mekka okereke :verified:
Something about starter packs that I think gets lost when they're discussed on Mastodon:
The power of starter packs is not in some centralised mega list of say "Black people in tech," curated by some central authority. The power is in a million tiny "Black techies I follow" lists curated by everyday users.
Check it out. I'm on some lists.
https://clearsky.app/mekka.mekka-tech.com/lists
And yes, I'm on some lists I don't want to be on, that people use to block. And I mostly don't care. 🤷🏿♂️
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mekka okereke :verified:
The losers that think being trans means being white and trans, hopped over from Mastodon to BlueSky, and put me on their "transmisogyny list."🤷🏿♂️
But Black trans people, and white trans people that aren't racist and can see Black people, put me in their starter packs.♥️
I don't want to be in community with the fashy white trans people that don't like Black trans people. I prefer the white trans people that like the Black and brown trans people.
I don't like everybody. It's OK if they block me.
Dan McDonald
It was a Black Trans Woman who started Stonewall. People who don't know that, well... 🤷♂️
Lady Errant
@danmcd @mekkaokereke Say her name, Marsha P. Johnson. AND Sylvia Rivera who wasn't white either.
Amandine
@mekkaokereke I try to make recommendations to newcomers here based on their interests. It's a good way to start here.
mekka okereke :verified:
If I click on your profile, I can see your pinned posts. ♥️👍🏿
How cool would it be, if I could also see your starter packs! Maybe you'd make one for your academic interests, and another for photography! In a few minutes, you can help your friends.
That's it! That's the whole starter pack concept.
Yes, there are some trust and safety features that I would build on top of starter packs, like the ability to remove yourself from one, or the ability to not be listed in packs at all.
Angua on Kitsu
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
I find Follow Friday also @FediFollows@social.growyourown.services - themed lists
are quite useful.
@lisamelton@mastodon.social is a great source of new and interesting posts.
Misskey has Bubble Timeline - sort of an Admin pick of the Global Timeline which is a start.
Also Misskey has antennas so you can curate custom timelines by hashtag, keyword, user, instance.
Misuse Case
@mekkaokereke @yamainu I recall that the admin of a MENA-focused instance, herself a trans woman, said that a lot of the racist abuse she and her users got on Mastodon came from white trans women. She got a lot of flack for saying that, including accusations that she was lying, but it seemed pretty plausible to me because…white people with other marginalized identities are usually *white* first.
Jess👾
I do agree that my community is racist as shit. But I also do think it's unfair to single out white trans women specifically and separately from all other white people.
An very imperfect analogy would be to specifically call out Black men for abuse and harassment of women when the criticism applies to all men.
I and many of my other white transfems are working on fighting our own community's racism problems whenever and wherever we can, especially when it comes to Black trans women, we deserve every single bit of criticism they have for us. But could cis folks at least keep their focus on white cis folks rather than singling trans people out? White cis folks are universally going to have way more power and way worse ratios of racism than white trans folks.
mekka okereke :verified:
@JessTheUnstill @MisuseCase @yamainu
Agree, white trans women that aren't racist do not hesitate to take off on white trans women that are racist. ♥️👍🏿
Especially in the tech industry. Some of the strongest, bravest, most reliable allies you will find.
(Me, violating the code, giving away group chat secrets)
Not in these circles, but I specifically call out Black men for abusing *Black women*. Because of how demographics work, most abuse of Black women is done by... Black men.
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mekka okereke :verified:
@JessTheUnstill @MisuseCase @yamainu
The main reason that white women are a greater risk to Black women than Black men, is that there are more white women. But the risk is the same: if there is a Black man at your job exhibiting misogynoir, and your boss doesn't know how to confront that? Black women are in as much risk as if there's a racist white woman. 🤷🏿♂️
The risk is from people attacking you from behind a shield of marginalized identity.
Sometimes that Black man needs to be called in.
Jess👾
Yeah, intersectionality is complicated as shit to navigate. And many of us certainly suck. I just never know what to do with situations where people give blanket criticism of my entire minority demographic.
mekka okereke :verified:
He says without a shred of irony, from one of the whitest places online, about a feature that has created one of the most diverse places online🤣
But go off, with your "diversity of thought!"
VulcanTourist
Starter packs sound quite an awful lot like a tool to create echo chambers.
mekka okereke :verified:
How about this:
You cry about echo chambers, and I'll enjoy talking to people very different from me, from a range of genders, countries, and backgrounds, where the only common ideas we share and echo in our little chamber, are "Trans people exist, leave them alone." and "Women have rights, respect them." and "Racists don't deserve our time."
No sarcasm on this one. I'm very serious. "Sounds like an echo chamber!" is not a statement I take seriously.
VulcanTourist
Your sarcasm does nothing to disprove that effect. Most people probably do create their own echo chambers, whether consciously or unconsciously, but I find it even less conscionable to help them do it by providing them with a prefabricated one.
mekka okereke :verified:
🤦🏿♂️Did... did you even read the original post? There is no one prefabricated starter pack. There are a bunch of starter packs, and they are all user created.
If you think it's unfair that you aren't in a starter pack, then you can make your own starter pack and put yourself in it.
VulcanTourist
What of all the other people who share those same values who, for whatever reason of favoritism, aren't represented in this prefabricated starter pack of people to follow?
I don't think you recognize the secondary consequences of what you propose.
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