Just a curious thought.
I just saw a simple post about the recent Santa Barbara shooting. BTdubs, just to get things out of the way, you won’t find any defense of mr. shooty from me. What he done was beyond despicable, so much so that I refuse to even acknowledge his name or existence, I feel very adamant on the stance that peeps do really shitty things to spread their name or messages and making the assaulter a celebrity or household name isn’t something that should be. Bastards don’t deserve fame.
That was depressing to type.
Aww, it’s even wearing a little crown!~
Alright, moving on…
My post here isn’t actually about that terrible event, it’s regarding a message in the original post I saw.
And even then, it’s more about a comment in the subtitles below.
- I’m just saying that THIS is why Tumblr makes jokes about men. Its a safe haven that we can vent without worrying about being shot and killed for saying no.
If the idea of using a website as tumblr as a means to vent is common, this seems very similar to what one of the main ideals of 4chan operates on.
The ability to anonymously speak your thoughts, as twisted and warped as they may be.
Now, of course, the balance is hella shifted in the opposite direction, and I certainly don’t claim to harbor any negative emotions that either 4chan or tumblr proclaims, but I do want to take a look at that idea:
People need to vent.
I believe this is something that exists universally and trying to draw the line at the various forms of oppression sorta degrades this, for it’s just a natural state of humanity.
There was a lovely TEDtalk from Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan, detailing this a bit:
- I mean, for as much good that kind of comes out of this environment, there is plenty of bad. There are plenty of downsides. But I think that the greater good is being served here by just allowing people – there are very few places, now, where you can go and not have identity, to be completely anonymous and say whatever you’d like. And saying whatever you like, I think, is powerful. Doing whatever you like is now crossing a line. But I think it’s important to have these places. When I get emails, people say, “Thank you for giving me this place, this outlet, where I can come after work and be myself.”
Now, of course again, I’m not policing anyone from speaking out, I’m actually encouraging the opposite.
The current trend on tumblr seems to follow a series of steps where someone would speak out against a specific group, a dissenter would scream from the heavens “not all herpaderps,” then it would be sorta open season from there.
Why is this? I’d like to think I was a decently good behavioural analyser, but to be fair I did go to college and that mighta chipped away at my knowledge a bit, heh.
To answer that question, it seems rather confident that the issue is that those who jump in to dissent are not allowing those talking to vent.
I’d damn sure hope that no one ACTUALLY wants to instigate a genocide against those that eat potato chips, or those that watch Thundercats. People will need to vent, and we shouldn’t ever try to take that away from anyone.