Social Justice Tumblr/Twitter

I looked up everything tagged with "social justice" on tumblr, and this is what came up:
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/social%20justice

Basically 10 or different kinds of stupid opinions, along with the occassional genuinely insightful post.

Just curious to see about how people feel about this stuff. What frustrates me is that I pretty much completely agree with the concept of social justice, but the way it comes across on Tumblr and Twitter seems so far from what it's actually supposed to be about. It's basically just a bunch of college kids who want to seem smart by calling everyone a racist....

i think the same as you. 'social justice' people have came at me because i used the word 'retard' citing it as ABELIST. these people have no sense of humour and only work to discourage people from sympathising with their cause.

le jake

that dude is ridiculously PC

PICTURING CHILDREN

Originally Posted by black mozart

jake who? jake savage?

eric wasn't happy with us using his full name in another thread, so uh. let's just call him j. savage.

no wait, that's too obvious. jake s.

@red Right

Originally Posted by Some Social Justice Blog

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Tips For Allies
Dear fellow white people:
z33r0:
If you’re reading this, you’re probably either really into social justice or in the wrong place. For the purpose of this discussion, let us assume the former.
You can as easily apply what I am about to say to any other group by swapping out white people for straight people and people of color for LGBT* people, or white people for men and poc for women.
This is not difficult, in fact what I want you to do can be broken down to a single word:
Defer.
Defer to people you have privilege over. Always.
When people of color are talking about their oppression, defer to them without fail. Always assume that they know more than you about their own oppression and experiences. If you say something and get called on it, do not get defensive, do not make excuses and do not argue, this person has just done you a favor, they have taught you something, whether it comes in the form of an explanation, or a simple “shut the fuck up”. While the latter may be jarring, it is still a lesson and you should still be grateful. If you don’t understand what you are being corrected for, google it if possible.
When people you have privilege over correct your assertions about their situation, they are not oppressing you. They are not trying to destroy free speech, remain calm, you are not being threatened. Don’t worry, white people cannot be oppressed for being white, while we can experience the private prejudice of individual people, we are incapable of suffering systemic racism because this whole system is geared in favor of us. As such, it is impossible to be oppressed for being white.
Try as hard as you can not to take it personally, because it is not personal. When you see people generalizing and saying things like “white people fucking don’t ever get anything jesus christ how do you even”, they are not referring specifically to you. The truth is, white people often fucking don’t ever get anything jesus christ how do you even. The people saying this are not crazy. They are not making shit up. They have been repeatedly gaslighted, interrogated, and undermined by white people who took what they are saying too personally.
Defer
Read too. Read Bell Hooks for a start, follow sj bloggers of color and read the books of the people they quote. When something seems odd to you, when you don’t understand it, read some more. Follow really radical, blunt people, follow women of color, you will learn the most from them. Read the invisible knapsack, go ahead and google it right now. If you must directly ask someone a question, be respectful- this person has nothing to gain from you because you don’t know anything and giving you their time is a sacrifice. Be sure that you are there to ask a question and learn something, do not ask a question as some kind of excuse to try to inform them of something. There is literally nothing you can tell a person over whom you have privilege that they have not heard hundreds of times before. I guarantee it.
Defer
Do not expect people to be thrilled that you are interested in their oppression, they do not owe you anything, you are not some kind of understanding, special snowflake savior. Being interested in social justice and wanting to dismantle an oppressive system is the bare minimum criteria for being a decent human being and expecting praise for it is like expecting praise for blinking.
Defer
When someone tells you to check your privilege, do so. If someone is telling you to check your privilege, you can be sure that your level of understanding is inadequate for this particular discussion. Check your privilege can be directly translated to “stop talking, step back, go read.” Understand that intent is worthless. What you mean to say is always less important than how it is interpreted, if someone has misinterpreted you, it is because you have misspoken, apologize.
Defer
Expect anger, accept criticism. People over whom you have privilege are going to have anger, they will get angry more quickly about the topic of their oppression than other kinds of people because for them, this is not abstract, this is real life. If somene over whom you have privilege is angry at something you have said, it is not because they are being irrational, it is because you are missing something and whatever you have just said is ignorant and probably bigoted. Anger and rudeness do not make their ideas and experiences invalid, it only indicates that they are closer to the issues at heart than you are and naturally more invested in them. To you, racism is an abstract idea, you have experienced prejudice on an interpersonal level maybe, but you have never experienced systemic racism first hand. The truth is, interpersonal prejudice happens in incidents- systemic racism is a constant torrent of microaggressions, it is the default setting, it is waking up every day and having to remember that you belong to this or that ethnic group and that people are going to treat you a certain way because of it, it is googling the word “beauty” and seeing nothing but white women, it is being erased in popular culture, with only heavily stereotyped representation in media, it is feeling alienated from a very, very young age. You are fortunate enough to understand racism in terms of an abstract idea but to people of color racism is a first hand reality. You will naturally be the target of anger at times, understand that it is completely justified, that you have made an error and apologize.
Defer
For white feminists in particular, it is important to remember that ethnicity interacts with sexuality and gender within patriarchy. Do not make generalizations, do not act like all women are oppressed in the same way, because we are not. Women of color experience challenges unique to women of color plus the challenges incurred by being a woman and the challenges of being poc, homosexual women experience challenges unique to homosexual women plus the challenges incurred by being homosexual and the challenges of being a woman, homosexual women of color experience challenges unique to homosexual women of color PLUS the challenges incurred by being any of these things separately. Do not forget this, and do not oversimplify- it can only be interpreted as an attempt to erase and invalidate their experiences.
Defer
Do not speak for people over whom you have privilege. Signal boost what they have to say themselves, listen, call out racism, sexism etc when you see your white friends doing it. It is not your place to police the actions of people over whom you have privilege, you don’t get to call out black people for using the n-word, that is not how it works. Seriously just don’t. However, feel free to call out sexism from anyone who isn’t female, racism from white people, homophobic language from anyone who isn’t homosexual etc. Personally, I will call out racism coming from anyone who is not part of the ethnicity being attacked.
Defer
Be humble, be ready to be wrong. Accept corrections gracefully. You don’t have to feel guilty for being white, no one thinks you are a bad person JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE WHITE. It might seem like it sometimes, and there are definitely people who will be inclined to mistrust you because you are white but believe me, they have very good reasons- your job can be to not confirm their suspicions that you are an ignorant cancer. You did not create this system, you only benefit from it, it is not your fault. What your privilege is is the luxury of being able to ignore everything I have just written, it is being able to decide that this is too much work and a pain in the ass and you don’t like people being mean to you and saying fuck it and withdrawing from the discussion and acting like it doesn’t exist. You are free to do this, but I do not recommend it. If you keep reading, keep struggling to see clearly, keep checking your privilege, keep talking to the other white people you know, educating them, calling them on it, you help drag us forward in increments. The burden of dismantling oppression, I personally feel, will be left to the people actually being oppressed. No freedom was ever gained by asking nicely and waiting your turn, and being given increased privileges by your oppressor is not true freedom. In this system, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem, there is no middle ground, and while this is not directly your fight, you can help simply by not being part of the problem.
Defer. It is the least you can do.

