#tumblr is literally the most hypocritical website on the internet

[catinc]

Anybody else been getting these lately? Below, while it has to be censored by me for some reason, is not able to be reported, and is a link to a porn phishing site with a slew of completely unrelated tags.

To spread awareness, I will do the same. To the people following these tags who find both my post as well as the topic annoying, I'm sorry. To the people who only find the topic annoying, I urge you to reblog to help gain awareness.

[noellevanious]

i guess its kinda hypocritical but i fucking loathe the tone people on reddit and twitter have when they talk about this site. they treat it like its some sort of nuclear fallout area. dead, barren, uninhabitable, because staff did a bad job of banning porn once years ago, and now because theyre taking extra measures to make sure their social media site is usable on iOS with the stupid draconian puritan rules going on in Apple

(long diatribe below the cut)

i dont think tumblr is some Garden of Eden but it might as well be compared to literally any other social media site. actual discussions happen, people actually learn things albeit in comedic ways that usually involve refuting bogus information in the same post that it’s presented, and ive never once had to calm myself down after seeing fucking stupid takes because people here know they’re stupid and will happily shine a spotlight on it so other people can either ignore it or raize the idiot. meanwhile the other sites are literal comment mind fields. i have to stop myself from getting into arguments in twitter comments just because it’s pointless cause people are reactionary, stupid, and steadfast. but here i can either ignore stupid takes, or find posts about how they openly reblog inflati*n art or some shit.

thats not even getting into the fucking awful metric systems and the weird limitations all other social media sites have that actively try to cater towards the Internet Free Space being a Market and way to profit and nothing more.

and of course there are tons of issues with the site. i wont list any of them here but they’re obvious to anybody that’s ever used websites (hello audio volume control). but again other social media sites have problems similar to and just as bad as, if not worse than those issues.

but like. over the past few years tumblr has became genuinely my favorite social media site because it actually does what it sets out to do.

the way you interact with other blogs works. i think they should bring back the ability to one-way mirror anonymous asks you get, but otherwise it gets the job done. notifications aren’t obnoxious and the focus is sharing good content, not trying to make your own for 5 seconds of fame. people still think randy slimetony posts here for heavens sake

once you find a few blogs that think like you it turns into the most easygoing and enjoyable experience possible. and sure it can create echo chambers, but literally any social media site, or site in general, does that these days. but like ive found like 50 blogs that are people i enjoy reading posts from, and they always post funny shit, and i dont have to worry about them taking weird dumbass stances in an attempt to broaden their horizons. only idiots try to make a brand out of themselves here outside of “funny guy that posts a lot”. at least not in asinine ways. meanwhile that’s the raison d'être of twitter culture

[solarpunkvegan]

Please cite your sources. Listen, I believe you, and if you're wrong, it's most likely because you believe it yourself. Some people do intentionally lie, of course, but I don't believe it's the majority.

I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Most people are ignorant not stupid, meaning they lack knowledge, not the ability to understand that knowledge. We thought the internet age would bring about a second enlightenment because everyone would have access to knowledge. But then disinformation, misinformation, and lies pervaded it.

When you try to teach me sometime new I didn't know, I'm excited, I love learning. I trust that you probably aren't out to lie to me. But if we don't cite our sources, how can we ever stave off our post-truth age where facts are meaningless?

I know you're busy, I know it's not your "job" to do the research for others. But when there's too much info out there it becomes confusing and overwhelming. If you want to educate you need to cite sources, even if you find that people refuse to click on them, which happens to me a lot. At least you've done your part. The knowledge is right there at their fingertips, if they choose not to click it, they know they're choosing to not listen to your side. If you cite sources, even if no one clicks them, it appears to anyone looking like you've done your research, which you have, and it changes the way they look at your content. The person you're talking to might refuse to listen, but you've still planted a seed. Anyone else watching sees that you not only were calm, logical, kind, and posted sources, but if they click the sources themselves they can see that the person arguing against you didn't bother to click the sources themselves.

Yes, people have said to me, literally, "I can just post an opposite source!" All. The. Time.

And yes, when I nicely asked one of them to post their source they blocked me. (BTW, this was about masks and was with another animal rights activist, someone who's been vegan for over a decade and is over 40 years old. The source I posted was from Dr. Greger, a famous plant-based doctor who donates all his proceeds from book sales and speaking tours to charity, has a free app and website with no ads or corporate sponsors that runs on donations and volunteers. He doesn't sell any pills, diet fads, scams, or other products besides some cute t-shirts that also go into the site maintenance.)

In blocking me she probably also removed my comments which is not ideal. That's what makes Tumblr great in some respects, when they block me they can't delete what I've said. Anyone watching will see what has occurred: one person was calm, kind, and posted sources, the other was angry, mean, and then blocked them. YouTube comments are the same way, the person who made the video can erase comments or turn them off, but they usually don't want to because comments drive the alogoritm and get the video more views. So if we have debates about veganism in the comments of vegan videos we do 3 things:

Boost the video, using the algorithm to our advantage.

Have a debate with someone and potentially change their mind.

Let others see us being calm, logical, rational, kind, and posting credible sources.

Plant seeds for whoever sees any of this, including those we debate with.

I need to stop doing this type of activism myself as it's not good for my mental health and it distracts me from work I think I could do more good with, my YouTube videos and art. It can be grating, it can take a toll, but so can any activism. It may seem like "slacktivism" but if you are someone with less options for activism than others it could be ideal. Not everyone can participate in all forms of activism and different kinds are good for different people. If the way you want to do activism is by opening a vegan bakery, or making vegan art, or donating to vegan organizations, signing petitions, sharing things on social media, etc. all are helpful. But in all endeavors it's best to stay calm, kind, respectful, and to post links to sources and quote those sources too. If this is something you struggle with that's ok, this type of activism may not be for you. If talking to people stresses you out, raises your anxiety, or if you have a hard time staying calm, then that's ok, maybe just do something else with your time and energy.

