“I advise you, Loddfafnir, to take advice, you would benefit, if you took it, good will come to you, if you accept it: when you come upon misdeeds, speak out about those misdeeds, and give your enemies no peace.”
The above is a stanza from the Hávamál, a long poem containing sage and moral advice for the common man, that I feel should be a sentiment important to all those fighting for change. The idea that all opinions should be respected and allowed to be expressed without repercussion, even if we don’t agree with it, is going to destroy whatever chance at a better world we have.
The world does not need to exist as an echo chamber, without discussion and compromise we cannot meet the needs of all, nor do we have an opportunity to grow from experience, but the minute a person expresses an opinion which causes harm to a group of people for no reason other than they belong to that group, they need to be shut down. We need to make it known to people that if they are going to violate the rights of others for no reason, they will not go unchallenged.
When we are so reluctant to cause violence that we don’t even speak out against ideas that threaten the livelihood of others, we are just as much a part of the problem as those who harbor the ideas in the first place. We enable them, we allow literal Nazis to rally themselves, to show their faces and give talks at universities, because they are not afraid of repercussions for their beliefs or actions.
Opinions that threaten the lives of innocent individuals do not deserve to be coddled, unchallenged or respected.
There is a point at which we must look away from the threat for a second and look into ourselves. Too many “allies” allow vitriolic speech and action to go unchecked because they don’t want to spark a negative reaction, or they believe too deeply that all opinions should be respected, but we need to imagine how oppressed groups feel. When you’re a kid and you’re exposed to people who think your existence is somehow wrong, it’s ugly and terrifying. The moment you realize that you no longer have a childhood. You can no longer be free and innocent because it’s not safe for you to exist when there are grown adults who will prey on you for the color of your skin, the religion you follow, or the assortment of your chromosomes.
When we look at the situations at hand in this world, if we aren’t trying to stop people who believe that some human lives are inherently worth less than others, we are a part of the problem. If we don’t actively call people out for their wrongdoing and prejudice, we are a part of the problem.
It is our responsibility to listen to the voices of those who are hurting in this world, and it is our responsibility to help them get the world to a point where we are judged by the content of our character and nothing else. To have the courage to act on what we believe is far more important than the belief itself.
