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| (S) |
Greetings, earthlings!
So a good majority of my generation (gen Z, I think) is
pretty savvy with the internet. You get the ones who prefer Facebook, the ones
who love Twitter, and the ones who live on Tumblr.
And then each website is divided into interests and worlds,
which, in my world, a few Tumblr members have dubbed “Tumblr Island” and got
all excited about a few months back.
I don’t know the exact specifics on different blog types on
Tumblr. I know that I have blogs in three of the however-many categories, and
that one of them is a fandom blog, and I tend to dedicate far too much time to
it. That one’s for certain.
On Tumblr, you see a lot of posts going around saying things
like “everyone on Tumblr is gay until proven straight” and “we’re all queer
here”, and “so wait, this heterosexual, white, middle class person is
complaining that someone is being discriminatory against them? Pfft, they
should just stop”.
It’s a lovely community in all respects, but this sort of
behaviour is becoming far too prevalent. Only a week ago, I had a debate with a
group of social justice bloggers (you’ll have to scroll down in the tag to
find it) where they got mad at me for telling them that racism affects white
people too. (They disappeared when I started typing random Maori words and
explaining that I’m a part of an Iwi.) But the argument really shouldn’t have
had to happen in the first place. We shouldn’t live in a world where the privileged
can’t speak out about the abuse they’re facing. The whole point of ending
discrimination is to level out the playing field and help everyone to be treated
equally– but the people I’ve seen who are dedicated to this cause, are doing so
by discounting struggles of white hetero middle class privileged people.
I think everyone needs to take a step back and look at the
bigger picture. Are we promoting equality and trying to put a stop to discrimination?
Or will we wake up in thirty, forty years in a world where it’s a criminal
offence to be straight or white or live in comfortable conditions? I mean, I
love my generation for a lot of reasons, but I’m disgusted by it’s behaviour. We
have the power to make a true, meaningful difference and all we do is wreck it
more. Minority groups don’t need that kind of support. We need inclusion,
friendship, a world without discrimination.
So why is it so socially wrong to point that out to the
people who are practically turning discrimination around onto other people? Social
justice bloggers have some good ideas, and I follow a few for their opinions
that I actually do agree with, but they shoot down anyone who they think
shouldn’t complain about inequalities and discrimination.
It’s just like punishing a whole nation for the actions of a
few hundred people.
And it’s not just these comments that are (dare I say it) oppressive.
There’s a huge, huge LGBTQ* community on
Tumblr. It’s probably the one place online where everyone’s pretty much safe
from abuse for their sexualities. And that's great, but it has some concerning side-effects. On Tumblr, straight people seem to be a
minority. Everyone has their sexualities and a pride flag added to their
sidebar/description. There are posts with people puking rainbows and that seal
that shouts “GAAAAY!” (or something to that effect).
And the fandom
blogs turn it into something obnoxious. Shipping (or saying you think that
couple is a good couple), is like an Olympic sport for them. If there’s a few
queer people, or even straight, Tumblr will probably ship it. And I don’t have
a problem with it if they’re characters. Characters are fictional, there’s a certain
amount of room to move. But people? Real, living people?
I’m a part of the
Glee fandom. It’s mostly respectful. Until people start shipping Heather Morris
and Naya Rivera, or Chris Colfer and Darren Criss. Especially when the actors
have their own lives, are just friends, or are actually seeing other people.
Another
infuriating fandom; the My Chemical Romance one. Baycest, Waycest, Frerard? (In
case you don’t know much about MCR, Baycest is the lead singer and his toddler
daughter, Waycest is the lead singer and his brother, who’s also in the band,
and Frerard is the lead singer and guitarist.)
It’s sickening.
It’s gotten to the point where Frank Iero said in an interview he would prefer it if fans would
"stop making us have sex with each other," in their
fanfiction.
I guess.. the point I’m trying to make here, is that the
Tumblr community does have it’s merits, but is definitely not the most
respectful. As a generation, we have near unlimited access to the internet
(through mobile phones, wifi, etc) and have all grown up around technology and
internet access. We use it for almost everything (who else does bibliographies
for assignments and discovers that all their sources are online?) and have a connection
to almost every other person in the world. We all have our chosen social
network, whether that’s Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook. And our opinions and ideas
can be spread around more than they ever have been before.
Yet as a whole, our generation is misusing it. There are the
social justice bloggers who are so focussed on minorities that they can’t see
the struggles of majority groups that are occurring as a result of their input.
There are fandom bloggers who ship actors and actresses and ignore most ships
and pairings that are opposite-sex. And there are band bloggers who go as far
as shipping a lead singer with his three year old daughter.
The internet is dangerous. I’m not saying that as a middle-aged-stereotypical-primary-school-teacher
would, I’m saying it as a seventeen year old internet addict. Because as much
as we (could) wish it wasn’t true, it has a major influence on our lives now. We can
put our opinions out there into the world without even having to spend any
money on it. And with this channel of communication open, anyone can write
anything at any time that is disrespectful and discriminatory, just by typing
and hitting send.
This post was supposed to focus a little more on the LGBTQ*
side of things, but it’s still relevant in this community nonetheless–
especially the fact that being gay is becoming popularized, as if it were a
fashion statement.
I know I don’t want my identity seen as a fashion statement;
do you?
Follow @FRW
