Hey since Matt @analyzingtaylor has a thing about calling blocking someone for having a different opinion “bullying” now, let’s talk about when he blocked me for telling him he was being misogynistic. Cool times, cool times.
But also if someone who’s NOT blocked could pass this along to him, I’d be grateful.
Matt, I’m going to break a hard truth to you and it’s gonna sting. Brace yourself babe. Brace yourself.
You, my dear, are insignificant.
By “insignificant” I mean what you think.... is essentially pointless. It’s meaningless. Your opinions mean exactly nothing. Ever. Period. End of story. Your opinions hold no weight and have exactly Z E R O bearing on the world.
Now, this isn’t an insult... It’s truth. I also mean nothing. I’m just a person with a tumblr blog. I mean nothing. I am no one. Taylor Swift does not give a shit what I think and feel. I express my feelings and opinions gladly and openly and I feel justified in doing that, but I know that my opinions mean exactly nothing.
I know you hate it when people bring gender up because you feel too defensive and are too attached to the idea that you are not afforded different privileges and do not see the world differently from those of us who are not afforded those privileges, but this is honestly and immature attachment to an idealized version of the world that you have been given and coddled with. Privilege is nice and cushy. I would like to mention here about the original meaning and concept of “privilege” in a sociological context. (NOTE: what follows is a intro level description of an academic concept you can verify for yourself. I’d be hard pressed to discredit it off the bat. You’ll look stupid.)
So “privilege” was coined by a woman named Peggy McIntosh. She referred to it as an “invisible knapsack.” It was originally coined in the context of race and gender. She wrote a paper about white privilege and male privilege and her experiences as a white woman dealing with consequences of both.
So the “invisible knapsack” of privilege refers to all of these invisible tools that you get when you are in a privileged category that marginalized groups do not have. It’s incredible difficult for privileged people to see these tools because they’re invisible and are given to them without question. However, if you are marginalized and not afforded these tools, it’s much easier to see them. You know when you need something and you don’t have it much more than you know that you’re using something others don’t have if it’s invisible and you can’t see others not having it.
Now, this is where I note... Peggy McIntosh’s original paper discussed her experience with her own invisible knapsack as a white person as well as her experience without one as a woman. She discussed being on both sides of this. It was not an attack, it was an honest description of social inequality.
So back to you..... Honey, I’m here to tell you that you have a whole lot of male privilege that has brought you to feel special and entitled. And you’re not.
You are constantly saying that your blog is “Just opinions,” but you present it as fact. This is something men do frequently (also sociologically studied). In your invisible knapsacks, you’ve been given the tool and privilege of doing this. Of expressing your opinions outright as if they are true, objectively, and therefore other people should be influenced by them. The rest of us are not taught to do that and taught, in contrary, that expressing opinions like that displays arrogance and is rude.
But you also do this thing where you appear threatened and attacked when others disagree. If someone says “Taylor owes us nothing” in response to your opinion “Taylor owes fans a Fourth of July event with her and her friends” and your response is “Can we all not have opinions?” It’s kind of transparent.
Because if you can have an opinion, others can argue with it. Your opinions aren’t indisputable facts. They’re opinions. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, “bullying” for someone to disagree about your opinion on something. It’s life.
But that’s another thing in your invisible knapsack. Men are more likely to feel threatened when your opinions are disagreed with directly... Especially if they’re disagreed with strongly or frequently. This is because of the tool and privilege of expressing your opinion as if it is fact and should have more weight. When you do that often enough and you internalize the sentiment that you should, people disagreeing feels like an attack. The mere act of disagreeing is an act of defiance.
But again, you are insignificant. Defying you is defying an ant that you step on at the park. It means nothing. You mean nothing.
Clam down. It’s just a tumblr blog.