this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
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askchapo

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[Advice wanted]How much investigation is sufficient for someone to have the "right to speak" on a topic for which they are an outsider? [Serious] (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 month ago by Acute_Engles@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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[The tone of this post is earnest, not in any way meant to be a complaint. I want to be a better comrade]

I'm someone with a very dense cross-section of privileges. (If i didn't grow up poor i might win the least oppressed demographic trophy)

This makes me feel as though I cannot speak on anything important without coming across like I'm whitemansplaining, regardless of whether I consider myself knowledgeable on the topic.

Should i just accept that my voice isn't really needed in most conversations? (A white guy telling an iranian expat that Reza Pahlavi was actually not good for iranians isn't ever going to accomplish anything, is it?)

Not to say I'm an encyclopedia of theory but i consider myself well enough read to apply dialectical and historical materialist analysis to most topics.

I spend a lot of time around people of all walks of life and I feel as though it's kinda disrespectful of me to pipe up and correct the record on basically any topic beyond the mundane like videogame strategy.

I guess i don't even really know what kind of answer I'm looking for here. Maybe just validation that it's ok for me to be silent when someone is just plain wrong about an important topic? Idk. Thanks for reading

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[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago

With that though, white people respond to white voices. If you have a presence that makes other privileged folks listen, use that to make up for others and pull privileged folks towards a more sound politics.

And use that privilege to echo and credit less privileged voices. Checking your privilege is half of the equation, knowing how to use it to uplift the people who are usually ignored because of it is way more important.