J. Ruth Kelly

Not that I have a world stage here, but I’m going to jump in on the whole Ed Sheeran/Macklemore controversy and say that I’m with those who are in a position to protect what’s precious. Ed Sheeran is protecting something precious. Mackelmore et. al. is as well. But I’m wondering how many folks have read Sheeran’s remarks on the controversy surrounding Macklemore’s removal from the tour. Ed did everything he could, short of abandoning people for whom he is responsible. Livelihoods rely on Ed Sheeran continuing the tour. Whether or not he could personally take the hit, he is a business entity with attached participants who can’t afford the loss. And he has a unique fan base to protect.

I was ranting about Gaza before it was widely accepted, cringing every time I posted, waiting for the accusations. This was over 10 years ago. But then I went through a stretch in my life when I couldn’t keep up with Gaza or many other things. The stress & demand as mother of 3 & much else (chronic illness) pulled me into a time of mostly exclusive focus on my world & on non-stressful news. I didn’t have the pressure of folks judging me for not standing up for the same issues I’d always stood for.

My own experience gives me pause when I encounter controversy around advocacy & especially condemnation of those who don’t speak up. It’s complicated, peeling back the layers of moral accountability. On the world stage, those who wield decisions directly impacting lives are the ones most responsible. Then we could establish secondary accountability and group folks who’re able to influence the decisionmakers as thus accountable. And then we could look at influencers of all types and say that they reside in tertiary accountability. But we would need to ask ourselves what levels of demand and need exert limitations on the tertiary accountability and would those limitations move them down a notch or two in accountability. And on we go.

Besides looking at accountability, we need to also regard the ways people advocate. We have the most basic form of advocacy: using our voice. And we have other forms of advocacy: using finances, networking with folks who organize protests of varying types, using our platform, should we have one, to speak up or influence support for the suffering.

Let’s focus on the one form of advocacy we seem to love the most here: speaking up. It’s easy to say that to not choose to speak up is to side with the bully or the killer or whomever is guilty of destroying what is precious. But it’s also so reductive it risks becoming that which targets what is precious. For instance, I’m healing early childhood sexual trauma at this point on my path, and as a result, my capacity for even looking at what’s going on in the world right now is massively diminished. Simple things, as well as stressful things can set me back profoundly. Then there are those who have wounds and are unable to deal with stressful dynamics because of those wounds and all they know is that they just don’t have it. They aren’t sure why they don’t have it to speak up; they just don’t have it. Our lives can become so besieged and beleaguered by demands and poverty and overwhelming situations that we aren’t able to develop the self-awareness to know why we turn and run when we see conflict that needs intervention. Or why we pause and cringe and can’t come up with the right words or find ourselves shaking all over when it’s time to face something challenging. Let’s look at that and ask ourselves which culture creates bombs. Let’s think of this and ask ourselves what societal constructs insist on productivity and profit over wholeness. And then let’s notice that same culture and society is what has injured people’s spirits such that they are not able to speak up without it costing more than they have to give. Every transaction we embrace requires something of us. You can argue that advocacy gives back, but I would argue that you are being reductive, once again. There are people who literally cannot afford to utter one word associated with controversy or war or destruction because they have been that profoundly injured and have yet to experience the counterweights of healing, recuperation and rehabilitation. Or they are that overwhelmed by the demands of their world.

We apply our standards of productivity, accountability and advocacy as if we’re all living in the same situations. As if going to work in a soul-killing job we can’t yet escape, as if living in an economy that works against our being human, as if many other factors don’t play out in each life, adding to the overall strain. On societal and cultural levels, we are stewing in the very vibes that have caused the conflict between Israel/Palestine. We have not wrested our world from the reign of power over and greed, from toxic patriarchy and misogyny (the stuff of rape & family of origin wounding which can disable and trap lives). The truth is, this reign is insidious, reaching into our daily lives and impacting how we look at our own preciousness, our value. If we truly care about the root cause of genocide, then we care to protect those who must choose to spare their spirit and wait to speak up or find other ways to support the marginalized. We either/or ourselves into destroying the very value we’re screaming about as advocates when we do not give room for people to choose their seasons of silence. Or we don’t give room for the fact that some folks are just so mentally and spiritually bankrupt, they don’t know why they can’t speak up.