But if you are going to post, try to make those posts kind and informative. That doesn't mean never being blunt, or not using certain words, or not calling it like it is. It simply means not using ad hominem attacks, attacking people's personality, ridiculing their beliefs, culture, or religion, bringing up things that have nothing to do with the debate at hand, cursing, calling people stupid, calling people "brainwashed" or "hypocrites" or "sheep", focusing on their looks, being ableist, fatphobic, racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-neurodivergent, etc. Not only is none of that necessary to help the animals, I think it actively makes our job harder and hurts the movement overall. Shame and guilt doesn't work. Negative reinforcement works much less effectively than positive reinforcement. Being cruel to others makes people hate us as a group. Of course that's not fair or justified or right, but it's the way it is. Humans always lump people into categories and then make assumptions based on them. That's how our brains work, sadly. We're all biased. We all experience some cognitive dissonance sometimes. We all judge ourselves and others. But we can work to change that and it starts with you every time you're kind instead of cruel.

Instead of being cruel towards humans and asking them to be kind to animals, we should be kind to humans and ask them to extend that kindness to animals.

You may say "that's some kumbaya bullshit, the real world doesn't work like that" but for starters, that sounds a lot like the argument:

"the world isn't fair, get used to it" that we hear about capitalism. We can choose to change the world to make it fair, or hurt each other because we assume it never can be. The world is cruel because we are all cruel, to some extent. (Yes, some are crueler than others and use their power over others to do cruel things. Yes, some people cause much more harm than others.) We can work to change that to make it kind, instead of assuming it always will be unkind.

And secondly, I believe in being kind to everyone because to me, it's the right thing to do. BUT I also believe it is the most effective praxis when trying to change minds. It's not just about what makes me feel good as some silly hippy or whatever you want to say. No, it's also what I truly believe we need. Based on all the evidence I have absorbed over the years, this is the radical paradigm shift I think we need. (I could be wrong, I'm always learning and my mind is open to being changed.) Our world is based on cruelty. Don't you want to oppose that? And don't you want to "be the change you wish to see"? Doesn't it start with you? If you don't believe the fallacy that "one person can't change anything" then aren't you one person who can change things? We can't control other people. We can't force them to have compassion for others. But we can have compassion ourselves. Isn't that what personal responsibility is about? How do you want to make others feel? What do you want to create in the world? What do you want to add to the human story? You get to decide everyday.

[kindofseoul-blog]

i wanna be a studyblr or whatevah

i spent way too much time on finding the perfect introduction for this post, but that truth of the matter is: i don't really know what i’m doing. consider me a blog virgin (or whatevah) because this whole website is about to be a hot mess. and that's okay, you're not here for super professional content or anything less than sub-par aesthetics, right?

okay, maybe that was a bit much. i'm just trying to throw some disclaimers out, so that y'all aren't super confused by my sheer lack of organization or pretty handwriting (i tried). however, i’m here to let you know that you can achieve all your scholarly dreams and more even if you aren't good at bullet journal spread or hand lettering!

if you enjoy studying (or just like scrolling through studyblrs for kicks and giggles) but get easily distracted by gorgeous fonts and artsy graphics, then look no further. here's a blog dedicated to all the studyblr babies who missed out on the artistic gene and/or don't have time to add seven layers of washi tape to their weekly spread. (no offense to the very talented artistic curators that are taking the internet by storm, i very much love you all.)

side note: this blog isn't for trashing artists, but instead celebrating the flexibility and creative freedom that comes with learning to study.

so please feel free to share your messy handwriting, last minute bujo spreads and mismatched stationery. we stan productive queens.

i guess that's my sort of introduction post? i honestly was trying for something a little more inspirational and a little less infomercial, but i suppose it'll have to do. (like i said, i'm literally flying by the seat of pants on the daily.) but in case you haven't left yet, i'll tell you a little more about myself.

my name is mia and i'm a rising college freshman. at the moment, i’m majoring in international business with a double minor in creative writing & music (though, that's subject to change). additionally, i'm taking part in the chinese language flagship program and if you'd like to know more about that, i can make a more detailed post about that later.

this blog, kind of seoul, was created because i was, for lack of a better term, bored af. (i just cringed so hard at that, please excuse me.) like most people, i spent a lot of misused free-time scrolling the likes of instagram and tumblr for study inspiration. there was something about the studyblr community that i absolutely loved, but i never felt like i was talented enough to be a part of. which is why i wanted to start this blog.

it's not super pretty and the content is mediocre at best, but i felt like maybe i could help someone realize that you don't have to have mildliner highlighters or muji pens or tombow brush pens (guilty, but i’m a hypocrite sometimes) to love learning. instead you just have to have the right motivation and little more confidence in your abilities. <3

anyways, i do hope you stick around (i kind of like having ya here). i'll like try to post daily, because maybe this blog will actually motivate me or whatevah. so join me in this lovely journey and feel free to ask questions or submit suggestions for what type of study content you want to see next? 

okay, you got this!

