there really is a tumblr discourse rhetoric hole that people, and disturbingly a large amount of very young people, jump down into. a place where people cease to be real people, concepts cease to have real life applications, and reality itself warps away into a mess of rhetoric and useless words thrown around for no particular reason other than it equates to status in a virtual reality to do this.
internet activism and social justice are good, necessary things; but the moment that you stop taking into consideration the offline effects and applications of your speech and behavior, when you stop valuing the off-tumblr goals for that activism, when you stop seeing things and people as real but as only concepts or tools in a debate or rhetoric, your activism not only ceases to be meaningful; it becomes a dangerous thing in itself.
activism is not a performance. it’s not a manipulation of words to see how many people you can get to agree with you and/or applaud you. it is a practical effort for positive change. if you can’t remember that, you’re not doing activism.