So I feel like this post is one of those only a matter of time until I hit this point posts. And it’s going to be a long one. And I doubt anything that I say is going to bring about any sort of real or effective change. And something I say is probably going to piss someone off and bring me their hate. But my audience isn’t big enough for me to fear that. Most of you are extremely quiet, and most of you are IRL friends.
I have had some incredible luck of being in the right place at the right time. It has taken me on some of the most thrilling adventures, and helped me discover passions I didn’t know I had. Along they way I have met and worked with some of the most incredible, kind, wonderful, and miraculous human beings. I’m talking those kinds of people that walk into your life and you know they are destined for something beyond words. I have also met and worked some of the most despicable scum imaginable.
Over the last handful of years, a lot of more known folks in my online community have come under fire. Most of these folks have deserved every bit of hate I have seen. They are the people who make my skin crawl just thinking that I used to consider them my friends, that I let them pull the wool over my eyes and believe they were decent humans. (That is not to say that everything they did was bad, but the bad things they did were evil to the point of unforgivable.)
But there are a small handful of folks that have been pulled down and torn apart by this website with no more than an “i bet...” or an “i wouldn’t doubt it if....” These kinds of posts and these kinds of expressions have skyrocketed in popularity and severity as these folks have become more and more popular.
I hold very strongly to the belief that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Our opinions and our thoughts are what make us human and individuals. If someone’s work does not appeal to you, fine. Let it be. If you can’t let it be, write out why you don’t like it and move on. More importantly let them be. If someone bugs you that much ignore everything about them. Blacklist them, don’t follow them, change topics when they come up in conversation. But don’t spread shit about them. I am tired of seeing people I care about, that I call my friends and mentors, people I admire being shunned by baseless accusations and a mob mentality. Tagging someone on a post filled with hate and such claims in order to get a reaction is a shit way to be and makes me question why I’m still on this site. Most importantly false accusations and insinuations of grievous offenses as a means to insult and attack a person’s character do nothing but harm, especially to those who are actual victims of actual offenses.
Nobody is perfect. I sure as hell know I’m not perfect. We all have done things that are problematic in the past, and if you believe that you haven’t done anything problematic you either need to take a good long hard look at your life and reevaluate OR you’ve transcended the human experience and have fun in nirvana. Pointing out other peoples’ problematic wrongdoings, especially the ones that have happened and have been acknowledged as being problematic by the perpetrator is like continually calling out the teacher on that one time on the first day of school when they made a spelling mistake...three years later.
I used to really enjoy being on this site. I have forged some incredible friendships and met and interacted with some of my favorite humans here. It has taught me a lot about the world and introduced me to topics and issues I didn’t know existed or had any real understanding about. But I think it’s time that I take a nice big break from Tumblr. At least the side of Tumblr that is attacking my friends. Over the years I have unfollowed any blog that has posted or reblogged any hate or attacks against my friends. I know I’ll probably come back at some point, but for now, a break is definitely needed.
Before I leave, I want to just pass on one last thing -
Say you’re reading a book, and you find you don’t feel like you can relate to any of the characters. You like the story, the plot’s interesting, but you’re looking for a book with a main character to whom you can relate. Say that book doesn’t exist yet.
Go write that book. Write the characters you want to read and the plot you want to live. Chances are, someone else also wants to read that book and relate to that character.
It’ll sure as hell create a lot more pleasant things in this world than terrorizing people who have done nothing but be kind, accessible, and successful humans.