— mia, a hot mess who’s trying ™️

[majesticmarais]

tag game woohoo

tagged by the lovely @treegelbman

Last…

drink: coke!

phone call: my friend Brianna last night

text message: i think it was my boyfriend?? or one of my friends

song you listened to: sweater weather by the neighbourhood (i know #basic)

time you cried: LAST NIGHT

Ever…

dated someone twice: no actually and very thankfully

kissed someone and regretted it: yes LOL, only once though

been cheated on: nope!

lost someone special: yeah, multiple

been depressed: yeah i would definitely say that i have

gotten drunk and thrown up: i’ve done it once but it wasn’t actually because of the alcohol, it was another reason but i was drunk and ended up throwing up so technically yes but they weren’t correlated 

fav colour: i have lots! purple or red or royal blue i’d say

In The Last Year Have You…

made new friends: yes i have!! ones i am very grateful for

fallen out of love: no :)

laughed until you cried: this is me on a regular basis so most definitely yes

found out someone was talking about you: LOL YOU DONT EVEN KNOW, oh yeah

met someone who change you: i would say yes

found out who your friends are: i did indeed

kissed someone on your facebook friends list: LOL yes

General…

how many of your facebook friends do you know irl: i think all of them except for like 2 internet friends from a few years ago and one family member who i’ve never actually met lol

do you have any pets: a doggie!!

do you want to change your name: no not really

what did you do for your last birthday: lol well considering it just passed, i spent the day with my boyfriend, brothers, and some friends and had some dinner and ice cream, and last night i had all my friends over for a party!!

what were you doing at midnight last night: partying with my friendos

what is something you cant wait for: uhhhmm for the semester to be over LOL

what are you listening to right now: Robbers by the 1975

have you ever talked to a person named tom: i don’t think so actually??

something that gets on your nerves: people who walk really slow, hypocrites, and people who are really self centered and dont care about anyone

most visited website: tumblr i think

hair colour: iss brown

long or short hair: pretty short it’s a bit above shoulder length

do you have a crush on someone: yeah ;))

what do i like about yourself: my big heart

want any piercings: a nose ring or a septum

blood type: i think i’m O neg?

nicknames: A, lil red, Auttie, Fall

relationship status: taken :)

zodiac: virgo!

pronouns: she/her

fave tv show: probably this is us, or the fosters or degrassi or gilmore girls or greys, i love lots of shows

tattoos: none:(

right or left handed: rightie!

ever had surgery: on my teeth, i guess that counts?

piercings: just my lobes

sport: dance!!

vacation: is this favorite vacation or somewhere i want to go?? my favorite vacation was to Costa Rica!

More general…

eating: sour patch kids

drinking: nothing although i want water

about to watch: nothing, maybe some youtube later

waiting for: idk?? nothing?

want: my boyfriend to get out of the shower and come cuddle

get married: yeah!

career: homicide detective hopefully

Which Is Better…

hugs or and kisses

lips or eyes

shorter or taller

older or younger

nice arms or stomach

hookup or relationship

troublemaker or hesitant

have you ever

kissed a stranger: ...yes

drunk hard liquor: yup

lost glasses: YES ACTUALLY A FEW WEEKS AGO

turned someone down: yeah multiple times

sex on first date: no ma’am

broken someone’s heart: i don’t think so?

had your heart broken: yeah

been arrested: no!

cried when someone died: obviously?

fallen for a friend: HAHAH this tag game is coming for me

Do You Believe In…

yourself: sometimes

miracles: i like to think so

love at first sight: yes and no, not purely from looking at them but i think you can fall for someone after meeting them once

santa Claus: ALWAYS AND FOREVER

kiss on a first date: yeah i don’t see why not, some people make a big deal out of it but i don’t really care

angels: yes!

Others

best friends name: Skye

eye color: brown!

fave movie:I DONT KNOW ACTUALLY, I HATE THIS QUESTION

I tag: @samithepixie @yagirlcammmm @lilah-or-lily @daddy-avery and literally anyone who wants to do it just say i tagged you

[fey-and-sudden-and-unholy]

Surveything

When was the last time you cleaned out a bath tub? About a week ago.  I try to give it a quick scrub after I take a soak.  Easier to do it that way. Have you ever had an encounter with the paranormal? A handful.  Would you do your own surgery so keep yourself alive? (Ex. stitches) Considering that I’d prefer to remain alive for the time being, I’d certainly try, if it was the only way to keep things that way. Would you rather read poetry or write poetry? I think the one sort of naturally leads to the other, if you do it much... Have you ever had any really infected injuries? Once or twice.

Is racism for losers? To say the least.   Have you ever gotten so discouraged with something that you gave up? Who hasn’t? Is there any band out there that you like every song by them? There are several.   Do you prefer long surveys or short surveys? I like medium ones best.

Do people that are ungrateful for everything bother you? I suppose it would depend on the situation.  If kind and decent people have gone out of their way to try to make a person happy and they can only be a dick in response, then yes, that would bother me.  If unkind and hypocritical people are trying to use ungratefulness as a means of manipulating an abused party, I would congratulate the abused party on their lack of gratefulness and cheer for them to stay strong. Have you ever related yourself to a ‘fallen angel’? Certainly. Do you text people from a cell phone or from the internet? Phone, of course. Are you popular on any websites? I don’t think you could really say so. Have you ever cussed/swore in front of younger children? Probably.  I don’t make it a habit of being around younger children, so I don’t remember any specific instances. If so, did they eventually imitate what you said? Don’t recall.  If you ruled the world, what is the first law that you would make? All Nazis and their sympathizers would be submitted to strict re-education or banishment.  We can start a moon colony for the ones who resist and forget to add oxygen. Do you have any friends that you almost always joke around with? Yeah, sure. Will you go to your high school reunion? I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now. :-P ( I don’t understand high school nostalgia, honestly.  It wasn’t completely bad, and at least it was better than elementary school, but I pity anyone who peaked that early in their life.  It’s just a blip in the life-radar.)

