It's just being given a shiny Web 2.0 veneer, and it's easier to spread the ideas through a reblogging mechanism like Tumblr than it is something like static Geocities and Tripod webpages, Diaryland/Diary-X journals or private Delphi/Topica mailing lists.
...oh, yeah, and about this in particular: I have a lot of thoughts I've been having trouble getting into words about new media and how the introduction of even just a new style of blogging can have wide repercussions and lend itself to easy abuse. I mean, there are still people who think relative anonymity on the Internet period means YEY I CAN FLAME AND TROLL ANYONE I WANT. Though it actually seems like some parts of the Internet have become more civil and self-regulating over the years as people have figured out that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and that if a certain group of people are too intimidated to speak up because of harassment, that's a bad thing. But it's hardly universal.
But there's something about the "soundbite" format of Tumblr that seems to encourage endless reblogging of things written in a certain tone or format, without looking at them more closely, or checking out the author to see what else they might be saying (like all the trolls who were also bashing trans people). It's... well, someone else here actually compared it to all the chain letter spam we got in the 90s, when we first got an email account, with chain letters warning you that horrible things would happen if you didn't pass them on, or urban legends being promoted as true stories. (We continued to get those urban legend ones from relatives for years, even after we started telling them to look them up on snopes.com to see if they were true.) It's like a lot of people seem to give this instant credibility to things just because "I heard it on the Internet," especially if someone is talking in a kind of "voice of wisdom." (And I've seen people on our side of various arguments use that too, unfortunately. Shut up and listen to me because I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.)
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Date: 2012-08-11 12:08 am (UTC)...oh, yeah, and about this in particular: I have a lot of thoughts I've been having trouble getting into words about new media and how the introduction of even just a new style of blogging can have wide repercussions and lend itself to easy abuse. I mean, there are still people who think relative anonymity on the Internet period means YEY I CAN FLAME AND TROLL ANYONE I WANT. Though it actually seems like some parts of the Internet have become more civil and self-regulating over the years as people have figured out that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and that if a certain group of people are too intimidated to speak up because of harassment, that's a bad thing. But it's hardly universal.
But there's something about the "soundbite" format of Tumblr that seems to encourage endless reblogging of things written in a certain tone or format, without looking at them more closely, or checking out the author to see what else they might be saying (like all the trolls who were also bashing trans people). It's... well, someone else here actually compared it to all the chain letter spam we got in the 90s, when we first got an email account, with chain letters warning you that horrible things would happen if you didn't pass them on, or urban legends being promoted as true stories. (We continued to get those urban legend ones from relatives for years, even after we started telling them to look them up on snopes.com to see if they were true.) It's like a lot of people seem to give this instant credibility to things just because "I heard it on the Internet," especially if someone is talking in a kind of "voice of wisdom." (And I've seen people on our side of various arguments use that too, unfortunately. Shut up and listen to me because I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.)
-Tamsin