Grumblr

[Andy of Comix Inc]

It's usually something like this: "I'M A FAT ATTENTION WHORE AND POST NOODZ TO SHOW ALL THE HATERS HOW FUCKING ADORABLE I AM", "I'M TRANSGENDER AND ALL THIS CIS SCUM NEEDS TO DIE TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE", "WHEN YOU'RE A WHITE HETEROSEXUAL MIDDLECLASS MALE, YOU'RE TO BLAME FOR EVERYTHING WRONG IN THE WORLD!" and so on.

Okay, I'm sure that's really sad and threatening or... something.

But the problem still remains that body-shaming is bad. Transgender rights and acceptance is terrible. White, straight males tend to be supremely ignorant. To instinctively ignore those problems - not just from those people, but now, presumably, from every reasonable person that comes along past that... it's like being told, for example, by some crazy yelling guy on the street "GLOBAL WARMING IS BAD AND IT'S GOING TO DESTROY US ALL AND WE WILL DIE" and saying, "meh." And then a scientist says, "so, global warming's probably gonna cause really devastating effects," and again saying "meh."

Like, the problem does not change. The problem is still there. If you're the bigger, smarter person, y'think you could read through the lines of rhetoric.

Edit: I do use Tumblr. It's just mostly for Godzilla-related inanity.

 

[The Last Melon]

Step 1: Write comic attacking SJWs
Step 2: Comment section blows up
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit!

For bonus points, remain generally ambiguous about your intents with said comic and your attitudes towards the movement.

 

[PirateRose]

I find tumblr is filled with butthurt white cis-males who are either don't want to let go of their superior power, firmly believing feminism, gays, and black people are ruining their lives and not because they are themselves a big jerk. They often feel personally attacked when non-white-cis people discuss experiences where a completely unrelated white cis-male treated them like shit.

Or white-cis-males upset that everyone doesn't want them to be a white knight and protect them while still maintaining behaviors conditioned on them by a society that deems them superior. Like, trying to take charge of everything and every conversation then telling everyone what to do and how to do it. Example: Women, don't you know men don't like it when you wear makeup? <- he thinks he's being feminist because makeup is for women pressured by the society to please men. Yet his language says, you still need to please men.


I mean, this one time I posted a picture of a statue of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, right about Black Flag's release cause I was excited about them being in the game. It had a little quote about the two women joining a crew of pirates despite it being considered bad luck back in the day. This random person messages me, "Clearly, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were bad luck for the men after all. Don't try to get on me about herp derp feminism, it's just obvious that if those women hadn't joined those pirates, they would have continued pirating without problems."

What the hell? 1. Random and completely unrelated to my post. 2. Since when does superstition hold so much water. Do you throw salt over your shoulder and avoid black cats too?

edit: also, every other message I got over that picture was like "LULZ BOOBIES! LOOK BOOBIES!" Because Anne Bonnie's boob is sticking out. People seem to not know that it's part of the legend she would expose her breast to her victims so they know they got bested by a woman.

 

[Karavision]

I am torn on Tumblr. On one hand it is great that there is a place where people can find community like that. Before it, there was really no place for marginalized people to go and speak their mind on the internet to other people like them, without any type of moderation. For the most part, large LGBT sites are filled to the brim with old guard. Transgender sites were full of a certain type of transgender person that controlled the conversation, same with sites for Gay males and so on. Tumblr and to a lesser extent, Reddit were places where younger people could speak freely and meet with each other without the generational infighting.

Then Animal Farm happened and I left.

Now, that place should be called "Young White Girls know everything" or rather "White Female bodied people know everything"

That is not to say that that the boys club in gaming has not deserved a lot of what they have received. It has just gotten obnoxious.

 

[Alma Mare]

That SJW bait <3

Now if we could only find some way to drive them into the sea.

 

[Gorrath]

Oh I get it, because telling people not to tell racist or wear culture appropriating costumes or be bigots is truly equivalent to white nationalism and racism against people of color, right?

We can make that kind of witty observation now that we're post racism am I right?

Badum tss!

The tone of the sort of Tumblr posts being criticized here take the form of someone preaching tolerance while being as intolerant as possible, much the same way places like Stormfront claim that they totally aren't racists, they just think white people are best. The levels of self delusion and hypocritical message mongering are ridiculous.