Have you ever beat up someone because they had different beliefs than you? No. Have you learned any new words today? No, not today. If your hair never got greasy again, would you still wash it? Probably not...?  I mean, why spend the money on shampoo if you don’t need it?  I’d probably need to keep conditioning it, though, since your hair kind of needs that “grease” and all.   What was the last song you listened to? Beast - Mr. Hurricane Are you currently texting anyone right now? Not presently, no. If you could meet one famous person, who would it be? I would probably either become tongue-tied and faint, or jabber entirely the wrong thing, if confronted with any of the people I’d most want to meet, so... No thanks?  I’m better appreciating from afar.  Very far. When was the last time you played jump rope? Jeeze... ages ago. If you have ever jump roped, did you ever trip over the rope? Probably? Do you hate it when people look over your shoulder? Unless I’ve explicitly invited them to, gods yes! Do you give good advice? I certainly hope so... Would you rather help people or hurt people? Depends on the person. If your enemy lost almost everything, would you be willing to help them? If someone was bad enough for me to really consider them my enemy, probably not.  It takes a lot for me to get that adamant about anyone.  Mostly I just become indifferent to them. Have you ever prayed for your enemies? No. Do you lie in order to tell people what they want to hear? I have in times past.  It can become a defense mechanism, when you’re around a lot of psychological/emotional abuse.  (I’m sure the same can be said of physical.) Or are you honest and tell the truth, good or bad? That’s where I try to be, these days.

Would you consider yourself hypocritical? I don’t think anyone’s perfect, where that’s concerted.  I don’t like hypocrisy, so I try very hard not to be. Are you addicted to any energy drinks? No, I tend to keep it down to like... a cup of caffeinated tea/coffee, a day, most of the time. Do you know anyone who had had a heart attack under 30 years of age? Yes. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were never born? I used to wish for it fairly regularly. Something tragic just happened, does your facial expression show it? Probably not.  It depends how personal the tragedy is. Currently are you relieved about something? I can breathe through my nose and have recovered my sense of taste. Are you angry about something? How about sad? There’s a lot about the world that makes me angry/sad, so that’s kind of a low-key, under-the-table always thing.

Who was the last person you offended? Who can say?  This is Tumblr.

Do you feel sorry for kids who have celebrity parents? In some ways, yeah.  They got lucky (theoretically), and there will probably be people who will be cruel and petty to them, and it won’t have anything to do with anything they’ve done or who they are as an individual.  It’ll just be because they want to piss on the kid for having a (theoretically) good thing they don’t have. Is there something that you absolutely can’t wait for? Ireland!   Also, having a day off.  It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last one. If you could host your own talk show, would you do it? Not likely. Do you have a phone right next to you? Yup. If you were starving would you eat food out of a garbage can? If it didn’t look too terrible, yeah. Have you ever told anyone ‘get back, jack!’? (My Mom says that) LMAO, no...  I may, now, though! Have you ever seen something you wanted in a store but didn’t have money? Who the hell hasn’t? If so, did you want to steal it or did you actually steal it? Iiii may have, in my early 20′s, once or twice.  I had a lover, back then, who could (actually honestly literally) walk into a Best Buy and walk out with a couple dozen CDs he didn’t pay for all in one go, and he taught me a thing or two.  (Because I am a dork, and always have been, I used to call him the Artful Dodger.)  I had a job, though, so I never had reason to get into the habit.   And I have a better job, now, so, I just... buy what I want and save for what I can’t afford, or forget about it if I consider it truly stupidly expensive.

[forestwater87]

Here’s the thing: retrotrans totally has a point that lots of writers could use money. Times are really hard, and I think most of us are struggling financially. (There’s an argument to be made that this is more of a systemic issue that requires significant change in how we view profit and need in general, but that’s a bit tangential.) I have a kofi myself, which I was pressed to get when I was laid off a couple years ago I was gonna include a link but that felt a little gauche, so I’m not saying you shouldn’t donate to writers you support, if you have the money. I’d be a hypocrite if I did say that, because lots of us do need money.

However, I don’t think I’m speaking just for myself when I say we need AO3, too. As a writer who isn’t In the best financial place, I’m so grateful there are people who donate to the only good fanfiction archive on the internet, because I can’t afford to. And without having a creative outlet, a connection with a fan community and readers who daily chip away at the calcifying stress and depression building up at all times, but so much more so in the current environment, I would go insane. No exaggeration, I might not be here if it wasn’t for Ao3, and the relationships and connections I’ve built there.

Archive of Our Own is the way I met many of my friends, including the love of my life (or at least, she’ll be one of them). It’s the first time in over a decade of writing and publishing fic that I felt like I created something that mattered. It’s where I’ve read stories that helped me come to terms with my sexuality, that showed me new ways of thinking and seeing through the points of view of characters I knew and loved like real-life people. There are stories on that site that I love more than any “real” published book, and authors I respect and appreciate to the same extent — and with the bonus of an excellent feedback system (except for multiple kudos: come on Ao3 get there already), who I can have conversations with about their work and my own. And it’s all free! With no ads!

Fanfiction.net doesn’t do this nearly as well. Publishing fic on tumblr is a literal nightmare. Livejournal is dead (and wasn’t very good at it to begin with), and I’m ancient enough to remember when individual authors had to host their work on their own blogs and websites, and you had to hope they were popular or savvy enough to have a mailing list if you wanted to be sure of seeing updates. There is NO ONE doing what Ao3 does, to the extent it does, as well as it does. It has turned writing and reading fanfiction into a passion instead of an idle hobby. It’s honestly changed everything, and I get that everything gets a backlash and it might seem overrated to a lot of people, but...I don’t know what to tell you. It really is that big a deal.

