A Beginner's Guide to Tumblrisms

[seagull]

The issue with the argument over whether non-white people in America can be racist is an argument purely over definitions. What SJWs mean when they say racism, is institutionalized racism by the majority group. So indeed, by their definition they cannot be racist purely because they are not part of the majority.

What we would simply call racism is what they call prejudice, because prejudice implies individual acts that do not have the same requirement of being institutionalized as racism does. If everyone called them prejudiced assholes instead of racist, they'd no longer be able to derail being called out for being shitty people by wanking about their alternate definition.

tl;dr They're derailing by arguing semantics and that makes me sperg out

 

[Petronella]

Sapiosexuality: Being attracted to or sexually aroused by intelligence. Sapiosexuals usually are teenage girls who use it as code for "I think nerdy guys are sexy." Critics of sapiosexuality allege that it is ableist and implies that unintelligent people don't deserve affection.

 

[Jaimas]

Sapiosexuality: Being attracted to or sexually aroused by intelligence. Sapiosexuals usually are teenage girls who use it as code for "I think nerdy guys are sexy." Critics of sapiosexuality allege that it is ableist and implies that unintelligent people don't deserve affection.

BECAUSE THEY DON'T.

I'm joking but this still sums up the feelings of like most this forum

 

[Meowthkip]

Whoever came up with this idea has to be a legendary troll. I've seen countless Internet arguments starting with "you can be racist against white people too," and devolving into hours of people arguing about Irish people and what it's like to live in a foreign country without anyone participating realizing they're just arguing over a different definition for one word.

I'm pretty sure the person who came up with that definition was a white woman.

I had an article with her picture on there a while back but it was definitely a white woman.

I wish I had that article.

 

[AnOminous]

tl;dr They're derailing by arguing semantics and that makes me sperg out

What's worse is they're simply wrong, by the actual definition of the word "racism." Like Humpty Dumpty, they think a word means whatever they say it means. That's not how language works, and I'll be damned if I let a bunch of teenage morons on tumblr decide how the language I speak works.

The OED's very simple definition for racism.

racism

(ˈreɪsɪz(ə)m)

[f. race n.2 + -ism; cf. F. racisme (Robert 1935).]

a.a The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race. b.b = racialism.

---

Nothing about the meaning of the word denotes a monopoly on it by any race. In fact, stating that the "distinctive human characteristic" of racism is unique to white people is, itself, clearly racism by any accepted use of the word.

 

[seagull]

What's worse is they're simply wrong, by the actual definition of the word "racism." Like Humpty Dumpty, they think a word means whatever they say it means. That's not how language works, and I'll be damned if I let a bunch of teenage morons on tumblr decide how the language I speak works.

They are not using the definition I would use, or even the common definition of racism, but it is one that I have heard in the context of a social sciences course. It's just another example of language that's specific to a website or subculture, just like how I just used the term "sperg" to describe my over analysis of this subject.

 

[Dr. Boe Jangles Esq.]

Thin Privilege: the idea that thin people are more privileged in society than fat people. While one could arguably claim that a thin attractive person will get more positive attention than a frumpy fat person, tumblr, as usual, takes it over the edge to claim that things like "fitting into an airline seat" and "not being told your heart may give out by 50" are thin privilege. Tumblr apparently truly believes thin people never have health problems/never have doctors badger them about their weight, always find their size in clothes and have no right to feel down about their appearance for any reason. Should a thin person experience any of these things, they will be shouted down and told they don't have it as bad as fat people and need to shut up.

This concept is so popular that there's even a version of it where a "smallfat" (a person who is plus-sized) has more privilege than a person who is very obese.

Now see, this one I have never been able to grasp, because it deals in real, tangible things that can be controlled. Someone who is a serious alcoholic is going to have liver issues before someone who isn't. This isn't "sober privilege"; it's just biology. If you do a shitton of cocaine, you're are going to have health problems, and that's your own goddamn fault. It's not due to "clean privilege". Unlike race, gender, or sexual orientation, someone can control how fat or thin they are. Genetics and lifestyle plays a role, yes, but you are not "genetically predisposed" to be 350 lbs. If you don't want to be obese, you can exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. Human beings are genetically hardwired to find thinner, fitter people more attractive. It's an evolutionary throwback from a time in which being the spouse of the best hunter/fighter was going to be your best bet at survival. As such, it's rooted pretty deep. I'm not saying that I wouldn't love to be able to just sit around and eat pizza all day, but that's not going to do my health or sex life any favors, so I deal with it and do the work.
Don't get me wrong, if it's not worth it to you, don't do it. However, you don't get to complain as though being obese is in no way due to your own choices and actions.
TL;DR- Most forms of "privilege" are attributed to things people are born with, like race or social class. This is something that can be controlled and changed by simple effort. The fact it's seen as a disenfranchised minority baffles me, even by Tumblr's standards.

