Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

More comments saved from other people's journals and blogs: ( reviewing books, different meanings of 'sanity', likes and dislikes, what 'sapiosexual' means, Goldberry and Tom Bombadil, 'safe space' )

More saved comments: ( poetry and structure, comfort food, warnings for disturbing content, the distinctions languages make, reading and rereading, 'guilty' pleasures )

These include stuff from DW, and this will be cross-posted. ( resistance to change, obligations--and lack thereof, choice of terminology, gender, 'natural' )

Another collection of comments. ( resolutions, sexual orientation and relationships, clothing and perceived gender, names and use-names, awareness of race, sleep and waking )

Another set of saved comments from my journal, for later reference and, if you want, discussion here: ( defining people, avoiding overcommitment, what understanding people might mean, friendship and romantic relationships, being angry at lots of people, testing )

More saved comments. ( favors and owing people things, heirlooms, anything worth doing…, the difference between consequences and punishment, hugging )

More saved comments. (  'straightness' and what counts as attractive, history, silliness, reactions to other people's emotions, guilt as a motivator for anti-racist acts, passing time and old t-shirts, packrat tendencies )

I hadn't planned to post as part of the International Blog Against Racism Week, because I didn't think I had anything insightful to say. Then I was reading comments to elisem's IBARW post about jokes, and the ways she tensed up at some kinds of introductions, and the occasional joke that turns the assumptions on their head. And shadowhwk's comment led me to say this:

Doing the right thing from inferior motives is still doing the right thing.

Someone who doesn't steal because she believes it is inherently wrong, or thinks about the potential victim, may be a better person than someone who doesn't steal because she's worried about being sent to jail. But either is better than someone who figures what the hell, he'll steal because it's what he wants to do and there's no point suppressing his impulses.

The point of challenging racism isn't that it makes me a better person. It's that racism is evil and destructive and should be challenged, whether I do it from compassion, abstract belief in justice, or even guilt. It's not as though feeling guilty and not challenging racism helps anything.