No Pastel Q or Q-lite here

Part of me feels anxious about putting down boundaries like this. I thought I had to be nice to everyone and allow everybody’s voices to be heard. I thought it was rude to hide or delete comments when people had put time into writing them. I thought I just had to put up with it.

But then I read about my friend and mentor Denise drawing a line in the sand, and I realised I could do that too. Read her statement here. Today feels like a new dawn. Let’s put the days of fake news, disinformation campaigns and pathological lying behind us and make a fresh start.

And most of me feels a huge relief. I wouldn’t host racist discussions in my living room and I won’t host them on my social media either. It’s my business and I have the right to feel safe here. I’ve been feeling quite panicky logging into socials lately, I’ve had to stay switched on all the time in order to admin conversations. So from now on, I simply won’t tolerate any pastel Q or Q-lite here.

Anyone sharing QAnon hashtags, links, sentiments or conspiracy theories will be banned. You don’t get to be on the fence about this. If you “are neither for nor against” or even “just asking questions” then you are not welcome here. These are deliberately misleading Q phrases designed to spread White Supremacy whilst appearing to be open-minded. White Supremacy is not welcome here.

Q-Anon is a terrorist group increasingly linked to acts of real-world violence and harassment, and whose content is blocked by all kinds of platforms because it’s all kinds of wrong.

Shouldn’t we be working towards unity?

Yes, and I accept that it might be more effective to stay in this conversation, to build bridges. I don’t wish to fuel the rage that Q followers feel right now. I can understand how you feel disillusioned and want a new system - I do too.

But quite frankly I need to call an end to this for my own mental health. I can’t handle the bullying, harassment and vast volumes of misinformation being shared in comments on my page. I’m constantly adminning my page and I’m really tired. This is simply taking up too much of my time.

It’s been a hard year, and I need to speak openly about justice and human rights (as I always have) without feeling a sense of dread every time I log on to my Facebook page. I studied social justice at University, which includes human rights, politics and media, as well as ethics, philosophy and theology, and I’m not going to stop talking about any of these topics now.

I am unapologetically pro-science, facts and evidence, pro-climate action and pro-women’s rights and if you don’t want to hear me speaking about these things it’s time for you to leave.

But I thought you teach us to be non-judgmental?

I do. I respect people who don’t want to breastfeed, and people who want to have a c-section, and people who don’t vaccinate, and people who need to access an abortion and people who want to marry someone of the same sex and so on. I stand for human rights and that’s why I can’t tolerate hate speech and deliberate disinformation campaigns.

You can’t demand your right to reject a vaccine whilst refusing another women’s right to an abortion. If you ask for respect yourself, whilst disrespecting the rights of others you are not welcome here.

But you aren’t the arbiter of truth!

Seriously, who even uses the word arbiter? And yes, I actually agree with you. It’s not my job to fact-check torrents of misinformation.

That’s why I rely on experts, people who have dedicated their whole lives to complex subjects like human rights, epidemiology and ethics. Alongside critical thinking and discernment, I choose to trust.

This is what humans do, we work together and trust each other. Somewhere in the African Savannah hundreds of thousands of years ago a mother ape handed her baby to another ape, and that trust eventually led to our big brains and complex societies. Trust is ultimately what it means to be a human.

Do we really need to agree on everything?

Of course not. It’s possible to disagree at the same time as feeling respect and affection towards another person, and whilst working together for a more just and fair world. But we must agree to some basic rules of debate. If you aren’t prepared to accept facts, experts, logic and evidence then we must part ways.

I’m so disappointed in you!

I know, you’ve told me this already, and I’m ok with that.

I’ll probably lose some customers and I’m ok with that too. If you’ve been here for more then five minutes you’ll know it’s not feminism if women don’t get paid. But I’m not here for the money. Human rights are at the core of everything I do. Human rights are the very reason I am here.

Phew, it feels good to get all that out. I’m standing ready with my finger on the ban button, so if you are thinking about arguing with me on this one, you can save us both some time and unsubscribe instead. Unfollow me on socials too whilst you are at it. And as Denise said, you can even burn my books and bitch about me on 4chan if you want to.

But you are not welcome here

If you do want to discuss human rights, ethics, politics and evidence-based postpartum care, then stick around. Motherhood is political and we are here for decolonisation, to fight fascism and white supremacy and to change the world for the better. Because motherhood is ultimately about creating a better future. So let’s leave this dark day behind us and get to work.

With love and rage,

Julia x