"Transformative justice is relational, it happens at the scale of community. Call outs now often happen at the scale of viral threads amongst strangers."
– adrienne maree brown
I never call out an individual person online.
No matter how much harm they've done. No matter how powerful they are. No matter how much I (and others) may think they deserve it.
Publicly calling out an individual isn't justice. It is not transformative. It drives no impact. It affects no change.
It deepens division and hatred. It breeds more contempt and resentment. It fosters no conversation or constructive dialogue.
To be clear, not calling out individuals is not the same as not being invested in holding individuals accountable for their actions and words.
But calling out often feels like a desperate plea of righteousness with an aim to shame and vilify an individual because they have shamed and vilified other people.
And the cycle of shame and vilification continues.
The division continues. The hatred continues. The contempt and resentment continue.
The solutions are punitive, rash, and reactive.
The conversations and dialogue never begin.
The disruption doesn't actually happen. The systems are not dismantled.
The rancor and malice and bitterness win out. And the status quo remains.