered his decision to engage in disastrous land reform policies of Zimbabwe, which led to local famines.

In families, children of abusers frequently grow up to be abuser.

I am concerned that societies may behave similarly.

So, just please be mindful of how you define in-group vs out-group.

@alienghic @Are0h Mugabe got involved in a deadly internecine struggle with fellow guerrilla leader and later his vice-president, Joshua Nkomo, which was along tribal lines.
He was also banging his current wife while his first one was on her deathbed.
He rewarded his clique, not his people, with land.
And he is a homophobic piece of shit. None if this alters the fact that he has endured racism all his life, which Trump hasn't.

@OutOnTheMoors @Are0h

I was worried about what happens if one gets power. There are many stories of revolutionaries who abuse power once they have it.

I realized those here on mastodon are so far from places of power to stop worrying about what they're doing.

@alienghic @Are0h You might be suffering from the Mandela effect.

@OutOnTheMoors Could you explain that more?

@alienghic When a large number of people share a common, mistaken "memory".
Named for our late president, Nelson Mandela, who was a revolutionary but managed to avoid the pitfalls you appear to recall as the fate of such people when they gain power.

@OutOnTheMoors

I'd say its pretty easy to misunderstand such a situation based on half-remembered, biased news reports.

So do you have any newer references talking about how south africa managed to improve its treatment of black and still seem to be mostly a democracy?

I should probably be working right now instead of talking on a social network.

@alienghic I'm a journalist who has lived and worked in South Africa my entire life.
If you should be working, I doubt you have the time for all my biased life experiences about how things have changed.