#toxic activism

[creature-wizard]

So what I'm gathering is that a number of people are using the term "culturally Christian" in bad faith similar to how a lot of people have used the term "privilege" in bad faith - for example, essentially using it as an excuse to completely dismiss people's opinions.

If you see people doing this, I encourage you to just stop engaging with them. Trying to argue with someone acting in bad faith is never a good use of your time.

But also please remember that just like privilege, cultural Christianity is a thing that exists, and the term is very useful for discussing certain hegemonic realities. Please don't let these bad faith actors sour you on it completely.

[justbenice00]

Instead of using the term 'cancel culture'... (Courtesy of Claude-instant)

A more constructive approach would be to specifically address behaviors like:

Online harassment campaigns against individuals over controversial/unpopular past statements or actions, especially when unrelated to their current work.

Coordinated efforts to damage someone's career or reputation through bullying, threats or lying, rather than open debate of ideas.

Deplatforming or no-platforming controversially from public forums and debates without due process for airing all perspectives.

Purging access to previously public/accepted cultural works or ideas without public input or transparency in decision-making.

Focusing on concrete problematic trends in discourse, rather than undefinable buzzwords, allows outlining reasonable standards and alternatives for a respectful exchange of ideas. It's probably best avoided allegations of "-isms" and kept the emphasis on fair, solution-oriented discussions wherever possible.

[i-merani]

Modern day activism tries to fight every battle on all fronts and by doing so, it actually comes out as disingenuous (and ineffective). You cannot possibly care about every injustice in the world and nobody is asking you to. If everyone focused on their local conflicts and injustices, in their community, on things that they actually have experienced and know, that would be actually helpful and not this ineffective "wokism" about everything, everywhere, all of the time.

[genderfluidlucifer]

Hm you know what? I feel the need to make this post. Because it really bothers me seeing how often whites and nonblack people do this. If you make a BLM post please properly tw it. This is a huge problem I’ve seen whites and nonblack BLM activists doing and tbh I’m pretty tired of it. In fact one of my most recent toxic ex mutuals pulled this shit on me several times. (To ease the minds of any mutual/follower with anxiety the ex mutual I”m referring to is not anyone I’m currently interacting with/allowing to interact with me.) Some of you performative white and nonblaak BLM activists keep forgetting that BLM activism also involves prioritizing the mental health of black people. Not just constantly not shutting up about how governments are abusing black people right now. If you’re a white and or nonblack activist you need to catch yourself when you keep overly exposing your black mutuals and friends to all these posts. You need to check yourself when you get into the habit of frequently asking our opinions on BLM activism going on right now. The reason I say this is because constantly being exposed to BLM activism posts can be stressful as hell to black people. Yes we most likely know what’s going on with how the police are abusing black people in our neighborhood. Most of us can’t not know about it unless we go out of our way to be centrists on these issues. And even that is getting quite difficult for the most stubborn black centrist to do with how much of a spotlight is being put on BLM activism. But yeah be more mindful of how you talk about these issues to your black friends. If your black mutual/follower says they don’t want to  give an opinion on a BLM activism matter at the moment then LISTEN. Don’t you dare guilt trip them in any way, even in a subtle way, for focusing on their mental health over being an overachieving BLM activist. If you do this anyways after seeing this post you’re not really an ally. And btw this is mainly aimed at white/nonblack BLM activists right now. You cannot claim your idea of BLM activism is about black people while ignoring our mental health related boundaries. A big part of fixing the fucked up society we’re in that’s doing this is also making a more accessible mental health space for black mutuals/followers. You HAVE to prioritize our mental health in this struggle. You NEED to understand this shit is traumatizing for us. And those of us black people who’ve lost loved ones in this police state war it can be retraumatizing to keep being overexposed to this shit and be guilt tripped into not taking a break. Doing the opposite is why political activism burnout happens. You cannot pretend these issues are independent from each other. If you are white/nonblack and pro BLM you are REQUIRED to internalize what this post is saying and make sure you aren’t doing this.

White/nonblack people can rb but if you justify this toxic form of progressive activism you will be blocked. I don’t care if your black friend you’re tokenizing right now said this is ok.

[pencilwarrior01]

Expecting people to be 24/7 hypervigilant on politics is itself a gotcha tool.

Moment that you step out of politics to take a moment to breathe, and cockroaches will step in and accuse you of not doing enough, nevermind what work you may do outside of social media and acts you don't publicly announce about.

Being apolitical is a sign of privilege, yes, it's a problem, but you can't fight back evil if you're burned out, fuck's sake.

[truethingsiwishicouldsay]

So you’ve shown your ass in public and you’re having regrets

Some people have been there. Mostly really immature self-righteous types, but...it’s not unheard of.