I know I don’t represent everyone—for all I know retro is a writer themselves—but this is the half-dozenth post I’ve seen on my dash in the past few days about how people should think of the poor writers instead of donating to Ao3. And I’m just really tired of being spoken for.

In my case, thinking of fanfic writers means supporting (emotionally if not financially) the site that makes writing and sharing our work possible. For me, personally, if you want to help during an extremely difficult time, don’t give to my kofi: please give to Ao3 and then come tell me about it. People who can and do donate, as a writer I appreciate you so much.

ETA: Have chatted with retrotrans, who seems like a lovely person; I think I misunderstood their POV a little bit (they are coming from this as a writer, not merely a reader like I assumed), and while we don’t have the same perspective on this I fully respect their opinion, as well as anyone who shares it. I wanted to add a little correction to my post -- I am DEFINITELY not speaking for all writers, since a lot of the people with the stance I disagree with are also writers -- and express that I don’t have or support any ill will toward anyone here.

if u really wanna support writers u should go see if the fic writers u like have like a ko-fi or paypal link bc a lot of writers are poor & struggling bc of the virus rn so u should check out if they have any donation links up (along w donating to people u see on ur dash that need help financially rn bc i promise u they need it more than ao3)

[teasty]

THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS. I’ve been so sick of the witch hunt! I understand the position that we as adults are put in when minors interact and read content but, as you said before, WE WERE MINORS ONCE TOO. I got into smut back when it was called a “lemon” and posted on Quizilla. (I’m really showing my age here.) Back then, I was still a minor. Reading and writing smut was an outlet so that I didn’t go out and put myself and my body in compromising positions, as well as prepare me mentally for when I finally took that next step with a person. Is it weird to think about minors reading your stuff? Absolutely! But p*rn sites have the same level of disclosure and that most certainly isn’t stopping them from watching it, either.

yeah, it all comes down to that i can’t control people, no matter their age/maturity or what they do with their lives. and, yeah, i was there, too, when smut was called lemon/lime back when wattpad was like a year or two old and when ao3 was still kind of a huge thing (both released around 2008). and im pretty sure more than half of the nsfw creators on here did the literal same exact thing.

it’s not im trying to sound hypocritical, either. since ive matured over the years and understood how important it is for my legal safety to keep adult content strictly for adults, i can now understand how adult content can get the creator (not the reader, in most cases) into usually legal trouble.

and, yes, nothing is stopping a minor from going onto a site like ph and watching the shit on there. since there’s no age verification system, and that it’s free, there’s nothing stopping them. like with tumblr or any other social media website, kids have the power to lie about their age and read adult content. what can i do about it other than put multiple disclaimers that my content is only intended for adults/mature audiences? really nothing unless i know the account and their actual age and can report their account or advise them on the consequences of their actions.

i just don’t like how some people are handling this. why belittle and deprave children (who are probably exploring their sexuality and, again, completely normal and human emotions) when you were probably the exact same way? like have some fucking empathy. if you’re such a big, smart and mature adult, start acting like one instead of screaming and getting angry and bullying literal children over the internet. it’s just annoying tbh but what can you do

[frankoceanblogfan-blog]

The Ever Elusive Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean — a man of mystery and intrigue.

When it comes to Frank and the notion of popular music, it is impossible to dismiss the paradox at play. He is one of the most widely-regarded singer-songwriters in present-day R&B, hip hop, and rap. His first studio album, Channel Orange, debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. His second studio album, Blonde, debuted at number one. He has received seven Grammy nominations, two of which he has won. He has received a number of other accolades, including the GQ Award for Rookie of the Year, the Soul Train Music Award for Album of the Year (Channel Orange), and the UK Music Video Award for Best Urban Video (“Novacane”). The list goes on. 

Yet, amidst all of the critical acclaim, he remains an enigma.

Ghostly Beginnings

Frank began his musical career in quite literally the most secretive manner possible — as a ghostwriter. He moved to Los Angeles in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his hometown, New Orleans, and rendered his local recording studio useless. Once in L.A., he began songwriting for hit artists, including Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Beyonce (with whom he is pictured below).

At this point in his career, Frank actually hoped to move more into the spotlight. As he stated in a 2012 interview with BBC News, "it might have been comfy to continue to [compose for other people] and enjoy that income stream and the anonymity. But that's not why I moved away from school and away from family."

This seems like the typical attitude of any musician trying to make it as a popular musician. Frank Ocean had a goal to rise to prominence as a solo artist, and it was one that he would undoubtedly achieve.

Frank’s Fame

In 2011, Frank dropped his first mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, to wide acclaim. The name “Frank Ocean” was now well-known in the music industry. He caught the attention of Jay-Z and Kanye West as they were creating their collaborative album, Watch the Throne. In 2011, Frank co-wrote and featured vocals on two songs in the album, “Made in America” and “No Church in the Wild.” The latter won him a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

Then, in 2012, Frank released Channel Orange, his first studio album. It would be a gross understatement to say that this album was a success. After the album’s release, anyone paying even remote attention to R&B and hip hop respected the talent of Frank Ocean. Its hit single, “Thinkin Bout You,” was Grammy nominated for Record of the Year. The album itself was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album, the latter of which he won. He even performed at the show, further propelling himself into the spotlight.

It’s safe to say that 2011 and 2012 were great to Frank Ocean. A quick rise to stardom. A young, talented artist positioned in the limelight. He seemed to be right where he was dreaming to be just a few years earlier. In early 2013, Frank announced that he had began work on a new album. And then….

Where is Frank?

