What I Find Interesting In This Post, Beyond The Reasoning Which I Understand And Agree With 100%, Is

What I find interesting in this post, beyond the reasoning which I understand and agree with 100%, is the visual, the way this simple, colourfully-significant and effective chart shows the escalating process someone can fall into if they don't pay attention to what they do/say.

There are various degrees of bullying, just like there are different profiles of bullies. Some do not go to the most extreme length the visual shows, but of course that doesn't make them any less bullies.

Bullies struggle with personal issues (there again, extremely varied ones from one individual to another) and use other(s) to unload their emotional bagage, unrestrained, uncensored, unreasonably. Am I too optimistic to believe that this process could be stopped before it gets too damaging for the victim (and for the bully as well as a matter of fact because nobody will convince me that this destructive behaviour doesn't backfire in any way) ? Am I too naive to still believe that calling to intelligence, in order to understand that the reasoning in the right column of this chart can lead to dangerous outcomes, can help?

When it comes to emotions that hurt self-confidence, ego issues or the like, logic is just thrown by the window, I know. Discussing can turn out helpless and pointless. What if such visual could help, leaving people the autonomy to self-reflect, to question themselves, to figure out where they stand on this chart, ultimately to restore logic one way or another, in their own terms?

@ao3commentoftheday Thank you for making this chart! I think it should be reblogged endlessly!

[image described in alt text]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZPWixvzwkVal4iZGPc3plQyecQWc_dVH/view?usp=sharing

Transcript: I've been thinking again, which I know is always a dangerous thing for me to do, but have some thoughts from my brain about how people get to the point of harassment.

I'm gonna speak specifically about fandom but I don't think this is fandom-specific. Anyway, I think it starts with, "I like a thing." or alternatively, "I don't like a thing." And that's perfectly fine. Everybody likes and dislikes things, and that's totally normal.

From there, "I want to talk to other people who like this thing" (or dislike this thing). Again, totally normal. We like to talk about our interests. We like to talk about things that are important to us.

After that, perhaps you wish more people liked that thing. Great. I also want to have more people who like the things that I like because that gives me more people to talk to and a bigger community to engage in.

Where we start to get on a little bit of shaky ground from my perspective is "Liking this thing is a good thing for people to do." When you start thinking about preferences being good or bad, that's where things could potentially go awry.

But you know, in a lot of cases it's just, "If you don't like this thing you're missing out." Which again, I have totally felt that thing before like, "This thing brings me so much joy! I want other people to feel that joy with me! (or even without me) I just want them to enjoy something that I know of as enjoyable."

The flip side of that, of course, is "Liking this thing means that I am better than other people." and that's getting a little judgmental. It could be harmless but it could be not so harmless. Flip it around, "Disliking this thing means that I'm better than other people." Again, could be harmless but could be a little more insidious.

And when I say that I mean the next step is, "People who feel the opposite of how I feel are bad people." "I like this thing. You don't like this thing. You are a bad person." "I dislike this thing. You like this thing. You are a bad person."

It's just a preference, but the step after that is thinking, "I am morally superior for having the preference that I have." And now we're getting into pretty dangerous territory. Because once you feel morally superior for your preference, the step that comes after that is "Having my preference is a good, moral choice. Having the opposite preference is a bad moral choice. People whose preference is different from mine should be punished for having a different preference."

And where does that punishment so often end up in online spaces? In online spaces, it often ends in bullying, harassment and threats of violence. Very often when we get to that point, the step after that is, "Anyone whose preference is different from mine should die." Very often the comments that come along in those when we get to that stage are about killing oneself.

But that's not all. A lot of the time there are threats of violence from one individual against the person that has a different preference, and then the step after that is, "Anyone who disagrees with my punishment for that person's other preference also shares that other preference and should also be punished, harassed, bullied and have violence enacted upon them as a result of that."

And that I think is where a lot of online spaces are trending these days. It's part of the reason why I've been quieter on Tumblr because it's not even directed at me as an individual human being, but I see things in tags and I see things in the notes where somebody who's reblogging or replying or tagging is talking about another group of people separate from me, just in their own fandom space, and so often it's threats of violence it is words of hatred. It is discussion around people deserving punishment, being bad human beings. All because of what they like or what they don't like.

I don't really have a point to this. I just have been thinking about how do you get from "I like this thing" to "you should die because you don't like this thing," and I don't think it's it's a one way street. And I don't think that everybody who starts at liking ends in threats of violence. I don't even know that most of these threats of violence are genuine. I think a lot of it is, you know, sarcastic online conversation. "Can't you take a joke?"

Yes I can. I just don't think jokes about violence are funny.

And the more time I spend in online spaces, the more tired I feel as a result, and the less I want to engage. And that sucks because online communities are my favorite communities they've given me so much joy. But right now, I don't know man. I don't know.

so quite a lot of people expressed interest in a guide to lion dance! and since the lunar new year is coming up in a couple weeks, which means everyone’s exposure to lions is probably going to increase, i figured i’d go ahead and make it! right click + open in new tab to fullview, etc etc, i hope it’s helpful, although if you only take one thing away from this powerpoint, it’s this: lions are not dragons

disclaimer: i learned fut san style at an american university, and the senior members of the troupe were almost all from hong kong and taiwan, so most of my knowledge is drawn from what they taught me. lion dance varies widely depending on the style and the country of origin, and many schools do things differently! this is just an attempt to establish a baseline and give you a really basic intro to one of my favorite art forms. :)

Why do people (ie. my students) feel so depressed when they see Hopper's paintings? They came up with such dreary scenarios 😨 while I just see the light, the peace and the colors smoothly blending in. Everything is quiet and hung up in time.

This is also for the writeblrs who have tried to do all of that, but gave up because they've tired themselves out by engaging while receiving little to no response. Because at some point, they feared it could kill their stride, hurt their confidence, or damage their creativity (and maybe they actually went through all that too)

Thank you for the reminder that we count no matter what. We're here and we keep going. Just silently.

This is for all the writeblrs who don’t share their writing.

This is for all the writeblrs who don’t have an active WIP to share.

This is for all the writeblrs who lurk in the community without engaging a whole lot.

This is for all the writeblrs who aren’t sure if they can call themselves a writeblr.

This is for all the writeblrs who don’t feel like they belong in the community.

You are such an important and valuable member of our community. I know that sometimes it can feel really isolating, but I see you and I am so glad that you are here. Whether you do the ‘typical’ writeblr things or not, you are absolutely a valid writeblr and an irreplaceable part of the community. Writeblr wouldn’t be the same without your presence and it is made so much better by you being a part of it. 

Thank you for being a part of the writeblr community.

I'd loooove to see that 😍😍!

Oh shit, I did that too in a fic! 😅😂😂

I did it purposefully though. I'm sick and tired of dealing with covid every single hour of my day. I'm glad some universes don't feature it!