Veerle Koops, Grade 12
UWCEA Arusha Campus
Some months ago Miss Kate was my Visual Arts teacher. I’d feel proud to say that before any news started spreading, I knew Miss Kate wouldn’t stay much longer than she had already: as she is a woman who I personally consider very intelligent, and she would be suitable for a job that would require any skill from her extended set of expertises.
From the beginning to the end of the past year Miss Kate repeated a certain sentence; it shifted inexorably from ‘you’ll hear me say this often’ to the sentence ‘you’ve probably heard me say this many times’; and that was that. Miss Kate loved monologues; we always thought that rather surprising for a visual arts teacher. Her subject-related and informative stories had many sidetracks, which mostly contained life-learned or selected wisdom in a very high density. It would be fair to say that these sidetracks gave her speeches character; they are unforgettable.
The monologue that I personally would like to write about, has no relation to the subject Visual Arts and was originally a conversation between just two people. The conversation in question was about the term ‘transphobe’ that the internet has famously placed on J. K. Rowling.
‘Transphobe; not transphobic; gender non-inclusive; and gender-exclusive: I don’t agree. I don’t agree with the labels that those terms represent. Having read about the situation and not having read about the situation, the internet is thriving on judgement and drags those who have not educated themselves along: even those who do read, read to understand why the label is applicable.
As soon as a mind welcomes a name, a label, it can appreciate the social burden as good as fact. I for one have read about the tweets that are so notably mentioned in every discussion, and the thoughts it provoked in me were nowhere near as close to a distinctive label as the majority of the public argues it to be. And that perfectly tells me how quickly those and most are to be dragged along with the storm.
Perhaps it is not important if someone actually is transphobic for an audience to put that label on a person, right now it at least is not. But perhaps it shouldn’t be either: perhaps we should leave the label out completely. For when such a name is accepted, it won’t be cancelled easily, not even individually and not even by critical thinking. Because apparently this situation is that label, and the label is this situation. We can talk enough about the good of societies positioning themselves, which of course is nothing but a good thing, but we should also talk enough in critical arguments without a pre-set thesis to agree or to not agree.’
These paragraphs have been said aloud some months ago, when Miss Kate was still my Visual Arts teacher. They have stayed on my mind for weeks afterwards, and no doubt have been rephrased by me this time. Now they speak too, about the importance of language and names to the messages that you and others support. And they speak to the importance of speeches, as they will always be remembered by someone.
From the beginning to the end of the past year Miss Kate repeated a certain sentence; it shifted inexorably from ‘you’ll hear me say this often’ to the sentence ‘you’ve probably heard me say this many times’; and that was that. Miss Kate loved monologues; we always thought that rather surprising for a visual arts teacher. Her subject-related and informative stories had many sidetracks, which mostly contained life-learned or selected wisdom in a very high density. It would be fair to say that these sidetracks gave her speeches character; they are unforgettable.
The monologue that I personally would like to write about, has no relation to the subject Visual Arts and was originally a conversation between just two people. The conversation in question was about the term ‘transphobe’ that the internet has famously placed on J. K. Rowling.
‘Transphobe; not transphobic; gender non-inclusive; and gender-exclusive: I don’t agree. I don’t agree with the labels that those terms represent. Having read about the situation and not having read about the situation, the internet is thriving on judgement and drags those who have not educated themselves along: even those who do read, read to understand why the label is applicable.
As soon as a mind welcomes a name, a label, it can appreciate the social burden as good as fact. I for one have read about the tweets that are so notably mentioned in every discussion, and the thoughts it provoked in me were nowhere near as close to a distinctive label as the majority of the public argues it to be. And that perfectly tells me how quickly those and most are to be dragged along with the storm.
Perhaps it is not important if someone actually is transphobic for an audience to put that label on a person, right now it at least is not. But perhaps it shouldn’t be either: perhaps we should leave the label out completely. For when such a name is accepted, it won’t be cancelled easily, not even individually and not even by critical thinking. Because apparently this situation is that label, and the label is this situation. We can talk enough about the good of societies positioning themselves, which of course is nothing but a good thing, but we should also talk enough in critical arguments without a pre-set thesis to agree or to not agree.’
These paragraphs have been said aloud some months ago, when Miss Kate was still my Visual Arts teacher. They have stayed on my mind for weeks afterwards, and no doubt have been rephrased by me this time. Now they speak too, about the importance of language and names to the messages that you and others support. And they speak to the importance of speeches, as they will always be remembered by someone.
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