toxic stuff – just moving along like everyone else

jumpingjacktrash:

theenglishmanwithallthebananas:

saccharinescorpion:

okay, the reason that I get mad and antsy about posts that are like “despite what tumblbllblblbllblblr says you can like people who are problematic :)” is that God, “problematic” is the most vague wimpy bullshit baby umbrella term in the entire world

if my friend says “he’s my problematic fav ^_^” i instantly get worried because “problematic” can mean literally ANYTHING from “said something mildly insenstive about a political issue” to “voices distaste about those gosh dang horrible Latinos coming to steal American jobs” to “sexually harassed and groped his underage fans.” what did he do? who cares! it’s insignificant enough to just shove under a single bland inoffensive word and never touch it again, i guess

you’re allowed to like famous people (or like, shows or video games or whatever) that have flaws, but you can’t just hide bad things under a single tidy little word so can absolve yourself of any guilt you get over supporting a guy who’s beaten his lover or who’s whined about how there’s no more racism in America.

stop cooing to yourself and your followers that it’s okay to like ~problematic~ things, we GET it,
nobody’s perfect, so let’s move past that. grow a fucking spine and say words like “sexist” or “bigoted” outloud. and not just in a watered down “yeah she said some bad things :(” kind of way, get MEAN about! “yeah i like her work a lot, but i hate all that bullshit racist stuff she says on her Twitter” you’re allowed to like something while being loud, vocal, and angry about how much you hate the bad parts. be mean, be unpleasant, but never just be the person who gives a pass to all the bullshit that assholes can get away with in this world just because you don’t want to feel bad for liking a tv show or celebrity

The reason people make posts like that though is that a huge portion of this site DOESN’T get it and CAN’T move past it. I’ve had 16 year olds scream at me that they are in fact completely ~unproblematic~ and that no one should ever be forgiven for anything they’ve ever done, even if it was five years ago. I’ve seen huge crusades to literally drive people to suicide because they enjoyed some popular content one time. I agree that problematic is a stupid word, and it’s a good idea to pinpoint exactly WHAT it is you do and do not endorse, but I think these posts are more a response to a problem than the problem themselves.

~problematic~ culture is more about this black and white lumping of all transgressions together, not to diminish terrible things, but to uphold this puritanical idea that unless you are completely perfect at all times, you will be cast into the deepest pits of hell and you will deserve it. It’s a power structure, meant to lash out and control others and feel self righteous about it. Even worse, people will retroactively call their victims problematic, when they were actually just plain old bullying and harassing them for their sexuality, race, etc., but its all okay no questions asked because they claimed Problematic™

Thesee posts about how its okay to enjoy content even if its problematic aren’t trying to say “absolve yourself of ever thinking about what you support,” they’re trying to say “that guy who’s literally sending you death threats about your interests is wrong.” The wording may not be great, and can unfortunately lead to the situation you’ve described, but the solution isn’t to stop making these posts, its to actually try and dismantle this whole idea that a person can only ever be either a perfect saint or literal satan.

yeah, i don’t see a lot of people using ‘problematic fav’ to excuse real crimes. i see them using it as an attempt to head off the inevitable dogpile from, say, admitting you enjoyed bumbersnub cumberpickle’s work in doctor strange, even though to the purity crusader’s eye he’s Forever Tainted from playing sherlock.

on tumblr, ‘problematic’ doesn’t even mean problematic. it means someone once heard a rumor you have an unspecified prejudice, or disliked you for a different reason but didn’t think they’d get buy-in from their pet mob so they made up a prejudice, or someone misread something you said, or was in a combative mood and squinted until something you said looked kind of bad.

OP kind of looks like they’re mad someone might be doing thought crimes and not being properly shunned. that’s a real steep slip ‘n slide you’re on, OP. you might not like where it goes to.