From 2013 until 2016, Frank Ocean almost entirely detached himself from the public sphere. During the three year stint, he remained in contact with the rest of the world through cryptic breadcrumbs, mostly through his Tumblr blog, where he could comfortably hide behind the veil of the Internet. Frank’s emotional and mental well-being were of great concern to the world he left behind. And the album that he promised in 2013? There was constant, fervent speculation on the release date. And as Frank’s exile drew on, there was speculation if that release date would ever actually come. It was a heart-wrenching time to be a Frank Ocean fan.

In the few months right before what would be the release of his second studio album Blonde, it was almost as if Frank was taunting his fans. In early July of 2016, he cryptically posted a photo on his website that indirectly hinted at a release that month. The photo is of a “Date Due” library card with several stamped dates, ending with “Jul 2016.” There was no further explanation from Frank accompanying the photo. But Frank Ocean was gone for years, and maybe, just maybe, he was about to make his long awaited return.

But alas, July painfully passed by in silence. Still no album. Then, on August 1st, another puzzling hint is released. At 3am, a live stream of Frank Ocean appeared on boysdontcry.co. The scenes are what can only be described as mysteriously random. Frank does some woodworking and plays some instruments. News outlets took this tease and ran with it, rumoring that August 5th would be the highly-anticipated release date of the album.

It is now August 6th, and there is still no album. Anguish. No word from Frank — not terribly surprising at this point. The internet is now on the verge of implosion. Everyone is shouting into the abyss, “Where’s the album Frank??” The waiting game ensued. 

And then, on August 20th, 2016, Frank Ocean’s long-awaited second studio album materialized in the masterpiece that is Blonde. Fans lost their minds. Happy tears streamed down the face of the Internet as they tasted the sweet, sweet taste of blissful victory. The void that was missing was now filled with seventeen raw, beautiful tracks. Blonde rocketed to number one on charts across the world and sold 232,000 copies it its first week. The album is revered as Frank’s best work to date and is still being played on repeat by music fans everywhere.

Dealing with Fame

The emotional roller coaster that is Frank Ocean’s career sheds light on his relationship with popularity in the music industry. He began as anonymous. He quickly became famous. He then promptly disappeared. He finally resurfaced, but as obscure and cryptic as ever. The promotion of his album was almost non-existent, with no direct communication from the artist himself. Frank, whether intentionally or not, put his highly devoted fans through emotional distress as they sat in agony suffering delay after delay.

And yet, his fans remained loyal. His popularity surged even higher. Some might be quick to assume that Frank Ocean turned into an enigma with intent — that his three-year exile, as well as Blonde’s perpetual delays, were nothing more than a tactful business move. It’s easy to imagine an artist reveling in the air of mystery that they curated, conjuring up a mystifying hype around their celebrity image. Leading up to Blonde’s release, he had the public tantalized and hanging on his every move. If it was a purposeful business decision, then it certainly worked.

However, there is a much more believable argument that this is not the case for Frank Ocean — that he is not a PR mastermind, but rather an introspective, brooding soul who truly longs for a life outside of the public eye. When asked in an interview with the New York Times about his elusive three year escape, Frank comments, “I always thought about it like, if your house is on fire, you need to get out of the house.” He was evidently battling demons in both his personal and professional lives.

In the same interview, Frank remarks that he is “super-envious” of how Daft Punk is able to be famous yet retain their anonymity. He seems sad about the fact that he cannot do the same, remarking that “it’s too late” for himself. In resignation, he states that he’s “gotten used to being Frank Ocean.”

Other evidence points to his struggle in coming to terms with being a part of popular music. He didn’t submit Blonde for the 2016 Grammy Awards, or even attend the show, claiming in his New York Times interview that the “infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system … is dated.” In the same interview, Frank Ocean describes the pressure he felt to participate in that exact same system as a budding young artist four years earlier. His hope in attending and performing at the Grammys was to “[rub] shoulders with those people and [be] seen at those places.”

It would be wrong to blame Frank for changing his mind on how actively to participate in the public arena at different points in his career. If anything, it seems natural. It is common among celebrities to deter from the spotlight once they get a taste of how intrusive it truly is. Maybe the grass really is greener, and every artist needs to experience that turmoil personally.

In Frank Ocean’s perfect world, his music would be popular, and he would be nameless.

Sexuality and Gender

Perhaps one of the most defining aspects of Frank’s career is his relationship to gender and sexuality. Before Frank Ocean had his breakthrough as a solo artist, he was a member of the hip hop collective Odd Future starting in 2009. Odd Future is a group of rappers and hip hop artists with a loud, rambunctious demeanor. Their songs are ridden with offensive and homophobic lyrics. Frank was in stark contrast to the other members of Odd Future. Firstly, he is considerably more quiet and reserved than the other more aggressive members. Secondly, and much more striking, Frank Ocean is not straight.

He shocked the hip hop world when he came out as bisexual in 2012 through a letter posted on his Tumblr. In the heartfelt letter, Frank recounts his first love with a man when he was nineteen years old. He goes on to describe his struggle in coming to terms with his sexuality. But he ends the letter with the poignant sentence, “I feel like a free man,” indicating that he is finally at peace with this part of his life.

Frank’s coming out to the public made headlines. A bisexual R&B/hip hop artist is almost unheard of, but his announcement was widely met with love and acceptance. And how did his collaborators from Odd Future, who’s songs frequently feature homophobic slurs, feel about Frank’s sexual orientation? They publicly stated that they had absolutely no problem with it. Perhaps a more important question to explore is why Frank would target himself with his own discography.

This is a seemingly hypocritical theme that permeates the rap and hip hop industry: to preach acceptance but produce (and profit from) hate. Perhaps it ties back into the reasons why Frank was behaving the way he was early in his career. He was simply doing whatever would make him a successful musician. It just so happens that he was working in an industry where certain homophobic lyrics sell.

