I just read this very frustrating article ([version without paywall](http://archive.today/2026.09.24-124236/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/22/magazine/greenfield-last-ditch-bar-backlash/)) about a small lesbian bar/mutual aid spot getting destroyed by some people who act like the worst possible caricature or an insufferable, self-important, holier-than-thou leftists.  

  

It's not even that those people exist and what they are doing that's so frustrating for me to read, but the inability of the wider community there to just tell those people to fuck off.  

And I get why they can't, I'm not sure I could myself. We generally pride ourselves in our inclusivity and willingness to accommodate needs other than our own. It's super hard to figure out where exactly the limit to that should be.

  

I have had similar if less extreme experiences with people who are weaponizing their own or other peoples oppression in this way in activist groups irl. The only time I ever witnessed someone like that getting kicked out was after that person had caused chaos and bound up a ton of resources for well over a year with many different incidents.

  

My question is how do we become better at dealing with this? How would you as an individual member of that bar community have tried to handle this? 

How to make leftist spaces resistant against people weaponizing other peoples emphaty for selfish reasons?