Isabel Talks

1. On Tumblr and the Social Justice Community

Before I get into this, I have a confession to make:

I, Victoria Isabel, was once a Tumblr user.

To be fair, I was only thirteen when I began using it; I didn't know any better at first. My main reasons for having account came down to "easier access to stuff about the Antlers" (a band I was much too obsessed with at the time) and "talking to my best friend" once she, too, made an account. However, while my intentions were fairly innocent, Tumblr did to me what it does to anyone else. It corrupted me.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" you might be asking. And while I'd typically agree that such a sentiment is rather extreme and melodramatic to make, I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't believe it to be at least somewhat accurate. I do believe that, to some extent or another, Tumblr did change me for the worse and possibly even the better.

One thing that I would hope most of you are aware of is that Tumblr has a fairly toxic community. Though some parts of it are perfectly innocuous, others still are actively detrimental to the teenagers and young adults that fill its ranks. It wouldn't be so bad if the good aspects of the website weren't so intermingled with the negative aspects - if that weren't the case, then it would be easy to simply ignore the shrieking harpies and move on. The issue with Tumblr is that the shrieking harpies are everywhere, and not all shrieking harpies are as easily spotted as others. Some seem harmless at first until you dig a little deeper and find out that they're actually a demisexual wolfkin with self-diagnosed Asperger's who wants all cis people to die.

It's the hidden insanity that, in my opinion, is the most dangerous, because it's easy to mistake such people as normal members of human society and, ergo, harder to dismiss their opinions. After all, thinking you're actually a wolf in a human's body is absolutely nuts, but is it, really? If superwholock69 says that it's normal, and superwholock69 seems to be an otherwise well-rounded individual, are their ideas really that crazy upon further examination?

Tumblr will force you to take everything you once believed and question it. The issue is that it fails to offer up any real answers to your questions other than mindless conformity to what they believe. Anyone who refuses to conform will be driven off in due time. Disagree with feminism, same-sex marriage, that conservative Republicans are actually Satan, or really any aspect of the social justice movement? Don't expect to be there for long if you're not prepared to reform yourself according to their standards.

TL;DR: Tumblr is an incredibly toxic community in spite of its claims to be a place of acceptance. Unless you're a demisexual wolfkin with self-diagnosed Asperger's, don't expect to fit in there, and if you dare oppose anything that's preached by their army of social justice warriors, you'll be mindlessly bullied and harassed until you either leave or conform.

Don't use Tumblr, kids.

Just don't.