This pretty much explains why these people really fucking annoy me. And the fact that it was written by a white person makes perfect sense. So much of this is white people who want to cure their own white guilt by making everyone else feel shitty.

What bugs me, though, is that there are actually are a few good points here amidst all the crap. I mean, the idea that every white person should just timidly agree with what any person of color tells them about racism is basically the most reductive shit ever. I mean, I totally think that in that situation, you should keep in mind that they deal with shit you don't have to deal with, and that if something they say seems ridiculous, you shouldn't flippantly disregard it because they have perspective that you don't, but this whole idea of "nope, if you're privileged you better just nod your head" does nothing to end oppression, and probably makes it worse.

And yes, there are TONS of white assholes who refuse to listen to anything about racism tha they can't relate to, and those people suck. But going to theother extreme doesn't help at all.

this is the worst social justice blog post i've seen:

"Whites cannot be victims of racism, because...

Racism is the combination of INSTITUTIONAL POWER + racial prejudice. Whites can experience prejudice, however they cannot be victims of racism due to their white privilege… and socially superior racial positioning. POC do not have the power to combine with their individual prejudice to have the same impact as someone with white privilege does."

this touches very well on why the university of california, santa cruz, was the most insufferably fucking awful place ever.

white trust fund cunts who finally left high school and found out that OMG, RACISM EXISTS GUYS!

Originally Posted by derek

this is the worst social justice blog post i've seen:

"Whites cannot be victims of racism, because...

Racism is the combination of INSTITUTIONAL POWER + racial prejudice. Whites can experience prejudice, however they cannot be victims of racism due to their white privilege… and socially superior racial positioning. POC do not have the power to combine with their individual prejudice to have the same impact as someone with white privilege does."

oh my god

POC

people of color

colored people

chocolate people

is this the appropriate thread to share this?

http://transcats.me/

because it's pretty much my favourite thing ever

i have a handful of friends who do this stuff on facebook and it's the worst. the way in which they call out the rest of the internet on what it does is handled with such smugness and enjoyment despite accomplishing nothing but giving shitty things more attention. this is the kind of bullshit that has made the daily mail the #1 news website in the world even though every knows that they will publish literally anything if they think people will read it.

someone on tumblr made an anti-retsupurae blog which, among other things, called them anti-positive body image because they made fun of a characters figure in a sega saturn game, which is hilarious.

yo how about some trigger warnings you jerks

i think all the talk abut their own privilege has gone to their heads and actually made them racist

like every post is just a humblebrag for whiteness

Originally Posted by rubber cat

yo how about some trigger warnings you jerks

what makes you think jerk isn't a trigger, cunt?

