#the concept of a tumblr 'influencer' is so funny to me we're all losers or we wouldnt be here

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

there's been a lot of influencers and people like us on tumblr that have been getting exposed for being racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., and do you think we should just unfollow all of them or give them a chance to just grow from their mistakes? because i know people can grow from their mistakes but it's probably really rare, and i'm just really conflicted on whether or not we should stop supporting them or give them a second chance.

it depends anon, what were they exposed for? if they were “exposed” as liking a problematic show(?) it’s not the same as if they were exposed as trump supporters. 

another thing - how old are they? “making a mistake” at 15 is not the same as “making a mistake” in your twenties.

lastly - are you sure they are actually being called out for something and not out of pettiness? are there any actual receipts for shitty behavior or is it just a smear campaign between people who don’t like each other? it’s pathetic, and a problem in and of itself, but people co-opt social justice and the struggles of marginalized people in a quest to appear better and to “settle scores” that are actually personal.

either way, following, unfollowing or even blocking a tumblr user is not as much of a statement as people make it out to be, specially on a site where you can still get their posts and other blogs recced. 

if you unfollow them, great, cool! you should not give a racist, homophobe or misogynist a platform. however, that is not all there is. other than unfollowing racists, are you supporting and boosting the voices of people of color when they get harassed by fandom? other than unfollowing homophobes, are you calling out the fetishization of lgbt+ people and characters in fandom? other than unfollowing misogynists, are you unstanning and not supporting the work of the abusive men of hollywood?

other than that... are you sure this person actually regrets their actions? do you know how many people turn a blind eye to someone whose “problematic ideals” are right there in their about page? before even blocking and unfollowing these people, do you even check that they are not out and proud about the issues that later on get called out? 

tumblr loves hopping on the cancel train, but boy it takes so long for them to notice it on the first place. this “cancellation”(?) of people only becomes effective if those doing the callout are popular in that particular space. for example, good luck calling out a big marvel blog if you’re not an equally big marvel blog. 

to give you an example: how long have pale blogs been whitewashing, and how long have other, non-pale bloggers said that if you are racist in one respect you’ll be racist in another? and how long did it take for these bloggers to actually acknowledge this racism? it took another pale blog to call them out, to expose them for the “behind closed door” racist behavior they engaged in, for them to actually have to face consequences.

anon, it’s not only about blocking and unfollowing. in and of themselves, those are empty statements. be vocal about why these people are harmful. 

if you’re shy (and this applies specially if you’re a fandom kid of color), if you’re scared that people will come after you (because they do), use other methods to call them out. do you not want people to come at you when you call out fandom racism, but you’ve got all the receipts that expose bignamefan-canonurl? that’s amazing! we’ve got an entire space dedicated to calling out fandom racism - log out of your account and hit that submit button, we’ll call them out for you. maybe we’re not big in every fandom or community, but we do have a pretty big platform we can use so at least some people know about this stuff. and we’re not the only ones. a few older fans of color specially have openly said that they have no problem calling out racist bloggers. 

This does not mean go to the blog of a random person of color and invade their inbox with receipts about racism (or any other -ism). ONLY do so if you’ve got their consent. do not be creepy! ~mod ara