 

[GREEDY FIREMAN]

I'm still working on getting everything in (real life keeps getting in the way), but went ahead and updated the original post bit.

 

[Positron]

Sapiosexuality: Being attracted to or sexually aroused by intelligence. Sapiosexuals usually are teenage girls who use it as code for "I think nerdy guys are sexy." Critics of sapiosexuality allege that it is ableist and implies that unintelligent people don't deserve affection.

Because there is no intelligence in Tumblr, the only outcome of "sapiosexuals" is to be forever alone.

 

[Vitriol]

They are not using the definition I would use, or even the common definition of racism, but it is one that I have heard in the context of a social sciences course. It's just another example of language that's specific to a website or subculture, just like how I just used the term "sperg" to describe my over analysis of this subject.

This is something i came across studying the social sciences too- its perhaps worth noting that the umbrella of psychology, sociology and anthropology are, in the uk, the most common degrees. This means the quality of academia in those fields is far lower than in other fields as every minor college has a 'proffessor ' from personal experience a ridiculous number of these are middle aged women researching 'sexuality and gender'. As they each compete to stand out the focus of their papers gets narrower and narrower and they begin changing definitions of words to fit whatever niche they're writing about. So you end up with institutional descrimination described as ' power plus privilege' and then privilege further defined and power likewise further defined. The end result is papers that devolve into discussing jargon and translating fairly obvious statements into socscience jargon. This is really poor practice in academia and is why the umbrella is often looked down upon. However because there are so many of these low quality researchers working on similar things they peer review each other and get publushed that way. Its a problem that is rife across the west. Tumblr has latched onto this jargon without understanding that it is intended (rightly or wrongly) as a tool for use in academic papers not to be applied to bloody video games or cartoons- they are ment for specifying exactly what aspect of racism/sexism etc one is discussing not as general lay definitions.

The people on tumblr lack the context and training to understand when to use these terms, listening to them talk about anything social science related is like listening to 'jace' talk about millitary stuff. Its not their fault that socscience has developed down this byzantine route but before they even attempt to use the terms they need to get an education from a reputable university and NOT just educate themselves.

From reading papers from the US things seem to have devolved there even faster with separate subjects like women's studies creating these low quality echo chambers that peer review amongst peers who all largely hold the same views. publishing niche essays that are a mess of jargon and add almost nothing- see Anita Sarkeesian's master thesis for an example of this. I like the term over educated to describe people who earn their degree by mastering the jargon rather than the underlying theories and end up with a valid degree on paper but none of the critical or research skills that would normally be aquired in the course of study. Tumblr is rife with this aswell they know the jargon but not really the theory hence 'gender is a social construct so i can pick my gender at will'

Tldr: bad practice in the academic world is misunderstood by tumblrites leading to tumblrisms.

 

[AnOminous]

From reading papers from the US things seem to have devolved there even faster with separate subjects like women's studies creating these low quality echo chambers that peer review amongst peers who all largely hold the same views. publishing niche essays that are a mess of jargon and add almost nothing- see Anita Sarkeesian's master thesis for an example of this. I like the term over educated to describe people who earn their degree by mastering the jargon rather than the underlying theories and end up with a valid degree on paper but none of the critical or research skills that would normally be aquired in the course of study. Tumblr is rife with this aswell they know the jargon but not really the theory hence 'gender is a social construct so i can pick my gender at will'

Tldr: bad practice in the academic world is misunderstood by tumblrites leading to tumblrisms.

"Peer review" implies actual review, not a mutual asspatting society.

I am also not sure tumblrites are actually misunderstanding the misuse of terms like "racism" in the first place, since the whole point of dramatically altering the meaning of words to make them mean what is politically useful rather than what they mean as speakers of the language use them is, in fact, to be able to use them as a bludgeon. That's what tumblr is doing with them.

There is just no way, though, that this is how language should be used. It's like declaring "violence" bad, but then declaring that it's not actually violence when you do it. Just when the other guy does it. Because if it's good, it's not violence.