Imagine a world where there is freedom to take the space to avoid controversy and political discourse and imagine such freedom is as valuable as human life. In fact, know that it is that valuable and know that it is as valuable as human life because humans literally require spaces free of controversy and political discourse so they may heal and be who they truly are in love and truth, beyond fear and shame. We must never assume that we are all able to raise our voices. And if we judge those who don’t raise their voices, are we not seeing the privilege we reside? We are privileged to see clearly since our lives have afforded us the room to know what matters. Many lives do not encounter the room to know what matters. We are privileged to speak up since the trajectory of our lives has not so crushed our spirit that we have no idea how precious we are, let alone how precious are those who live half a world away.

Look at your privilege when you rise to condemn the silent. Look at your privilege when you assume indifference and apathy are the root cause of silence. You must first be in tune with what is precious to then be able to become indifferent to what is precious. OR: You have never been in touch with your own preciousness and are thus disabled and thus indifferent to the value of all lives. You must first know the value of your own life to be able to recognize the value of action and movement in defense of life to then become apathetic to the causes that nurture life. And then, there are those who are active in advocacy because they’ve been guilted into action. Or they want the payoff. Or some mixture thereof.

I love Elie Wiesel. I agree with him. Indifference is deadly. We must be careful to avoid becoming indifferent to the complexity of being human and of creating a world free of toxic paradigms insisting our humanity march along a rote line of compliance to the truths we embrace. I bet Wiesel wouldn’t insist those with broken legs run to douse the burning buildings. Let’s agree that mental and psychological wounds, societal and economic burdens are as devastating, (often moreso in the long term) as broken legs.

Let’s also agree that we do have seasons in our lives when we are drawn to focus on specific things that pull us away from the turmoil in the world and into our unique purpose. We must not lose sight of why we advocate. We advocate because life is precious, every single aspect of what it is to live and be human is precious, including choosing our times of silence.

Looking at musicians or artists, we cannot afford to be any less in tune with what is precious. The humanity of each musician, each artist, every layer of their lives and the lives influenced by these folks is as precious as the causes we embrace. Ed Sheeran is one who wants to provide space for youth, and for those whose needs require minimal to no exposure to politically-charged causes, or even just stress. I massively appreciate both Sheeran and Macklemore because of who they are uniquely and hope they’ll be able to share a stage in the future. But we need to live in a world that gives room for humans being human. I believe we can embrace advocacy without losing sight of our needs and limitations. If Sheeran were cheering for genocide, I’d be booing him off the stage. I’d boo anyone cheering for genocide, if I had the strength to do so. I’ll say this again: Ed Sheeran fought to have Macklemore and others stay. He hates genocide.

Toxic masculinity bombs refugee encampments and creeps into dogma and arrests compassion. It seizes the stuff of being human even if we’re not strapping ourselves into a B-52. The effects of toxic masculinity (oppressive patriarchy) is everywhere and does not discriminate against advocates. Beware the bully within, insisting we all goddamn get our asses in gear, bootstrap pronto, and start screaming right this minute about the genocide. Seriously. Also, Free Palestine.

Yep. I’m continuing the commentary on Sheeran. The above screenshot depicts Sheeran in a freezeframe example of his heart.

If we start calling each other out for which horror we’re not remembering to scream about, then we’ll be stuck on the stage for hours listing all the atrocities and the singing will end. We have every right to choose not to speak up at times. And any artist/musician/public figure out there has that same right. And that right is inherent, residing in the immeasurable value of each life. We can’t tear each other down and not ask ourselves what energy we’re actually partaking of in doing so. And if you take that same energy and weaponize it, do you have the makings of a war, the type of war that bombs people for not being like us? And no, it’s not a given that you do have that same energy.

I love that the group from Ireland bowed out with a bow to Ed and their friendship, not trashing him or their bond. They honored his vision while honoring their own and I imagine they’ll sing together one day because they both protected what they’re committed to and they did so in love and truth.