Specifically, certain Tumblr-ites calling out people for, as you say, "culture appropriating costumes" while knowing nothing about the person they are criticizing, what culture they identify with or grew up in, and instead making assumptions about that person based solely on the color of their skin. For example, posting a picture of a white person dressed in a hip-hop style and accusing that person of cultural appropriation based entirely on the fact the person is white. Tying yourself to a social justice movement does not excuse a bunch of vitriolic, racist, bigoted, sexist behavior, whether said behavior comes from Stormfront or Tumblr, and that is what the comic is condemning.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Like, the problem does not change. The problem is still there. If you're the bigger, smarter person, y'think you could read through the lines of rhetoric.

The fact that there are problems is no excuse for behaving like a bully, nor is it beneficial to solving the problems in the long run.

To compare, a lot of bullies in school often have problems at home; they're bullied themselves by their parents, for instance. Does that excuse them bullying completely unrelated people at school? No it does not.

 

[In Search of Username]

Okay, so people on Tumblr are pushy and angry and generally come off as assholes. But to ignore the message because of the messenger is just... it's not a smart thing to do.

Which is why he... doesn't do that? Come on, he's consistently been supportive of social justice, and his criticisms of Tumblr don't change that automatically.

 

[Gorrath]

White, straight males tend to be supremely ignorant.

I can agree on much of what you said in your post about how people ignore issues that seemingly don't directly affect them. The single line I quoted from you illustrates exactly the sort of problem Tumblr has though. Can you honestly read that line that you wrote and not see why it's problematic? Just replace "white" with "black" and see how you feel about it. If anyone on here said, "Black males tend to be supremely ignorant," this place would explode with replies to that person about how unbelievably racist they're being.

This is the very thing that's wrong with Tumblr, the people tying themselves to social justice movements and using that as an excuse to spout bigoted nonsense that gets a pass because it's targeted at people who belong to a majority. We cannot overcome racism, sexism and intolerance of others if we condemn it when its aimed at people who belong to minorities and ignore it, or worse, champion it when it's aimed at people who belong to a majority.

Edited after the fact for clarity.

 

[shadowmagus]

Ok, generally I frown on click-bait which this really is. That said, watching this explode is going to be amazing.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

White, straight males tend to be supremely ignorant.

I can agree on much of what you said in your post about how people ignore issues that don't directly, or seemingly directly affect them. The single line I quoted from you illustrates exactly the sort of problem Tumblr has though. Can you honestly read that line that you wrote and not see why it's problematic? Just replace "white" with "black" and see how you feel about it. If anyone on here said, "Black males tend to be supremely ignorant," this place would explode with replies to that person about how unbelievably racist they're being.

Well, white, straight males do tend to be supremely ignorant! About issues facing PoC, about issues facing LGBT people, about issues facing girls and women! That's just... that's true! ...right?

I mean most people tend to be ignorant of most everything, but man... especially like, cis people are really ignorant of trans issues! And of course there are no "cis" issues to be ignorant of (if you can think of an injustice befalling the cis community, name one). The "black males tend to be supremely ignorant" would certainly be racist given context, but it depends what we're talking about. Probably it is true that, if we were talking about sexism in the African-American community, "black males tend to be supremely ignorant" would be apt. And in this case, talking about injustice against PoC, LGBT, and the female population... yes, white, straight males tend to be supremely ignorant.

It's like saying most old people are ignorant of issues facing today's youth. It's true. It's probably the same the opposite way, too, if you really want to split hairs.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

White, straight males tend to be supremely ignorant.

You're not suggesting I'm prone to ignorance because of the color of my skin or my sexual preference, are you? Because that's prejudicial as hell.

 

[ForumSafari]

Yep. Eurgh. People are trying to fix a broken society.

No they're not, they're not trying to 'fix' anything at all, they're picking a side and throwing insults at the other side from a position of safety. It's the 'adult' form of teasing someone through a fence. It's also pathetic because they're only able to continue because of the absolutely fucking saintly restraint of the people they label as the problem. They label white cis men as the problem because it's the one group that won't properly fight back. It's also become a hub for online bullying in a form that basically now completely eclipses 4chan. Just take a moment for that to sink in; Tumblr is meaner than 4chan. 4chan.

