sj shit – just moving along like everyone else

erin-space-goat:

fuucking. ghh

i sincerely don’t mean this as a guilt trip but

if you really think it is advancing the cause of antiracism or trans advocacy or whatever by reblogging posts that are like GUESS THIS GUY SPILLED THE TEA or “you should really reblog this” or “nobody is holding people responsible for ____” and TV comedy people saying quirky things about bigots and on and on and on. like you recognize what sort of writing style i’m talking about right?

if you are considering reblogging one of these things like i implore you to ask yourself “what am i doing this for.” what purpose does it serve? if your answer is something like, “because I have to do everything I can and ~listen to minorities~ because i need to ~unlearn my problematic tendencies~ and those oppressors need to be given what for! [by reblogging a tumblr post that most of them in all likelihood will never see]” then i guarantee you probably do not need to reblog that post!

like think about it. here is the thing. you cannot ever neutrally “learn and listen to marginalized people”. like yes it is good to listen to people and let people speak about things oppressing them but ultimately no matter what position you take you are going to be favoring some position that some people in the group may disagree with! identity groups are not monoliths, but that is the kind of thinking that SJ shit traps people into

this kind of thinking in turn encourages people, both marginalized and “allies” alike (and really almost everyone falls into both categories depending on the situation) to amplify and rebroadcast pain and outrage, because that’s the most unambiguous way to demonstrate awareness of peoples’ suffering

but like. the flip side to this is that everyone is constantly being inundated with pain and outrage. the affected group has to deal with pain on their dashboard 24/7 and other people are bombarded with guilt trippy or less overt “LISTEN HERE. YOU MIGHT BE A BIGOT IF YOU THINK…” posts whose primary effect is not to inspire real action, solidarity or working toward a better future but rather mostly encourages people to self flagellate over perceived moral failing