But as his fame progressed, Frank Ocean moved away from the homophobia. In fact, he starting doing the exact opposite. He began utilizing his prominent position in the business to explore gender through his work in a number of ways. 

His songs about love and lust heavily feature the male pronoun. For example, in “Thinkin Bout You,” he sings: “My eyes don't shed tears, but boy, they bawl when I'm thinkin' 'bout you.” And in “Bad Religion,” he sings: “I can never make him love me / Never make him love me.” 

More directly, the “Nikes” music video features Frank Ocean in heavy eye makeup and includes many shots of androgynous and cross-dressing men.

Frank is certainly one to push the traditional boundaries of gender and sexuality. The fact that he can successfully test these boundaries and remain one of the top players in the industry is no small feat. These artistic expressions regarding gender are not quite as aggressive as pushing a political agenda. Instead, it appears as if he is defining exactly what it means to be a non-heterosexual male in R&B/hip hop popular music.

Frank Ocean is an enigma in more ways than one. After struggling with his rise to fame and popularity, he remains cryptic and mysterious to this date. But his ever-resilient fan base attests to his tremendous ability as a popular musician, in every sense of the word.

References

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-16390456

http://blog.promolta.com/frank-ocean-got-music-industry/

http://www.complex.com/music/2011/03/who-is-frank-ocean/beyonce

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/arts/music/frank-ocean-blonde-interview.html

https://blonded.co/blogs/posts/late

http://fnewsmagazine.com/2017/10/a-year-with-frank-oceans-blonde/

http://frankocean.tumblr.com/image/26473798723

https://blonded.co/blogs/posts/late

https://medium.com/cuepoint/find-your-wings-frank-ocean-and-odd-futures-pursuit-of-freedom-dda7214b5a84

https://vimeo.com/179791907

[sulphur-crested-cocktease]

Dear Antis,

You do realize that none of your sanctimonious whining, petulant name-calling, hypocritical ranting about protecting survivors, and, let’s call it what it is, cyberbullying makes one iota of difference to Tumblr’s ToS or, more importantly, to the law, right?

If something on the internet upsets you and is in violation of the law (and I mean the actual law, not your own very inaccurate interpretation of it) or a site’s ToS, by all means, report it!

If something on the internet upsets you and is not against the website’s ToS and doesn’t violate any actual laws? Tough luck, Buttercup! Move along–or don’t and waste 30 minutes of your life screeching impotently into the void. I don’t really care either way.

There are always going to be things in life that upset you or piss you off. There are always going to be people with different value systems and ideologies. Bitching at people online over things that you could just as easily block or blacklist and treating other people like crap isn’t social activism. It’s not standing up for yourself, or survivors, or real life children. It’s bitching at people online over things that you could just as easily block or blacklist and not ever have to see. It’s being nasty for the sake of being nasty. It’s being an abuser while railing against abusers, and it’s pathetic.

If you really want sweeping censorship of online spaces (and I seriously doubt you actually do) so that no one is ever allowed to view drawings of cartoon characters in compromising sexual situations online, why don’t you write to your government representatives about it?

Perhaps it’s because you know that your moral outrage over fictional people is utterly ridiculous to anyone with even a modicum of common sense? Perhaps it’s because you realize that lawmakers don’t give a crap about a bunch of internet fans getting their jollies writing smut about fake people? Perhaps it’s because there are actual problems in the world affecting *real* people, and, despite the correlation you claim between problematic fiction and bad things happening in reality, there is no credible evidence to suggest that this is the case? Perhaps it’s because you actually *can* acknowledge that, as someone whom is of a certain age, you are responsible for your own fandom experience, and it’s no one’s job to police things that are not against the law simply because you don’t approve of them?

Seriously guys, you don’t have to like the thing. You can hate the thing if you want to. I’m totally cool with you if you dislike something because you find it icky, or triggering, or whatever. You don’t need a reason to find something distasteful. You don’t need to explain yourself to me–just like I don’t have to explain myself to you. But, for the love of God, please stop being horrid to other people–and that goes for anti-antis too!

I am honestly too old to care if children (and I use the word "children" in the sense that they behave like tantrum prone 7 year olds, not in the sense that antis like to claim, ie that teenagers are helpless babies who need to be coddled and treated like sexless morons right up until their 18th birthday) half my age send me anon hate. I know that nothing I am doing or have done online has ever broken the law. Telling me to kill myself or get raped doesn’t hurt me–it exposes those of you who say such things as immature little bullies who are completely out of touch with reality and waaaaay too invested in, let’s just be honest for once, your fictional otp.

Claiming something is pedophilia that isn’t pedophilia by any legal definition of the word doesn’t earn you purity points. It does, however, offend some people who have experienced csa by being dismissive of their very real trauma. We can all (literally, almost all of us–including those who have such urges, but never act on them because the thought of actually abusing a child is abhorrent to them) agree that actual, real life pedophilia is revolting and horrifying. But, it’s ridiculous how easy it is to get people to side with you when you toss around terms like pedophilia, isn’t it? Who doesn’t hate child abusers? That using such cheap tactics to immediately shut down any dissenting opinion hurts real people is inconsequential because, yay, you’ve won! I’m not quite sure what it is you’ve won, mind you: Asshole of the year? Tumblr sjw points? Whatever; who cares? The important thing is that no one will dare to stand up to you and call you out on your shitty behaviour, lest they get accused of being a pedo or a pedo-apologist! I fucking see you antis.

What is it all for though, this performative bullshit? It doesn’t stop most of us from producing and/or consuming the content we want to see. It doesn’t improve your standing in the real world. It doesn’t do anything to help real victims of csa. It doesn’t change the legal definition of pedophilia or make websites like AO3 change their policies. It just hurts the fandom (and fandom in general) as a whole and highlights what stupid, selfish, little twits some people are.

