Nothing New to See: Reactionaries and General Assembly 2021
I haven’t, by choice, been very involved in the world of Gadfly and the supporters of Todd Eklof since I wrote my initial articles two years ago. It’s exhausting, mentally and spiritually. This year, I found myself drawn back in after a handful of people started posting hundreds of messages on the Whova GA app trying to spread gadfly narratives. I decided to join the folks who were responding to these messages, not because I believed there was much chance in convincing their authors, but because I want people to see there’s a different side to Unitarian Universalism.
There was nothing new said at this year’s General Assembly that we haven’t heard for the last two years. A lot of complaining about white supremacy language. Demonizing everyone who disagrees with them. Accusing the UUA of centralizing power without any evidence except that they disagree with the direction the UUA is going. Misrepresenting theories they disagree with.
Many of the ideas I heard are easily dismissed hyperbole, such as calling all of postmodernism “bordering on fascism” without any irony, seriously comparing a very wide, multi-discipline area of study with wide diversity to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
Some of their ideas are more easily countered than others. Their persistent misunderstanding of the legal theory of Critical Race Theory (CRT), for example, and classification of anyone they don’t agree with as crits. One person, for example, insisted that Robin DiAngelo and her work on white fragility is the epitome of CRT even though DiAngelo’s work is not CRT at all, but part of the fields of critical discourse analysis and whiteness studies. Essentially, modern anti-racism becomes a monolith, a single field of studies called Critical Race Theory.
They essentially make the same mistake that right-wing reactionaries are making around the country right now: turning CRT into a buzzword rather than a field of study with complexity and nuance and even disagreements!
In fact, the YouTuber The1Janitor recently did a really good video about what both the right and left get wrong about CRT:
Others simply decide that any vote at General Assembly is not representative of “ordinary UUs,” whatever that is supposed to mean, and that if most UUs, could be activated, they would agree with the gadfly narrative, eerily echoing the Moral Majority rhetoric of 1970s and 1980s evangelicals. There’s also a simplistic impulse to boil down any failures of the modern Democrats to social justice movements rather than seeing it as a back and forth political tug o war that has existed since the founding of the United States. They believe that embracing modern conceptions of social justice will destroy Unitarian Universalism without any evidence.
What this General Assembly has reminded me is that the vast majority of folks who are making these arguments aren’t interested in dialogue: they won’t honestly listen to any perspective other than their own. They’re also not interested in democracy: they’re already making excuses why the democratic votes at General Assembly weren’t really democratic because they didn’t go their way. What they want is to be right. They want the UUA to go back to an organization that makes them feel comfortable, that centers their feelings and needs.
That’s not going to happen, and so you get the sort of acting out that we saw this week.
In fact, even when I attempted to engage in good faith in threads, I had one person jump all over me because I dared to have a different idea on white supremacy from her and how dare I tell her what it was.
There’s a word for that: supremacy.
I believe it’s possible for different conceptions of anti-racism to exist side by side. I think it’s possible for people who disagree to come together and do good, liberatory work together. I do it all the time: I consider myself a socialist and I frequently find myself working with less radical activists towards social change. I certainly don’t agree with everything T1J says even though I posted his video above.
However, I have not witnessed a desire for that in the last two years. What I have seen, over and over, is a small minority of people insisting that their views, their comfort, needs to be centered. Rather than saying, “I’m not on board with the words yet but I’m on board with the work,” they focus on convincing people that anyone who disagrees with them is fanatical, extreme, and undemocratic.
And I’m convinced nothing short of getting their way will change that.
It may seem that I’m really harsh on the gadflies. After all, a part of my ministry involves training people in how to connect with others in the midst of emotional crisis and conflict. I believe that, when we can find points of resonance for our emotion, we can each transform in ways that allow us to find better understanding.
In essence, I like to think I’m trying to be a peacemaker.
However, I also think that, when a small minority is determined to continuously spread unsubstantiated theories and opinions in an attempt to sway people about the direction of social justice in the Unitarian Universalist Association. I would honestly have a lot more respect for them if they were out doing work towards justice and liberation rather than focusing on trying to force themselves on a religious association .
What it boils down to every single time is a centering of the feelings of white people, and I don’t think that will ever bring liberation. While they ask for another year so they can try to change the course of the association, real BIPOC people are facing systemic oppression, and that’s something I cannot be silent for.
So if, at times, it seems I’m a little pointed, even snarky, it’s because I have watched these same folks posting the same narratives over and over again for the last two years. Not a thing has changed. They have never admitted even the smallest part of their story of the UUA could be wrong. They refuse to acknowledge criticisms of their narratives in any way but dismissing.
There’s no consideration of any point of view other than their own. When people can’t even imagine that they could be wrong, that shuts down the possibility of connection. It can only be restored by people coming together mutually solely based on their own humanity.
I think there are good people sympathetic to some of their ideas. I continue to be open to honest dialogue. But I will not sit back while they use platforms like Facebook and Whova to spread misinformation.
What’s the way forward? I don’t think that the gadflies are done. I think they will be back and angrier and more fear filled than ever. I think we have to be prepared to tell our stories and our experiences, as I have. White folks who see behind these narratives need to speak up, not be silent, when they see these stories parroted in UU spaces.
We also have to be ready to keep showing up over and over again. That is what social justice is: seeing the long arc rather than the short-term outlook for the struggle. If you ever wondered what institutional change is like, this is it. It’s not easy, and there is going to be resistance for a long time.
But, if we are willing to stay with it, we may just work towards building Beloved Community.
