I’m friends with a lot of people who are internet famous (for their art, for political activism, for their engagement in fandoms, etc) and have a large follower base. I’ve witnessed more than my fair share of them being harassed for the things they do (as well as gotten some of it myself), but the most outrageous stuff always comes from ppl inside their communities.
It’s gotten to the point where you can’t state an opinion anymore without getting hate or worse for it. People forgot over the anonymity of the internet that there is a real life person behind the name, and that being able to disagree as well as listen to someone’s reasoning before throwing them under the bus, is a character strength.
People even go as far as to saying that opening conversations about problematic things and with problematic people is in and of itself wrong and problematic. but if we don’t have dialogue, how are ppl supposed to understand us? or how do we understand them? And if there is no understanding how are we supposed to find solutions and bridge the gap?
thank you for putting it down so beautifully. I’d like to add a personal story to this, because I think it explains how I got my first epiphany about how to face people with different/opposite opinions to mine, and it maybe can let someone relate or offer a useful insight. I hope it won’t be read as me hijacking the post, because that’s absolutely not my intention. if anything I want to add weight on it in support. so, as I already told lio, I was an insufferable teenager that thought she was the shit. that just because I could talk my way out of problems, was fairly smart, and gifted with introspection, I knew more than others, and knew things that were right. I held no moral crown because of this, my right or wrong was a matter as simple as saying “I’m right in saying that the earth is round”. in a way that made me even worse because good luck convincing me of being wrong when I held my opinions as high as ScienceTM, but anyway xD Storytime with etra will be placed under a cut because LONG: