This is a Facebook post I made after someone vomited a bunch of racist, sexist, condescending word-salad all over my comment section. I thought I’d post it here too. Feel free to use any of this on your own pages if you find it helpful!
BOUNDARIES
“Good fences make good neighbors.” — Robert Frost
Boundaries for this page and for all my other channels. I also set out to promote these boundaries in the groups I co-admin.
• Condescension is a big no-no. I won’t block people for voicing opinions I disagree with; I WILL block people for persistent condescension, bossiness, sarcasm when used as personal attack, entitled attitudes toward me, my friends, or any of the people/groups I support. Do NOT come on my page making assumptions about me or any of my friends/fellow activists. Don’t tell us what our experience is and don’t tell us what to think. I may try to engage with you if I have time and energy, but if I don’t (or when the time and energy runs out), I will simply block you in order to protect the people who come on here with good intentions.
• We don’t badmouth political parties on my page. We also don’t claim that “our” party is the great virtuous one that will save the world and make things perfect. This goes for ALL parties. Focus instead on constructive criticism or advocacy of policies etc.
• Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, elitism, ageism are not “opinions”; they are evil, immoral pathologies, and people who persist in expressing them and are not willing to listen to feedback & evolve will not be allowed to keep taking up space in my comment section. (These people tend to be “Facebook-only friends” who suddenly appear and start spouting off in my comment section of a civics/policy/social-justice post without ever having engaged with me IRL or on any of my other posts).
• Verbal violence is a form of violence.
• Trans women are women. Special note for my fellow liberal-type older white women who identify as feminists: If you don’t know what a TERF is, google it — and don’t be one.
• These are the main boundaries I can think of right now, but there are surely others and I will add them as I think of them.
• In case you are wondering, YES i hold myself to these boundaries also. And, I have on occasion had to edit or delete my own posts that violated my own ethical standards, and make apologies and amends to people. I’m always setting out to learn, evolve.
Probably if you have read this far and understood, this post doesn’t apply to you. Except that I hope my boundaries help create a space where you all feel safe, loved, and respected. Thank you for being here and endeavoring to engage in nonviolent, productive, creative, liberating discourse. I love and appreciate you!