So here’s a scalding tea discussion I had on my discord channel that I REALLY needed to share here because truth bomb level 2000.
Friend n.1: Tumblr has got to have the world’s most twisted and wrong definitions of words you learn in
elementary school I’ve ever seen. Your art is racist if more than 50% of your OCs aren’t white,
your art is racist if less than 50% of your OCs aren’t white. I’ve seen people call art racist when it
actually does use typically negroid facial structure, and I’ve seen it called racist when it just uses
typical anyone facial structure. NEITHER ARE RACIST UNLESS YOU’RE DELVING INTO
THOSE OLD CARTOON STYLES OF BLACKFACE! You can’t win with people on tumblr, no
I’m just thinking about this because I watched a video yesterday from an artist who was chased
off tumblr over mass death threats from SJWs because her art was “fatphobic, racist, and
glorifying mental illnesses” for literally no reason. This girl didn’t have any of her identities on
mental illnesses or body image or anything available on her tumblr so people looked at her art
and went “she’s obviously cishet scum who’s white and privileged”. She wanted her art to speak
for itself and believed her identities do not matter, as they shouldn’t. The art should be stand
alone if that’s the way she wants it. She eventually tried listing her identities in a last ditch
attempt to defend herself, but ended up deleting the whole blog because people decided she
was lying. OH and almost all of her art on the blog were COMMISSIONS. You know… things
people pay you to draw, so you didn’t decide if the character is white, fat, etc.
Friend n.2: People on tumblr can be such assholes for the stupidest reasons. They champion themselves
as defenders of minorities, and then rip them down the second they step out of line. You have to
follow the herd, or you’re garbage, racist, sexist, (insert term here) to them. It’s a horrible,
horribly damaging mentality. The call-out culture has gotten so bad. If someone has an
argument with you, they will make public post saying how horrible you are. Or even if they don’t
have an argument with you and just don’t like the content you posted - well, you must be trash,
Me: I had to delete my old account for similar reasons. People said I was “allophobic” (for not
drawing sex), hated nsfw artists, and was manipulative because I refused to tolerate people
throwing acephobic comment at my face or said my opinions aloud instead of shutting up about it. Just being ace and sex repulsed meant to them that I
judged and hated sex-loving people. I will always remember that nsfw artist who drew a
character flipping off “ all Aces” because to her we were homophobic because we were sex repulsed and had issues when I
brought up to her that she had made several problematic comments that were just gross generalization or completely false. hell some people will make call out post out of the pure fact they simply don’t like you. Simple arguments turns into life ruining situations.
Friend n.1: I understand calling an ace person who says things like “people who have sex are gross”
allophobic but… simply talking about your experiences isn’t. Even saying sex is gross isn’t bad
depending on the context, heck man I say that with my friends and they laugh. It’s a running
gag. They make references and I fake gag. It’s funny.
Friend n.1: I don’t understand why some non-aspec people throw all aces under the same extremist bus
while in the same breath calling out republicans for thinking all liberals are bad because a minority are extremists. Every group of people has its extremists. That doesn’t make the entire
group bad in the vast majority of cases, which is why you should never make generalizations.
But it’s the case of “It’s ok when *I* do it, because I know best”.
Friend n.2: My experience in the ace community on tumblr was that most of the ones I encountered WERE
saying homophobic things, but that’s because they got all their info from other kids on Tumblr
and were kids themselves. They’re young and misinformed. It’s sad to see young teens spouting
this sort of bullshit, because that’s what tumblr has taught them is right.
toxic when teaching people stuff. I’ve forgot the amount of posts I’ve seen that were downright wrong about health advice and such
Friend n.2: I’ve seen legitimately dangerous advice on tumblr before
Friend n.1: But for these kids… It makes me so sad, and they refuse to listen to anyone older than them!
What the hell is wrong with gen z? I have always looked to older fandom members for
knowledge because they have more experience and usually know more than I do. Why is gen z
(I know I’m generalizing god forbid) so set in the things they learn from other kids? Instead of
listening to those who know better?
Friend n.2: It’s because the mentality is almost… cultish. You’re either with them or against them. A good
person, or a racist, sexist piece of misogynistic garbage. They’re literally that meme, the one
that used to describe the average feminist/egalitarian. Now they’re literally that overexaggerated
definition. A kid doesn’t have the maturity to understand that the world is shades of grey. So that
sort of brainwashing bullcrap works really well, especially if they’re vulnerable - LGBT, mentally
ill, etc. But there’s no way to get them out of it without them seeing it themselves because of the
very toxic mindset that keeps them in it.
And don’t get me started on those depression aesthetic blogs. There exist blogs that take
mental illness and have the whole blog basically be a mood board for it, but a glorifying mood
board. It encourages staying stuck in those negative mental states. It takes the idea of coping
and goes to the complete bad side that encourages staying in a bad place instead of getting
help. It’s frightening how much they encourage staying ill or getting worse and avoiding
treatment - straight-up attacking and demonizing people who realize they’re drowning and want
to get help. LITERALLY they put down therapy.
I got sucked into the pro-ana community when I was anorexic and the number of people who
told me they were jealous of the fact I had a chronic illness that made it hard for me to gain
weight was disgusting. The community is very much active and thriving. It genuinely is cultish. I
didn’t realize how messed up it was until I was forced out of it. I think a lot of young people who
fall in to communities like that get stuck in the same way. It’s a sense of community with people
who are suffering in the same way you are - and people who encourage *treatment* just don’t
understand. But you don’t realize how bad it is until you’ve broken away from it.
All in all, there’s a reason I avoid 95% of tumblr like the plague. The mentalities that are bred there are, on a whole just…. bad. There’s a ton of good people on tumblr, but that vocal minority
poisons the pot really really badly. It’s a hellsite.
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