Misusing Audre Lorde's "master's tools" line

"to me, getting a law degree is just about using the master's tools to destroy the master's house" I have two responses to this: 1. oh honey, no... (it's always embarrassing when people reference a quote that counters the point they're trying to make)

Helen Andrews @herandrews · Mar 19, 2023

Lithwick says many female attorneys she knows feel this way about the law: no respect for its majestic authority ("I didn't go to law school because I had a deep respect for the rule of law"), but a canny appreciation for its usefulness in getting people to do what you want.

Mar 20, 2023

and 2. this is fucking terrifying what the fuck do not just give the oppressed the power their oppressors had that has never gone well (USSR & intergenerational abuse are examples of this; there are others in this book 👇)

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Nov 10, 2019

@QiaochuYuan For excellent source on: 1⃣ how being traumatized leads to abuse of power 2⃣ how people abusing often feel powerless while doing it 3⃣ how the patriarchy traumatizes men (well, boys) see this free online book Power-Under: Trauma & Nonviolent Social Change traumaandnonviolence.com

torment nexus vibes here a bit

Alex Blechman @AlexBlechman · Nov 8, 2021

Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus

to be clear, it would be one thing to say "actually you can dismantle the master's house with the master's tools; here's why Audre Lorde was confused about that" but to just casually refer to your plan with a phrase whose origin is that plan being impossible & misguided... yikes

also part of the point of this quote as I see it is to highlight that there's a *temptation* to use "the master's tools", and the need to do something different

Visakan Veerasamy @visakanv · Sep 11, 2021

you can’t bully someone into being a good person because you simply reinforce that bullying is how you get things done

quoting @hankgreen: I just feel like being an asshole to an asshole actually makes them more of an asshole.

hmmm reading the original source (collectiveliberation.org/wp-content/upl…) & this commentary I get the sense that Lorde actually meant something slightly different activistgraduateschool.org/on-the-masters…

she was talking about the necessity of not just tolerating how women are different from men, & minimizing those differences to allow women to enter into patriarchal worlds... [& other axes: race, class,.] …but leveraging the wisdom in those differences!

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Jul 4, 2021

(also: ppl say that separate from signalling value, diversity is intrinsically a source of energy. I agree, but it isn't automatically a source of *useful* energy—like a voltage difference in a battery/capacitor, if improperly handled, it will just zap you or explode things)

or wait, no, she's talking about differences but also those between women. hmm...

I think? I'm actually not totally sure, to be entirely honest. staring at the talk transcript I get the impression she's saying something more subtle; not something that is already a talking point I understand

also seems worth crediting that my capacity to understand as much as I did of what Lorde is saying here is in part due to Jess's influence

•Freyja• @utotranslucence · Feb 21, 2023

@phallusoraptors I once explained how multi-perspectival conversation and poetry were the same thing (to the right person) and… Humbly saying you’re wrong 😊