TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 Yeah, that's basically it. And they seem to be very against white/cis/straight people and men, too. I mean I understand that those are the majorities/more privileged people (and I myself are neither cis, straight, or a man) but a lot of the community seem to act like those groups are problematic by nature and that the people of color/trans/lgbt/women can't do any wrong, which is false. I'm all for equality and feminism but those Tumblr social justice warriors need to chill. And then, back with fandoms, when people are literally told to kill themselves for not liking something, and they get death threats? Really? Really? I remember getting anon hate because I posted something about how people shouldn't keep foxes and other exotic animals as pets. I was 14. I still agree with what I said but not only did the op of the post I replied to rudely attacked me on it ("what do you expect me to do, release him into the wild bawwawwawwaw" for harmony's sake, chill. I never even mentioned that. I'm not stupid; I know your fox wouldn't survive in the wild) and their followers came at me like a pack of wild dogs. And people joke about hipster bloggers posting pics of sunsets and coffee. but the hipster blogs don't cause the problems here. I do like all the Cosmere headcanons, and I do use it for news (not as a source per say, but if something happens the community will most likely blow up.) Last I heard, Tumblr had gone privilege-crazy and someone had brought up "tall privilege," whatever the heck that is. It's ironic, really, that there are so many people on that site committed to social justice, but whenever someone disagrees, or agrees but points out a flaw, they jump on them like a school of piranha and strip them bare. For a site that is supposed to be all about different opinions being expressed in new and creative ways, there's an awful lot of people who get up in arms about people who think differently than they do. On the fandom side of it, I should've just stuck with the Doctor Who Official and not sought out anyone else. That was the page that led me to the BBC Twitter feed, which allowed me to learn Peter Capaldi was cast as the Twelfth Doctor as it happened….but the other fans are bananas. Seriously. They're insane. If you don't enjoy the show the exact same way they do, and love the exact same episodes, for the exact same reasons, you're not one of them and you must be destroyed. delete. delete. delete.
Kestrel she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 Oh my GOD i never even heard of that. Oh my god. Oh. My. Ok. Well that's quite an interesting turn of events. I mean I can kinda see where that's coming from (there are a lot of things that are just catered to one size person, the quote on quote "average") but um. I don't think that's even a valid thing tumblr what are you doing However, there are some good jokes. That. Is so accurate though. So accurate it hurts. The community itself is so scattered on what the definition of half the words they're using its.. wow. Tumblr, where you can be free to express your opinion, some restrictions apply. Honestly, I've only really noticed that in the "superwholock" spectrum. But granted, that's the only real fandom I see on my dash now besides Cosmere and Steven Universe (and I don't even watch that) so I can't say for sure. But. I don't see it often in the Marvel fandom, nor do I see it in SU (except I think something happened canonly in the show recently and its all flaming and I'm sitting here like "who the heck is that"). Can't say for mlp really; I rarely see it on my dash. But yeah, Superwholocks be like There was a great example post of this but I can't post it here because of the nasty langauge used but it was the funniest thing I ever saw. There was another one talking about the fandom that never mentioned the name, and the second reply was "we all know who this is about" and the third went "we better keep this SUPER LOCKed down because we don't want them to know WHO" and the last was "if this is about superwholock you best keep YOUR MOUTHS SHUT." Honestly, its really entertaining. But. That's just me, probably. With that, I'm out. Its 1 am. I should sleep. I think. Who knows. I might troll tumblr. In the mood. 1
Delightful Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 What does cis mean? And yeah, I don't know tumblr, but in general: tolerance and political correctness and all that kind of thing is wonderful and good as long as the point of it is basic humanity and treating each other right. But it goes way off when it becomes "you do not believe specific set of my beliefs about how to treat other people/how the universe works/whatever. You are WRONG. Destroy. DESTROOYYY" If you're not allowed to disagree or express a different opinion, that just defeats the whole purpose.
