So on my posts about racism or transmisogyny, I often see tags that basically say âI donât understand this but Iâm going to reblog it anyway.â If you see a âsocial justiceâ type post that you want to reblog but donât understand?
I know this goes against everything youâre used to hearing on this website, but listen. Reblogging posts you donât understand is basically the equivalent of blindly repeating whatever youâre told. Even if youâre right, if you donât understand why youâre right, you could be spouting utter bullshit and you wouldnât even know it.
When I see âI donât know what this means but Iâm gonna reblog it anywayâ it sends a lot of messages. It says that you care more about seeming right than being right. It says that you want good ally credit without any of the work of being a good ally. It says youâre on my side because I can make a post sound good, not because you actually agree with me on anything beyond the surface level.
So instead of just reblogging that post, save it for later. Like it, draft it, bookmark it, whatever. Go to the opâs blog and skim through a couple of pages, see if you can find some context. If the post is old, you could try asking for context in a non-condescending way. âIs this post referring to something specific?â is a lot better than, say, âDoes this even happen? Iâve never heard of this.â
If that doesnât help, do some more research. Google, search tumblr tags for recent posts on a subject, ask people who have EXPLICITLY stated they are willing to educate. Maybe in the process youâll find more posts with a similar message to the original, but in easier to understand language. Maybe someone else already added a reply that adds useful information onto the op.
And maybe all of that takes a long time. Maybe, by the time you finally understand what the post was talking about, itâs months old and no longer relevant. Maybe you donât even want to reblog it anymore. Who cares, fuck that post. You learned and grew as a person. Thatâs more important than looking good on a blog.
