Female activist: "Now I know how Nelson Mandela felt"

Just when you thought you'd seen it all, you find...Titania McGrath:

My name is Titania McGrath.  I'm a radical intersectionalist poet committed to feminism, social justice, and armed peaceful protest. Last April I decided to increase my use of social media to advance those causes.  I was inspired by other activists who had used social media to spread their message and explain to readers why they're wrong about everything.

This week the powers-that-be at Twitter said my account was “permanently suspended” (a semantic contradiction, but then I suppose bigots aren’t known for their grammatical prowess). This was the latest in a series of suspensions, all of which were imposed because I'm too woke. 

The final straw appears to have be a tweet in which I informed my followers that I would be attending a pro-Brexit march so that I could punch some Brexit supporters in the name of tolerance.

Don’t get me wrong.  I fully support censorship of the wrong sorts of ideas.  Social media companies have a responsibility to ensure that all users express only correct forms of free speech.  For example, Twitter’s decision to ban Alex Jones, host of the conspiracy website InfoWars, was a great first step.  I fully supported Jones's ban because Jones is a white male who opposes correct thinking.  But the fact that I was also banned makes me think that Twitter may well be less woke than I've thought.

Indeed, Twitter’s modus operandi appears to often involve enabling haters, and silencing those who speak out for social justice.  For example, I've regularly read hate speech on Twitter from bigots who outrageously claim there are only two genders, or that Islam is not a race.  It's insane.

My "permanent suspension" only lasted for a day, but the experience was traumatic and lasting. I now understand how Nelson Mandela felt.  If anything, my ordeal was even more damaging than his.  Yes, Mandela may endured 27 years in prison but at least his male privilege protected him from ever having to put up with mansplaining, or having to endure wolf-whistles by grubby proles on a building site.

So what are we to make of my ban?  The only possible conclusion is that Twitter is run by crypto-fascists. Needless to say, this bodes ill for the social justice movement.  Like it or not, today's great humanitarians--successors to such giants as Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi--are now found on social media, as I am.

Unfortunately, those who fight for progressive causes are continually bombarded by alt-right trolls who like to engage in a hateful form of harassment called “debate.” Only a few days before my suspension, a misogynist had the effrontery to call me “shrill and humourless.”  As I quickly pointed out, humour is a patriarchal construct, which is why it has been so gratifying to see the success of our current wave of feminist comedians, those brave women who are blazing new trails in humor by ensuring that it doesn’t make anyone laugh.

Do not pity me. As a woman in a heteronormative patriarchal world I am accustomed to males like Jack Dorsey attempting to keep me silent. In my absence from Twitter, I took the opportunity to spend some time at a resort in Val d’Isère, where I could relax and contemplate my oppression. I even managed to write a book which I have entitled Woke: A Guide to Social Justice. 

I originally wanted to title it My Struggle but my publisher claims that title has already been taken--and by a white male, apparently!  And yes, I'm considering a lawsuit.

But don't worry about me.  I am a healer, put on this earth to defend minorities and fight for social justice and the right to be called by any pronoun one wishes.  My work is not about ego.  Instead my work is so much bigger than me. So please make sure you tell all your friends and contacts about my new book, so it will sell even more copies.

Okay, be honest:  How many 'grafs did you read before you were sure it was satire?

If you didn't recognize it as satire before you got to the end, don't feel bad: half the commenters on the site where it was posted thought it was serious, and voiced their support for the author's points.

Amazing.

H/T Quillette (slightly edited)