Kasimir he/him Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) I know you probably didn't mean to do it but that's genius. Man, the people on Tumblr can't accept that people screw up and make mistakes and then change. They always just hammer stuff so hard. Honestly, if I had been on their in middle school or something, I would have been beaten up on the internet so badly because of how a lot of the community there acts. Of course, there are some very nice people but for the most part. Eep. I would say that the problem with a lot of the Tumblr community is not just that, but that they're applying the ideas of social justice with: A) very little real understanding, B ) a lot of rigidity/inflexibility. As you and Twi pointed out, they can't accept that people screw up and make mistakes and change, and they basically end up appealing to ideas that need to be used very cautiously and with circumspection. This IMO particularly shines through in the very Tumblr way issues of social justice mesh with fandom. Silencing, prejudice, privilege are real issues. I don't think most people will deny that. But like most real-world issues, they are complex and very tangled and need to be approached with caution and respect for what we're talking about. In that regard, Tumblr very often fails and tries to conflate things and boil them down. In doing so, they lose touch with a lot of the nuances and subtleties that characterise how these issues ought to be handled. Very simply put, not everything is silencing. When we appeal to pet terms, we must be careful to use them right. I've seen Tumblr fans rant on about an author oppressing and silencing them because he gave his own WoB (well, WoA in this case...) about his characters. But they regarded it as him silencing their opinions because Death of the Author etcetera etcetera...and started to launch a systematic justice campaign. If we do not use our concepts right, then they lose their power. Terms like 'silencing' are powerful but vague; vague because they attempt to point to often-overlooked phenomena, some of which we lack the ability to coherently talk about. They become watered down and weak when 'silencing' starts to refer to everything the Tumblr community disapproves of. They lose their ability to do actual discursive work. ... I guess that's as explicit as I want to be about my views on those. But suffice to say, there's a reason I avoid Tumblr and refuse to touch it with a ten foot pole. Livejournal used to be like this. Goodness knows I've seen my fair share of fandom scraps there. Edit: Delightful--cis is short for 'cissexual/cisgender'. It's defined as a person who feels at home with the body they're born to (i.e. you identify with your physical sex.) Edited June 21, 2015 by Kasimir 1
Delightful Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 So is cis the opposite of trans, or is there more to it than that?
Kasimir he/him Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 So is cis the opposite of trans, or is there more to it than that? It's a crude way to put it; it's not incorrect, but it's not technically correct either. As you can see from Tumblr, there is a whole spectrum of gender identities (especially since a lot of people there reject the gender binary.) Because I'd rather not wade into the issue of third genders and people who identify as being agendered and so on, let me just put it this way: there are people who refer to themselves as being 'queer'. Identifying as 'queer' is one of those things that encompasses a lot of positions, but the general unifying core is a rejection of the gender binary or 'fixed' gender identities, so strictly male/female. So if you are not cis, you could be trans, meaning you identify as the opposite gender. Or you could be queer; in which case, you at the very least reject the binary and the need to identify as (and possibly present as) male or female. *This does not reflect my opinions and this only reflects my admittedly somewhat shallow understanding of issues. Please feel free to correct me if my use of language is imprecise, or if I'm missing important features here