The meaning of racism is simply attribution of fundamental traits on the basis of race, and when good writers, even in the social science field, use the term to mean some specific type of racism, they use modifiers, so you have phrases like "structural racism" or "institutional racism." These modifiers are necessary because the original word does not denote these things.

It's entirely reasonable to point out that racism by a majority with power is more objectionable, or at least more dangerous, than racism by a minority against those they can't oppress because they lack the power to do so. But to claim it isn't racism at all is to do violence to the language.

 

[Hummingbird]

Heightism: This is a new one where people believe they are largely (mainly men) discriminated against by society because they are too short. I don't mean midget short, but bellow about 5'7".

I've noticed when it comes to tumblrs that complain about diversity, they almost always ignore Dr. Who that has always had a white CIS male doctor and most of his companions are also like that. While I really like Escher Girls, a lot of redesigners seem to not complain about Sailor Moon where the girls wear heels and short skirts.

 

[Vitriol]

"Peer review" implies actual review, not a mutual asspatting society.

I am also not sure tumblrites are actually misunderstanding the misuse of terms like "racism" in the first place, since the whole point of dramatically altering the meaning of words to make them mean what is politically useful rather than what they mean as speakers of the language use them is, in fact, to be able to use them as a bludgeon. That's what tumblr is doing with them.

There is just no way, though, that this is how language should be used. It's like declaring "violence" bad, but then declaring that it's not actually violence when you do it. Just when the other guy does it. Because if it's good, it's not violence.

The meaning of racism is simply attribution of fundamental traits on the basis of race, and when good writers, even in the social science field, use the term to mean some specific type of racism, they use modifiers, so you have phrases like "structural racism" or "institutional racism." These modifiers are necessary because the original word does not denote these things.

It's entirely reasonable to point out that racism by a majority with power is more objectionable, or at least more dangerous, than racism by a minority against those they can't oppress because they lack the power to do so. But to claim it isn't racism at all is to do violence to the language.

I agree absolutely that's how it should work and as you say with 'good' writers it does. Unfortunately the field is swamped with writers who are, quite frankly, an embarrassment and should never have got their degrees. In many of the social sciences the peer review process is utterly broken having become, as you said, mutual ass-patting.

Spoiler: Off topic anecdote about articles that should never have been published

I saw a book in the law societies library that was feminists critiquing Australian judges: while critique of judgments is common in legal work criticizing them on the basis of the gender of the judge rather than his reasoning is absurd and little more than sexist insults to his intelligence. While this wouldn't fly in an actual legal journal I have seen in socscience journals laws being criticized on the basis of the gender of the lawmaker rather than the content.

Now certainly they stick to these definitions as they are politically useful but I believe they were originally introduced by well meaning individuals and that the sjw stuff grew up round them. those that have been retained are only those suitable to the narrative, whereas those that are problematic have been dropped ie reverse racism, masculine expendability etc etc.

Broadly i think we're in agreement that they are being used on tumblr to control rather than to clarify.

 

[Linako 2.0]

Tumblr fashion trend. Not only will Tumblr users wear flower crowns for outfits they post to Tumblr, they will also draw or photoshop flower crowns onto pretty much every male character of whatever fandom they're involved in. I don't entirely understand it myself, but I think it's supposed to be both ironic and a weird sort of expression of their adoration.

I thought witches were just things from fairy tales

 

[Ron Paul 2024]

Kyriarchy - Similar to "patriarchy", except it acknowledges that the "system" is perpetuated by everyone who has a serious stake in it, not just rich Christian white men.
Usually used by people who believe in intersectionality but aren't sexist about it, hence rarely seen on tumblr.

 

[StallChaser]

Health at every size (HAES) - the idea that it is healthier not to try to control your weight at all. People promoting this often bring up an old study where they had fat people diet (they had total control over their food intake) which caused them to lose weight, and then released them with no dietary information, and something like 95% percent of them regained some, but not all, of their weight. This is done to "prove" dieting doesn't work. While it is possible to be obese for some amount of time before serious health problems kick in, it always catches up with people eventually.

Intersectionality - the idea that privilege can't easily be separated into categories (so like fat black women have different issues than just fat people or just black people, or just women) Like many tumblrisms, there's some validity in the original term, but it's rarely used that way any more. Tumblrinas use it as an excuse to make shit up as they go and weasel out of being caught being a hypocrite. Because it's totally different when you're a transwolf foxkin and your headmate, Ulquiorra, is fronting. You're far more oppressed than the homeless dude you just drove by in your prius, so it's totally ok that you throw your $5 coffee at him. Because male gaze.