All y'all motherfuckers postin' in a racist and feminist thread.

i do usually try not to describe things as "gay" or "retarded" because of what that represents, but i see no problem using them in the context of a joke or whatever. and i don't think that anyone that uses them are horrible people, which is i think what we're criticizing about these people.

the two things i really hate about these types of people is that 1.) they're usually huge in the "free speech" activist groups that think you shouldn't be fired for badmouthing your boss on facebook or for publicly admitting to illegal activity and 2.) people that just don't understand the concept of intent or context. it's one thing to call out genuine racism, but once you start to analyze everything in the world to find racism in it you run the risk of creating racism where it didn't exist. as for point 1, it's just insanely hypocritical on a level that annoys the fuck out of me.

also they'll keep massive double standards- for example, daniel tosh is a monster for telling a rape joke but if louie told the same joke he's a subversive genius. this is always been a huge pet peeve of mine- the fact that someone who is accepted as quality can get away with stuff that someone who doesn't have that reputation can't.

there's also the thing i've always hated about coastal liberals, despite being a liberal myself, making broad sweeping generalizations about people who don't live where they do then claiming to be all about open mindedness and tolerance. don't get me wrong, the midwest has some terrible, terrible people but so does california and so does new york or other more liberal states.

the biggest problem i have with these people overall is that they kill any chance of a real dialogue on any issue because they become a cartoonish stereotype for racists to point to as the hypocrisy of liberalism and thus divert the argument into liberals having to defend themselves against these people instead of actually discussing the issue.

this post is insanely disjointed and i'm not exactly sure what i'm getting at i'm just bitching about shit.

also, re: the word retard, i was just thinking about one of my favorite stand up bits a few days ago where marc maron is talking about how we should stop using retard. and to find a new word, he describes the pure glee that mentally handicapped people have when happy about something and how completely infectious it is and how being in they're presence when that happens automatically makes anyone happy. thus they should be called "god's clowns"

Originally Posted by Jakebert

there's also the thing i've always hated about coastal liberals, despite being a liberal myself, making broad sweeping generalizations about people who don't live where they do then claiming to be all about open mindedness and tolerance. don't get me wrong, the midwest has some terrible, terrible people but so does california and so does new york or other more liberal states.

sarah palin don't stump here and we don't elect bush here. fuck off, midwest.

especially ohio. but ESPECIALLY nebraska.

you guys have orange county which is like all of ohio's rural population condensed into one place with more money.

our rural area has no political power they barely have teeth.

silly jakebert. orange county isn't even our state's worst county.

we just drown the rest of 'em out so they never matter when the state votes. for all their money, no national politician ever gives a shit enough to visit them, because they're still irrelevant fucktards.

i'm currently reading a biography of george w bush and there's a part where it details his first campaign spending millions of dollars in california without anyone knowing why.

pretty amazing.

going on about the ubiquity of white privilege and how whites are immune to racism seems to me like resignation to a state of affairs that doesn't need to be what it is...there's nothing progressive about that mindset. 'oh, well white privilege is just the way it is, we'll never reach a new race-political status quo, so the only thing we can really do is carry around a burden of guilt about it.' being that neurotically self-conscious about your race (or gender or sexuality) and having a formula for interacting with other people that's based strictly on racial/sexual classifications is definitely not the route to being the good liberal humanists these people clearly want to be.

i reblogged that post about racism against whites and said, "uhhhhh racism is discrimination against someone's race, what is the point in grasping at straws with it's definition?" and i got a ton of black warrior princesses telling me how i don't know what i'm talking about and i have no right to have an opinion about it because of my non-POC cisgendered straight male privilege or some bullshit. i guess they believe in free speech until it's about something they don't agree with.

man, i fucking hate social justice bloggers. worst thing about tumblr culture besides maybe everything else.

tumblr/reddit/twitter have really done more harm to political and social discourse than good despite the constant media trumping them as the future of social discussions.

i dunno if that's better or worse than taking a diversity class full of white christian rednecks, including a dude who argued that "redskin" is not actually a racial slur or that teaching evolution in science classes is discriminatory and that creationism is indeed a real hard science.

TW: apology, bigotry, censored swears

Originally Posted by hughes

what makes you think **** isn't a trigger, ****?

I sincerely apologize for using such hurtful language, and I have already taken the step of removing the offensive word from my vocabulary. I hope you can find it in your heart (no offense to those who lack hearts) to forgive me.

i think i should make a post in this thread.

also rubber cat your avatar is seriously abusive to transcats and cats of color. by saying that cats of color are nothing more then toys your non-cat privilege is showing.


e. honestly, i consider my self pretty open when it comes to social issues, but the biggest pet peeve of mine is when people take cultural appropriation to mean that white people cannot like anything that was made by "black culture" without taking it away and ruining it. they often have a "people should not even look at things that come out of another culture" that reminds me a lot of white power groups and actual really racist people.

I am kind of one of those nagging PC types that makes a fuss over language and using the right terms. But lately it's become increasingly clear that there's a certain kind of person that just likes to find words they can take issue with in an article. All so they can prove how liberal they are and show that the person writing the article is a racist/sexist/transphobic/disabilist (sorry that should be ableist)

There's a left-wing feminist writer over here called Laurie Penny that was criticized recently because she used the word "lunatics" in a derogatory manner, and that's offensive to people with mental health issues. She instantly apologized afterwards and of course some people criticized her for doing this.

I would describe the whole situation as "crazy" but you know...