Kestrel she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 All the points made here are so accurate it hurts. None on that website actually does their research and I know a lot has good intentions but they go about it the complete wrong way. People change, and there are younger users who might not be educated on there and simply ask questions that get them backlash. For example, the question Delightful asked- "what does cis mean?" Perfectly harmless, good question. (Which you answered very well, Kasimir). Had that been on Tumblr, you might have gotten horrible backlash from the trans/non-binary community simply for not knowing, called horrible things, called oppressive. Simply for asking a question, which I find to be ridiculous. If was don't ask, we won't grow and learn, and Tumblr doesn't seem to understand that fact. Because not everyone is perfect! But yeah, Kasimir answered the question. The whole gender identity/sexuality question is so varied and unique for each person. I've been debating what I am forever, and for a while I just went by cis pronouns but lately I've kinda gone away from those, deciding to go by agender "they/them" pronouns. I still don't mind she/her, though. There are also other non-binary pronouns people can use, but I don't know those off the top of my head and don't want to get them wrong. There are different spectrums of non-binary genders as well: neither gender, both genders, fluid (going from male to female, female to non-binary, etc). It all just depends. 2
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 Remember how, in the last Harry Potter book, Harry goes to the Ravenclaw common room and the knocker asks him a question? Remember how Luna tells him that if he doesn't know the answer, then someone else usually comes along and the knocker will wait because "that's how you learn"? Most of the Tumblr community is like that. Only instead of waiting patiently for you to get the right answer, it waits 19 seconds before it berates you for not knowing. And if at any point during its tirade you hit on the right answer, or say "okay, I get it, stop yelling at me," it trots out all of these scary-sounding concepts like silencing and forced conformity and accuses you of promoting some sort of "(awful noun here) culture" and to "check your privilege." So basically, Tumblr is like the Ravenclaw knocker, if the Ravenclaw knocker were a total jerk. 2
+Slowswift Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 On one hand, tumblr has sounded interesting to me because there's really no other medium quite like it. I'm not sure how to describe it -- it's a place where you can just pop off random thoughts (but not in the same way as Facebook) and things. Then I see stuff like this and content myself with screenshots from Pinterest.
Kasimir he/him Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) Remember how, in the last Harry Potter book, Harry goes to the Ravenclaw common room and the knocker asks him a question? Remember how Luna tells him that if he doesn't know the answer, then someone else usually comes along and the knocker will wait because "that's how you learn"? Most of the Tumblr community is like that. Only instead of waiting patiently for you to get the right answer, it waits 19 seconds before it berates you for not knowing. And if at any point during its tirade you hit on the right answer, or say "okay, I get it, stop yelling at me," it trots out all of these scary-sounding concepts like silencing and forced conformity and accuses you of promoting some sort of "(awful noun here) culture" and to "check your privilege." So basically, Tumblr is like the Ravenclaw knocker, if the Ravenclaw knocker were a total jerk. And Lord Ruler help you if you suggest anything along the lines of "Uh, guys, maybe we could discuss our differences in a civilised manner like rational beings...?" before more shouting of silencing and privilege come along. Again, they're not wrong about discourse being controlled, but it's [=these concepts are] meant to call attention to how minority anger is generally swept under the carpet and how terms of discourse are very good at silencing minority expression, not as a blank cheque to be as much of a cremhead as you like to all sorts of passers-by... Unfortunately, to their detriment, a number of people make that conflation... Edit: Also, Slowswift--I'd say that at least IMO, the key is to just be circumspect about how you use Tumblr and to not take these things too personally if such a Tumblr pile-up does occur on you. Which is awfully hard because it can feel like they're all hating you and gathering to rip your guts out with your teeth, but that's what supportive communities like 17S are for Disengaging is hard but it's a necessary thing to be able to do nowadays, and increasingly so. There are good points to Tumblr--exactly as you pointed out. And sometimes, it's just about finding the right community of people. Over-aggressive cremheads are all over the place, but there are great people there too, as Lark has pointed out. Some of my fellow fans from a different forum frequent Tumblr too and they're generally rather chill people. tldr; If you're interested in the medium, go for it. Just be cautious about how you use it. Edited June 21, 2015 by Kasimir 1