They also basically pretend they have mental illnesses and such for fun, which really isn't cool.

tl;dr: If you believe Tumblr 'fixes society' or is trying to then I'd love to send you some material about our new charity campaign, Kony 2014.

 

[lacktheknack]

For further information: Visit <link=https://twitter.com/TumblrTXT>Tumblr.txt.

And yes, the topics Tumblr tackles are real and should be discussed, but not that way. Not that way.

 

[Mister Chippy]

Oh god. Looks like they REALLY wanted to brew up a shitstorm with this one.

For my own $0.02, I don't really like tumblr because it's obviously not helping. The people on tumblr are just as hateful and stupid as the people who disagree with them, the only difference I can see is that the tumblr people at least have their hearts in the general vicinity of the right place. That said I'm getting really fucking tired of explaining to people that tumblrinas are not representative of whatever movements they're "supporting" and that most feminists/lgbt advocates are actually perfectly reasonable people.

Also, the only group of people with a poorer grasp of what "the patriarchy" actually means (hint, it doesn't actually have to do with some group of male illuminati) than MRAs is the tumblr crowd. Having to try to educate both sides of a debate on what they're actually arguing over is just not fun.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I love it when I come across something like this... something that isn't new, but I have never seen and has no impact on me what so ever... In my world I don't see bullying for gender and race (All 3 armed forces in the UK are within the top 100 companies for LGBT fair treatment, and we are now the second best armed force in the world for LGBT rights) and therefore don't see this side of things.

The problem with people who write this kind of stuff is that they actually think it will change something. I have no discriminatory genes, and respect everyone who earns and deserves it, but I instantly get my back up everytime I see someone aggressively blasting instructions at me over the internet even though I agree with the sentiment.

The only people who agree with them are people who already did, and then they spread it to others who already agreed... the people who don't agree then argue and make counter points that are shared by others who don't agree... It's the circle of stupidity...

There is also a problem with anonymousity, where people a lot of the time won't trust opinions of others who they can't see, and don't know. I know for a fact that some of you reading this won't agree, and I don't blame you. All you may know of me are other posts of mine, and a small pic of me with a moustache... Why should you trust me? Especially when I am saying something you didn't agree with before? Why will this change your mind?

The best way of spreading a message is by having more than some angrily written words. People respond to calming messages presented usually with images. Why do you see so many of those fake 'heartwarmimg' stories being shared on Facebook accompanied with a picture of an old person, or a little girl crying? It's because that reaches out to people... it's not direct and it encourages thought beyond 'this is what you should think because I am telling you to,' situations.

 

[Ratty]

I really like tumblr. But then I only follow blogs I'm interested in. Complaining about annoying people being on tumblr seems a bit like complaining there are annoying people on Facebook. Or that you can find offensive websites and opinions by searching on Google. You're not compelled to seek out those people or pay them any mind when you do come across them.

 

[lacktheknack]

Well, white, straight males do tend to be supremely ignorant! About issues facing PoC, about issues facing LGBT people, about issues facing girls and women! That's just... that's true! ...right?

Jeeesuuuus Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-

Are... are you feeling OK, Andy? I'm sick too and should probably be in bed instead of typing stuff on the net, but even I'm not this far gone. D:

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

White, straight males tend to be supremely ignorant.

You're not suggesting I'm prone to ignorance because of the color of my skin or my sexual preference, are you? Because that's prejudicial as hell.

I'm not suggesting anything. I don't know you. I think statistically most white, straight people tend to be ignorant of not-white, straight issues. This is what I've found in my experience. I'm not presuming anything about you personally. We've not met. You could be lovely. I think you may not be but I shan't pass judgement on you immediately. It's just more likely.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Well, white, straight males do tend to be supremely ignorant!

Whether that statement is conform with the facts is one thing I don't want to argue; it could be true indeed but I have no factual information to back that up.

But that's not even the point, nor is it the problem. The problem is that people are judged on that assumption by a part of Tumblr's social justice community. They are not treated as individuals, thus it's being discrimination.

And that, by their own standards, is bad. Yet they're doing it. And that's the comic's point.