 

[Jaimas]

Cyberbullying - The modern form of bullying that's taken flight thanks to Social Media. Contrary to what morons in the mainstream press state, is not a new phenomenon (the very existence of DASA in NY attests to that); it's merely a modernization of existing bullying vectors. In New York, this is SRS BIZNESS, and everyone working for the DOT and DOE has to go for mandatory courses to familiarize themselves with why DASA had to go through in the first place. On Tumblr, this term has become mutated into being a catchall term for someone catching any negative flak over anything (ref: Harassment).

Doxxing - Bringing to light the personal information of someone, usually in an attempt to intimidate them or spur harassment towards them. Has been around literally as long as the internet. Tumblr shows remarkable levels of doublethink in regards to this practice; on one hand, many individuals on Tumblr decry it as a bastardly practice - on the other, countless Tumblristas believe that the personal is political and all actions are "fair game," including attempting to facilitate offline harassment (Ref: The Tanukurin Incident).

Harassment - What every Tumblrista calls the internet calling them out on their shit. (Ref: Cyberbullying). Can also refer to actuall harassment.

Personal Is Political/Everything Is Political - the belief that many SJWs have that the personal lives of everyone they disagree with is fair game, but their own lives should be kept secret.

Sea Lioning - Coined by Dan "I'm DL Pedophilia to Show that 8chan is for Pedophiles" Olson of Chez Apocalypse fame, Sea Lioning is one of many phrases used by SJWs to delegitimize discussion or viewpoints they dislike. The term means to solicit someone with unwanted (but well-worded and often relevant) questions.

 

[AnOminous]

Doxxing - Bringing to light the personal information of someone, usually in an attempt to intimidate them or spur harassment towards them. Has been around literally as long as the internet. Tumblr shows remarkable levels of doublethink in regards to this practice; on one hand, many individuals on Tumblr decry it as a bastardly practice - on the other, countless Tumblristas believe that the personal is political and all actions are "fair game," including attempting to facilitate offline harassment (Ref: The Tanukurin Incident).

Note, though I used to see it spelled both ways, it seems the double x "doxxing" has become a tumblrina thing. 8chan seems to want to spell it "doxing" with one "x."

 

[Shotgun Ronnie]

Now see, this one I have never been able to grasp, because it deals in real, tangible things that can be controlled. Someone who is a serious alcoholic is going to have liver issues before someone who isn't. This isn't "sober privilege"; it's just biology. If you do a shitton of cocaine, you're are going to have health problems, and that's your own goddamn fault. It's not due to "clean privilege". Unlike race, gender, or sexual orientation, someone can control how fat or thin they are. Genetics and lifestyle plays a role, yes, but you are not "genetically predisposed" to be 350 lbs. If you don't want to be obese, you can exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. Human beings are genetically hardwired to find thinner, fitter people more attractive. It's an evolutionary throwback from a time in which being the spouse of the best hunter/fighter was going to be your best bet at survival. As such, it's rooted pretty deep. I'm not saying that I wouldn't love to be able to just sit around and eat pizza all day, but that's not going to do my health or sex life any favors, so I deal with it and do the work.
Don't get me wrong, if it's not worth it to you, don't do it. However, you don't get to complain as though being obese is in no way due to your own choices and actions.
TL;DR- Most forms of "privilege" are attributed to things people are born with, like race or social class. This is something that can be controlled and changed by simple effort. The fact it's seen as a disenfranchised minority baffles me, even by Tumblr's standards.

Because instead of to "deal with it and do the work", they just prefer sitting on their asses and whining.

You say thin privilege can be earned by working out and dieting? Well haven't I got news for you! Privilege is never earned!

Step 1: Being thin is a privilege
Step 2: Privilege is never earned
Step 3: Therefore cannot get thin
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Profit!

 

[AnOminous]

Because instead of to "deal with it and do the work", they just prefer sitting on their asses and whining.

You say thin privilege can be earned by working out and dieting? Well haven't I got news for you! Privilege is never earned!

Step 1: Being thin is a privilege
Step 2: Privilege is never earned

An abject stupidity, of course. By definition, privilege is often earned. It is simply a right or a license to do something others don't. For example: "A professor who publishes prolific amounts of peer reviewed literature often earns the privilege of tenure."

Again, SJWs insert an unspoken modifier into the definition of a word and then pretend that their idiosyncratic definition is the actual definition of the word. In this case, the unspoken modifier is "unearned."