Kaymyth she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 I...I am very glad that I have avoided the violent wildscape that is Tumblr. Eeesh. But yes, gender is much, much more complicated than a lot of folks think it is. I do have some sympathy for the scary Tumblr folks, because you do have to wonder what sort of horrible experiences they have had to leave them so badly damaged that they can't even handle an innocent, honest question without falling into a frothing rage. There is a lot of prejudice, and there are a lot of clueless overprivileged people who cannot fathom that anyone falls outside their precious little boxes, but understanding goes both ways. One does not get to say, "People need to understand me, but it is not my job to educate them how dare they not already know everything!" and still be walking the moral high road. The people in my life are a crazy dichotomy right now. One the one hand, I've got the person who was my first college boyfriend - she has just come out as trans, and my first reaction was, "Yeah, I can see that." And then I've got my brother posting some seriously transphobic drivel on his Facebook, and my mom and aunt have actually been liking the posts, and I just have to keep my mouth shut lest I kick off a family war. So I left my family completely out of my housewarming party, because there is no way that I am letting that crap loose amongst my (super-liberal, many on the LGBT spectrum) friends. No. So much no. The relatives aren't all bad; my dad's family and my in-laws are much easier people for me to be around. And as to the housewarming, we actually never wound up firing up a single video game. Mostly, we hung around and chatted, and then finished up the night with a rousing 2 1/2 hour game of Cards Against Humanity. And for those of you who have the game, I highly recommend adding this customized card to your black card stack: __________, __________. A Jedi craves not these things. 3
Quiver he/him Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 The only tumblr stuff I've ever seen is the Sydney Scroungers stuff (through this site) and some "Ask Pony" blogs. I have no idea how, but I seem to walk between the raindrops of internet chullishness. Every online community I've ever been part of has been 99% awesome people. 2
ThirdGen Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 I think this should clear everything up. People holding fast to principles that don't apply to the situation being discussed - I mean,
Kestrel she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) Agreed with all posted here. Don't have much else to say on the subject without repeating myself. I've been tempted to post a gender thread on here, but my experiences in Tumblr have kinda held me back. I might post it now. The replies here have made me happy. My family is disgustingly homophobic/transphobic. My mom isn't so much homophobic as she is ignorant about the subject (if I ever told her I was pan she'd dismiss it as a phase) but she doesn't openly hate lgbt people, you know what I mean? But my dad. Transphobic, homophobic. Help me. I do agree that Tumblr can be used safely without backlash. Just don't turn on anon asks, and don't post anything that you might regret. I normally keep mine to personal posts (wot liveblogs, photos of pets, selfies, my art, etc) but I reblog all my social issues, etc because you're far less likely to get hate from that. Every online community I've ever been part of has been 99% awesome people.I'm that 1% Edited June 21, 2015 by LarkoftheRiver
Mistrunner Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) Agh. I didn't know Tumblr was that bad. Of course, I never really paid any attention to it, so... The internet can be used for so many awesome things. It can find information on horribly obscure things in seconds, connect you with family and friends while they're away, and get you onto a community with other amazing and beautiful Sanderfans. But people choose to use it as a platform to express horrifyingly angry opinions. I have strong opinions. I'm very conservative, very religious, and very patriotic. But I'm not going to yell and curse at someone for having a different opinion than I do. I honestly get scared by it. I will respect your opinion. Of course, this is my exception: I will not respect your opinion if you insult military people. They gave lives, time with families, and years of their lives just so you have the freedom to call them names. I don't comment on online things (Facebook is the only social media place where I actually have an account) so I won't call you out on it, but I won't respect that. Anyway. Off with the seriousness. Have any of you heard of Brian Reagan? He is hilarious. Edited June 21, 2015 by mistrunner 2
Kestrel she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 on a side note sanderson wrote a fic about kelsier meeting moirine from wot and I'm wheezing so hard. I'm not breathing. This is the death of me. Wot and mistborn spoilers. I managed to spoil wot for myself by reading this. Well some of it. Idk just read the thing.
