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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]More observations on disability. I think this is a good point. I have never been able to figure out why they despised Dorland so much except that she didn't communicate somehow "correctly," which seems code for possible ableism. For instance, in the awful encounter described by Chip Cheeks, Dorland seemed to do everything technically right (welcomed him, gave him advice, etc.) but he still mocked her mercilessly behind her back. The savaging of the group seems beyond normal dislike, and I do wonder if there is some virulent ableism underneath it all (probably also classism).

[twitter]https://twitter.com/meg_wins/status/1446681861997072387[/twitter] [/quote]

I don't think their disdain for Dawn comes from ableism. Some groups of people are just mean and enjoy being mean. The fact that in all of this, not one of them can point to or share anything concrete that Dawn did to draw their vitriol is most telling. Who remembers the b*%#& eating crackers some e card thing from back when memes were getting started? Dawn clearly was the B eating crackers for this group of people, and every single thing she did (or didn't do) became fodder for them to ridicule her more. I think their dislike of Dawn is grounded in classism and a need to keep people in their place, and Dawn was clearly not aware that this group was still playing those mean girl games.

[/quote]

But I get the sense that part of the issue here is that Dawn never played “mean girl games.” Her descriptions of her childhood and adolescence are of a lonely existence being ostracized fit the crime of being poor, and worse— having the wrong parents. She talks about getting most of her validation and support from adults — teachers, musicians, others who took an interest.

It’s not that Dawn outgrew mean girl politics. She did not have the kind of upbringing that would have allowed her to participate. Larsen and Ng and I’m guessing other Chunky Monkeys grew up middle or upper middle class suburbanites. They may have experienced being othered as AAPI or mixed, but their SES enabled them entrance into the “typical” adolescent experience. That’s how they learned how mean girl politics even work. Dawn never learned. If she had, I think she might have been savvier about the situation and known when to cut her losses. As a perpetual outsider, she saw no benefit to that.

I can relate to Dawn and my upbringing was not nearly as challenging. Not everyone goes through a mean girl phase. It’s a language largely spoken by relatively privileged young women from specific backgrounds.[/quote]

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