Seriously! How do you guys not understand that policing fandom is completely pointless?!

Holy shit! Get over yourselves and start enjoying life again! 🙄

[transmalewife]

and I get it, I've fundraised on tumblr and yeah there's a part of me that used to hurt whenever i saw people reblogging ao3 donation posts while my top surgery fund stagnated. But, if we follow that line of thinking, people shouldn't donate to me either. I'm white after all, and I had (most of the time) a roof over my head. And I'm not really that disabled, am i? And if you think about it, getting top surgery is a choice, not an entirely free one but definitely moreso than getting a lung transplant. Should people only ever donate to the most drastic cases? Should you only help when someone is in the most dire straights imaginable? how do you decide? Is medical treatment or rent more important? Which minority is more opressed? These aren't questions with a simple, objective answer. Charity is a broken system scrambling to replace social justice, universal healthcare and housing, and unfortunately the way it currently works online creates a false equivalence between very different things, by using the same language when begging for survival and for paying for a service, because this particular service is so determined to protect our creative work it will not accept ads (which has the side effect of making it the only habitable zone online without adblock). You wouldn't guilttrip someone for buying a book instead of donating to charity, especially if they were buying it for a library that you get free access to, right?

now, I do not donate to ao3 and i dont imagine i will anytime soon, because i have no money, and if i manage to set some aside there are several charitable causes and friends raising money much higher on my list, but the thing is i don't pay for entertainment either. I haven't been to the movies in years, if someone offers me an access to a streaming site they pay for i use it but ive never paid for one myself in my life. I don't really... buy stuff. food, cigarettes and art supplies is pretty much all i spend money on. However, if i had book-buying money, I don't think if would be morally reprehensible to spend one of those books on a website so dedicated to creativity, freedom of expression and one of the few still standing and relevant bastions of the internet as it was before it was taken entirely over by corporations and upturned to prioritize advertizing. And it is relevant, literally one of the 100 most visited websites in the us.

I also really hope none of the people criticizing ao3 donation drives pay monthly for disney+ because that would be pathetically hypocritical right?

adding a read more so i don't bore people with the math tangent i'm about to go on, but basically if you are a us citizen you have given twice as much money to facebook than someone else paid for your ao3 account, whether you actually use facebook or not.

Now, as of 2021 there are around 2,5 million registered ao3 users. The april 2021 donation drive raised around $265,000. If you have an ao3 account someone paid around 10 cents for you to use it for half a year.

For comparison, facebook has recieved at least (we don't actually know how much since unlike with ao3 their finances aren't public) $785,765,803 in goverment subsidies (since 2010, though most of the date is from after 2016 so i'll count it as such and arbitrarily round down to 700 million to even things out.also take all this with a grain of salt and do your own research i don't know shit about money and am currently half asleep, the point of this is loosely putting things in perspective not me getting an armchair economist degree) so 700milion dollars / 330million us population comes out to just over $2 per person (more, bc again we don't exactly know how much they get) for 5 years (although about half of that is from 2020). 42 cents per year, vs 10 cents per half a year.

so, if you are a us citizen you have given twice as much money to facebook than someone else paid for your ao3 account, whether you actually use facebook or not. and ao3

also, just for fun. the april 2021 ao3 drive was asking for 50k, so about five times less than what they got, so they were fully prepared to run your account for half the year for 2 cents. There were over 9k donors and the average donation came out to around $29, which is equivalent to what? 2 or 3 printed books? a normal amount for a person with the means to do so to spend on entertainment methinks, especially if by doing so they share it with everyone else.

i think ao3 is a really interesting case study for internet discourse in general bc the accusations are severe, and (unlike in many other cases) true, but the backlash is exagerated, hypocritical and borderline canibalistic.

because you know how everyone complains about ads, about corporations taking over the internet, about useless tagging systems on social media, about websites banning adult content which in reality means banning tagged and easily avoidable banned content?

Well, here you have a community run, non-profit website without a single ad on it, specifically created to fight back against corporations, with what is possibly the best tagging system in existence and comprehensive, layered warnings for adult content. And yet there are people who's greatest wish is to see it killed.

Yeah, theres some really vile shit on ao3. you know where there's also vile shit? literally everywhere else online. There's n*zis actively recruiting on pretty much every social media platform. I guess it just feels more personal when a website is actively asking for donations instead of just quietly stealing your taxes like facebook.

I see fanartists raising money for new laptops/tablets all the time, and people donate because this is not really charity, it's a roundabout way of paying for free entertainment. and what ao3 is doing is just that but on a larger scale, with servers instead of a laptop.

My point is, it's getting impossible to ignore how everyone complains about the lack of lgbt rep in media, and yet the most viciously criticized shows always end up being the ones with any rep at all. everyone complains about there being too few trans creators, then turns around and cancels any trans creator who gets the slightest bit of fame. Because it's easy, right? they're on your side, they should listen, they should want to do better. but you're sure as fuck not making it easy, and these things very quickly escalate far beyond any discussion of improvement, and into complete opposition to the very concept.

Yeah, ao3 has some horrid stuff on it. What's the alternative? Yeah, leftist trans youtubers sometimes say problematic things. they're people. people make mistakes. who else is educating about leftist and queer issues online on such a scale and in a way that is accessible to people who don't already agree with you? yeah, steven universe... you know what, actually i don't think i've ever heard a single reasonable critique of that show. and what other mainstream kids cartoon had a lesbian wedding in 2018? You can't expect perfection while consistently tearing down anything that gets close to it.