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 Agh. I didn't know Tumblr was that bad. Of course, I never really paid any attention to it, so... The internet can be used for so many awesome things. It can find information on horribly obscure things in seconds, connect you with family and friends while they're away, and get you onto a community with other amazing and beautiful Sanderfans. But people choose to use it as a platform to express horrifyingly angry opinions. I have strong opinions. I'm very conservative, very religious, and very patriotic. But I'm not going to yell and curse at someone for having a different opinion than I do. I honestly get scared by it. I will respect your opinion. Of course, this is my exception: I will not respect your opinion if you insult military people. They gave lives, time with families, and years of their lives just so you have the freedom to call them names. I don't comment on online things (Facebook is the only social media place where I actually have an account) so I won't call you out on it, but I won't respect that. Anyway. Off with the seriousness. Have any of you heard of Brian Reagan? He is hilarious. My take: For me, it doesn't matter if I agree with your lifestyle choices or not. I will not abide mocking you for those choices. I won't mock anyone for how they dress or how they behave, and I won't mock opinions. The world is full of enough hurt and misunderstanding; mocking someone for doing something you don't like is wrong. Plain and simple. On another note: I LOVE Brian Reagan! His emergency room sketch is HILARIOUS! 3
Kestrel she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 My take: For me, it doesn't matter if I agree with your lifestyle choices or not. I will not abide mocking you for those choices. I won't mock anyone for how they dress or how they behave, and I won't mock opinions. The world is full of enough hurt and misunderstanding; mocking someone for doing something you don't like is wrong. Plain and simple.THIS. Thank you.
Redbird he/him Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 Why yes, I have heard of him, and I've seen a bunch of his sketches. He is quite hilarious.
+Slowswift Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 I would like to start with this disclaimer: I'm a teenager living with my parents. I'm still trying to straighten my beliefs out myself, so apologies if this appears contradictory or confusing. My take: For me, it doesn't matter if I agree with your lifestyle choices or not. I will not abide mocking you for those choices. I won't mock anyone for how they dress or how they behave, and I won't mock opinions. The world is full of enough hurt and misunderstanding; mocking someone for doing something you don't like is wrong. Plain and simple. This. I may not agree with your beliefs, in fact, I might find them downright disagreeable. That doesn't mean you're a terrible person. For example (and please don't hate me for this) I believe in marriage between one man and one woman*. I do not agree with same-gender attraction. At all. But that does not mean I don't like you or think you don't deserve rights -- of course you do! You're a human being! What matters is not if you agree with x political thing or are y-gender or anything , what matters is whether or not you are a good storming person!** But it's your life, your choices, and you have every right to believe what you want. ...but your opinion ceases to be valid once you start throwing hate around to people who have been nothing but respectful in stating their beliefs. Just sayin'. And again, I won't yell at someone for disrespecting them- at most I might say "please stop it"- but I won't respect that opinion. I'll still respect the person, but I won't respect that.*** THIS. On another note, fig newtons. That is all. *This actually expresses it pretty well. **Of course, this is vastly simplifying it all. I feel there are other aspects as well. Feel free to argue it in a PM if you like. My intention here is not to offend anybody, but to explain what I believe. ***Emphasis mine. 3
Kestrel she/her Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 For example (and please don't hate me for this) I believe in marriage between one man and one woman*. I do not agree with same-gender attraction. At all. But that does not mean I don't like you or think you don't deserve rights -- of course you do! You're a human being! What matters is not if you agree with x political thing or are y-gender or anything , what matters is whether or not you are a good storming person!**I was about to go off, then I read the whole post. Frankly, I don't see why (but not fishing for an argument here in any way, shape or form) but I respect your opinions as you respect mine. There's always going to be people who disagree with anything on topics like this due to religion, etc, but that doesn't mean we have to tear each other apart!For me, its your life, and you can do whatever you like with it because its none of my concern! Unless you're hurting others, then it isn't anything for me to get uppity about. 3
+Slowswift Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) I was about to go off, then I read the whole post. Frankly, I don't see why (but not fishing for an argument here in any way, shape or form) but I respect your opinions as you respect mine. There's always going to be people who disagree with anything on topics like this due to religion, etc, but that doesn't mean we have to tear each other apart! For me, its your life, and you can do whatever you like with it because its none of my concern! Unless you're hurting others, then it isn't anything for me to get uppity about. Well said. ... Who the heck eats two cookies?! Edited June 21, 2015 by Slowswift 1
Kestrel she/her Posted June 22, 2015 Posted June 22, 2015 I once ate an entire box of cookies at once Band trip Never doing that again
TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her Posted June 22, 2015 Posted June 22, 2015 I once ate an entire box of cookies at once Band trip Never doing that again What kind of cookies?
Recommended Posts