You’re confused. After all, all you did was attack huge swaths of people’s character and lives, while making it clear that you have absolutely zero understanding of either, and are too arrogant, selfish and tone-deaf to ask for clarification. That’s not so bad, is it? Especially since you’re Right.

Except...if you’re Right, why is everyone pissed off at you right now except for the tiny number of people in your echo chamber?

They should understand. You’re Right, you’re Righteous, you don’t have to treat people as individuals with free will and valid arguments, they’re all just trash and need to be battered with your wisdom alongside as many insults as possible. Why aren’t they thanking you for correcting them?

You’re Right! You have 1000 cites to prove a point which is...only peripherally connected to what you’re going off at them about and does nothing to “prove” your conclusions. But that doesn’t matter because of the strength of your conviction!

...what’s a fanatic again?

Anyway. Why aren’t people standing up, agreeing and overhauling their entire lives on your say-so? Why can’t you argue them out of intrinsic traits like sexuality or culture by abusing them, their choices, their loved ones and everything they say?

Anyway, why are they so angry at you for spewing insults at them and trying to invalidate a major aspect of their lives? They were so supportive of you when someone else was abusing you and attacking your life and nature. Why aren’t they on your team when you...treat them like your attackers did you?

But it’s different! You’re Right and you’re trying to help! Can’t they see the flawless virtue shining like a beacon of hope out of your ass? You’ve been depantsed and waggling it around from the beginning! Virtue! Righteousness! You’re the best! Why don’t they know that?

Anyway, so you find yourself in this situation and have no idea what to do. Things definitely have not gone as expected, since obviously they’re all stupid, ignorant filth until they accept the light of your righteous truth. They’re even telling you to go away and leave them alone! The audacity!

So what do you do? Do you keep throwing increasingly aggressive fits while screaming the same shit at them? Do you retreat into cold snobbiness while flinging more insults? Do you defame them with everything you have as revenge? Do you retreat to your echo chamber and whine while its sparse inhabitants pat your shiny ass? Do you vaguepost for days about how “obviously they’re not worthy and will have to be left out” in the hopes that we’ll beg you to come back and berate us some more?

Or do you grow up, shut up, realize that you have just alienated a bunch of people out of sheer self-righteous arrogance, and do the internal work necessary to avoid driving away huge numbers of people next time you go off on a tear? 

Nah, why do that? If they don’t drink your particular brand of Kool-Aid, they’re unworthy anyway. After all, you’re Right.

...right?

[writsgrimmyblog]

At the risk of pissing people off, I’m going to go on the record and say I’m disappointed in Louis. I hate feeling like this and I usually love his directness on Twitter and the way he talks about solidarity with fans. In this instance however, he has waded into a situation where I would have loved to see him act with the grace I’m sure he’s capable of and to explicitly make clear to ‘fans’ that death threats and abuse are never okay. He has proven himself to kind, generous and humble in the past and while I understand the instinct to react angrily to negative comments made about him, he also has a powerful voice, a fan base that can get vitriolic in defending him and a certain responsibility to act with maturity in this kind of situation. He knows full well what happens when he goes off on Twitter, it’s not the first time people he has subtweeted have found themselves on the receiving end of death threats which his silence has seemingly condoned. In this case, it appears like he’s directly defending the harassment and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. 

To fans ‘defending’ Louis with death threats and calling on Ash to delete her account, what fucked up kind of culture do we live in that people aren’t allowed to make mistakes and apologise for them? How have we got to a place where fans will allow and enable the public vilification of a generally well-liked and capable woman with far less fame than Louis without pausing to check their own vigilante behaviour? Instead of cheering Louis on, wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to tweet him about how women are repeatedly knocked off pedestals and the misogyny inherent in the entertainment industry, instead of encouraging him to join in with the bullying. Two wrongs and all that. FFS.

This ‘pile on’ mentality and binary way of seeing only the extremes of situations makes me weary. 

[fucknomeanpeople]

People, please be sympathetic! I tired of being called a “privileged butthurt tone-policing thin-skinned oppressor crybaby” - simply because I want people to be nice!

Okay, let me clarify my position better! I myself have been very immersed in the SJ community, and trying to excuse some o the elements that never sat well with me. Like, yes, white privilege is a thing - as is male privilege. However, that doesn’t mean it’s justifiable to hate on or hurl abuse at people simply because they are white and/or male.

Essentially, I got excommunicated from the SJ community when I acknowledged that I was more on-board with “down with hate” instead of “down with cis”.

Simply put, it bothers me that too many SJ activists are not categorically against being mean to other people - and neither are anti-SJWs or the alt-right! It just bothers me that I can’t seem to find a major group that is categorically opposed to being mean to other people! So that’s that!