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alright. i& #39;ve had some time to think. i& #39;m going to post a thread defending tyler joseph and probably offending some others. you don& #39;t have to read it.
first: white privilege and the single-issue advocate. i can only speak to white privilege -- fumblingly -- from the position of having it. we are supposed to use our privilege to amplify the voices and seek justice for those with less privilege.
did tyler fail to do that? in the beginning, yes. in the end, he corrected himself. but it does make me ask the question: CAN you be a single issue advocate? tyler& #39;s has always been suicide.
CAN you speak out against rape culture but not transphobia? CAN you speak out about the human rights abuses in poland but not the climate crisis? can you speak out about ferguson but not flint? i don& #39;t know if this is allowed. that& #39;s genuine uncertainty on my part.
in 2015, tyler spoke about the accusation that he doesn& #39;t care about the LGBT community because he didn& #39;t post then, either. because his A) his issue is suicide and B) he can only carry so much.
but let& #39;s talk about how we got to the shoes tweet.
the demands for tyler to "use his platform" sure as shit weren& #39;t exclusively or even mainly about BLM. it was about "issues in the world", dozens of them. frequently poland, beirut, latam, not just america. not to mention a whole lot of shaming.
i made the mistake of suggesting on another account that we could ask once, politely, but demanding wasn& #39;t it and the responses i got were overwhelmingly fucking hostile. mostly to the tune of "asking once nicely won& #39;t solve anything."
as if the next logical step was demanding, rudely. now i get where this makes sense in a social-change setting, in spheres where it belongs: we apply this to our elected officials (protest!). we apply this to our bosses (unionize!).
but we are not this band& #39;s constituents or employees. we are at best their customers. and when you don& #39;t like what someone is selling you ๐ โ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐คโ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐.
tyler joseph is the king of doing what you asked for but not like you asked for it. his joke only involved ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด, a reply to the people demanding he use his. no social movement was denigrated here.
but i can definitely see the "fuck you" in it, just a little bit. i& #39;m not sure i& #39;d feel any differently after months of being hounded to speak, perform, retweet, parrot, on a,b,c and also x,y,z issues.
anyone who knows anything about this guy knows that he speaks eloquently and gently and about any sensitive issue he& #39;s discussed. i don& #39;t believe anyone genuinely believes he would *make fun of* serious issues. he& #39;s *never* done that.
i think they& #39;re mad because tyler said, in small way, "you do not have power over me." they begged, asked, demanded, harassed for months and what it got them was a pun, before tyler chose to speak on his issue of choice: suicide.
what he had to say about the *issues themselves* was "i really donโt know if i can even handle everything thatโs happening right now."
"mentally/emotionally, i can only carry so much, because what i do care about is so heavy, the thought of adding more on top of it makes me want to stop trying."
that& #39;s your answer to what he thinks of these issues. that& #39;s the answer to the demands.
that& #39;s your answer to what he thinks of these issues. that& #39;s the answer to the demands.
and no good deed goes unpunished. when he finally did post about BLM (which i think was the right thing to do) all he got for it was "fuck you, you only did this because we made you." life lesson friends: never punish the behavior your want to see.
we have got to stop treating these people like they& #39;re our elected politicians and direct that energy to our elected politicians. i recommend http://5calls.org"> http://5calls.org .
us: you better post about these 15 things
him: posts about one thing
us: you only did that because we told you to
him: posts about one thing
us: you only did that because we told you to
anyway that& #39;s all the thoughts i have on that for the moment.
https://twitter.com/AnaAllanPoe/status/1301636005229977601?s=19">https://twitter.com/AnaAllanP...
