Summary

In the article"The revolution will not be polite: The issue of nice versus good" the author, Rachael is mainly talking about how society leads us to merge between the notions “good” and “nice”, and how people benefit from this miscomprehension. She starts off , by explaining what she felt when she found non-oppressive insults online shocking the reader by her exaltation. However; pointing out the miswording that didn’t really affect her opinion. Unfortunately that didn’t concord with those thinking that being nice is most important for social justice. Rachael continues on by highlighting that being nice isn’t the key to justice. In her opinion it is achieved by the means of equality. For her “nice” leads to a lot of undergo situation controlled by hypocrisy. Actions don’t matter when they don’t reflect what we really think of certain situations or when they force people in a certain mold designed by society. Niceness could sometimes lower your defenses or can lead you to feel indebted thus giving opportunity to abusers. In addition there is no necessarily privilege coming along with niceness it is mostly run by the values and beliefs of our cultures. In addition, we have been brainwashed by the idea that we must be nice and not show our feelings. In turn, this gives others, a way to control us.  The link that people create between good and nice leads to power and authority, taking root from our social beliefs and environments. We should not confuse oppression and unkindness. Oppression is taking away your basic equity because you’re from another class of people. Unkindness is just hurting someone’s feelings without shaking the fundamentals of life. Rachael concludes by emphasizing the necessary aspect of unlinking these two different concepts. Not by using niceness as an arm but by acting and reclaiming our rights in order to disarm the oppressors.