this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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This is Not news for queer* people.
I am in this instance using "Queer" to mean an umbrella for all who are othered by society.
I'm telling you that people with lifelong chronic disability, people who are sex workers, and people who are dispropotionately targeted by the law enforcement or the state, AND disenfranchised casually in everyday society because of their appearance and/or melanin levels...All have networks of contacts they have relied on for over a decade in many cases.
It was easy for me to get off Twitter but for a lot of people I care about, it'd mean severing so many important bonds...and I just thought this sentiment is something that someone reading might apply too, as well
A lot of science/research is just confirming things that seem intuitive
Oh ofc...and i wanted to use this moment to point out tge real-world outcomes that people are experiencing, because it's all too easy to fall into the trap of perceiving it as solely hypoyhetical. (Nearly wrote it off myself as "well, itll be nothing but bots soon"...but im tryna illustrate it just aint that simple)
This sounds like a general issue of: if you're at the margins of society, you're going to have a bad time on social media. Social media is a distillation of the majority opinion on things (i.e. the most extreme versions of majority opinions), and if the majority is intolerant, you'll get the worst of the intolerance.
For example, society's general perception is that sex work is gross, so the most extreme view of that is that sex work is literally corrupting our kids, so you'll get that kind of pushback on social media. A lot of people are uncomfortable with LGBT issues, so the most extreme form of that is attacking LGBT people. Unpopular opinions tend to get attacked, extreme forms of popular opinions tend to stay and get boosted (usually the extreme form is hidden 3-4 levels deep in a discussion thread).
Important to remind people that it's not theoretical when we talk about it. It's real human beings that are being scapegoated. It's real abusers that get a smokescreen.
I 100% agree, which is a huge part of why I don't engage much with social media. Lemmy is literally it for me.
I'm not in a marginalized group, I just refuse to engage with that nonsense. I don't have any solutions for those who are impacted, other than try to build real-world connections with people. Maybe local meetups are a good option here, idk.
Good luck out there! Stay safe!
Thanks. Vest advice I have to any person looking to help, is dont just be a passive ally. Step up as an accomplice. When there's a police protected parade of alt-right demonstrators, show them that they're outnumbered. The SRA does a good job of that, as one example.
The other advice is that whatever space you exist in, be proactive in showing bigots that there's no place at the table at your club.
To anyone reading: Just dont do nothing. You are as powerful as your solidarity.