Firstly, thank yous:

A few good friends of mine provided some feedback on Derailing for Dummies while I was writing it. They are:
hexy- check out her amazing political, ranty blog!
Shaula
zhinxy

All three of them provided some great suggestions that helped the final document and furthermore gave me the confidence to publish Derailing for Dummies.

Both hexy and Shaula kindly took Derailing for Dummies to the internet too, by promoting it on their blogs - if you are reading this, know that it's all thanks to them! I'm very grateful.

In addition, after releasing it, the following people provided suggestions for common arguments I had missed:
Beth - You're Not Being A Team Player
Victoria - I Don't Think You're As Marginalised As You Claim
Macon - But That Happens To Me Too!
Tim - You're Just Oversensitive, You Just Enjoy Being Offended, Don't You Have More Important Issues To Think About, Aren't You Treating Each Other Worse Anyway
Jen - You're Interrogating From The Wrong Perspective

Thank you to all three people very much - they're really important points and I wanted Derailing for Dummies to resonate for as many people as possible so they're very much appreciated. Please do keep them coming!

A Note About Derailing for Dummies.

Please do feel free to link to D4D anywhere at anytime. I am keeping myself anonymous because I want D4D to be considered as a universal resource; to draw the marginalised together and in alliance.
You can quote, copy and paste, and link to D4D freely, without asking permission and as often and widely as you like. Of course, I would appreciate a link back to the website in order to keep the viral network going. The only thing I ask is that you please do not claim authorship. If you see anyone with an established identity or anyone posting from an individual identity (i.e.: anything that is not "Derailing for Dummies") claiming authorship of D4D, assume they are lying.

It was inspired by a climax of events over the beginning of 2009. As a member of several marginalised groups and an ally to several other marginalised groups, I have an active interest in reading and participating widely across the internet various blogs and websites dedicated to varying, and often intersecting, issues.

Alongside being dumbstruck by the disgrace that was RaceFail 09 (this is a good place to start if you don't know what this refers to) I got embroiled in one such debate on an issue that is extremely personal for me - a marginalised group to which I belong.

I was horrified to watch as the privileged I was up against followed the exact same pattern of behaviour I had seen so many times over in RaceFail. Yet the issue at hand was completely different.
What further upset me was the privileged I was up against were people from varying marginalised communities themselves. And none of them seemed to understand how their issues could, would and DO intersect with what was on the table.

But the worst part of all?

Several of these people had taken active voices of support for People of Colour in RaceFail 09. Yes, they had the insight to see the fault and error there, but they could not apply it to other situations.

It was a deeply insulting and hurtful experience for me. Ignorance I expected from highly privileged people. But not from people who faced so much discrimination themselves, in various ways.

After it, I began to notice, across the various issues that are of particular interest to me, the same pattern. Whenever privileged people got involved in these debates - usually instigating them by approaching these spaces with a hostile/confrontational manner and a demanding sense of entitlement, but also when they position themselves as definitive experts, invoking the rightful ire of the marginalised they presume to speak for - the ensuing conversation would devolve in the exact same fashion, time after time after time.

No matter how wildly different the issues at hand were - whether they were matters of race or gender identity or sex or class - the same arguments by the privileged were put forth over and over.

(A note: I am aware issues of race, gender, sex and class frequently intersect.)

I'm a lover of satire and explorative pieces - bingo cards, 101 outlines, step-by-step instructions on how not to offend, or how to apologise.  But I realised there was nothing generic - everything was very specified to the community from which it came. Which is fantastic, they need to exist. But, I was so struck by the similarities in the derailing model - how very textbook it was, right across the board - that I wanted to make my own contribution and underline how common these tired, infuriating tactics are for all of us. I also perhaps conceitedly hope it will make us variously marginalised people more aware of these factors and how they affect those outside our experience so we stop doing it to each other as well.

Hence, Derailing for Dummies.

In writing it, I do not intend to suggest that the needs and issues of marginalised groups can be equated against each other or that they are in any way interchangeable. I also want to take this opportunity to state I am aware there are unique points that come up in various marginalised groups, unique and very specific prejudices and acts of discrimination, that are very specifc to them.

But for this project, I wanted to explore the way privileged people - including otherwise marginalised people - use the same tactics, no matter the issue, in order to derail and undermine. I was so aghast at everything that occured during RaceFail 09 and so hurt by my own experience, that I also wanted to bite back in a way, even wrangle a laugh out of it.

I hope it may prove entertaining to others as well.

Feedback is very welcome. Please email me here to submit.