Tag: meme

Leave off the guilt, please

You’ve seen the posts. Not genuine PSAs about current events or fundraisers or missing persons or the latest government fuckery. I’m talking about the ones that are the digital equivalent of chain letters. The ones that threaten you or your loved ones or your pets or something if you don’t reblog. The ones that imply that if you DON’T reblog some trite generalised wish of goodwill to other people then you’re somehow a bad person and you’re actively willing the opposite.

This is magical thinking BULLSHIT.

It’s gross and it’s bullying and it’s wrong.

I have anxiety. I have self-esteem issues, I have self-worth issues, I already feel like I am letting people down every day, for no reason.

So when, out of habit, you reblog that thing, the thing that says ‘reblog this to help xyz’ as though it magically has the power to do anything, usually with a bunch of reblogs below judging anyone who doesn’t, know that you are making people like me feel that little bit worse.

My reblog won’t magically protect your pet from harm this year or protect your laptop or protect all the millions of people out there on this planet from flood, fire, famine or stubbed toe. Your judgement of those who don’t reblog these banalities CAN do harm.

The ones I like? ‘Have you taken your meds?’ ‘Get up and stretch.’ ‘Have you drunk enough water?’ ‘You’re a good person, I know you’re trying.’ The ones that actively help people keep themselves safe and healthy, and have NO EXPECTATION OR REQUIREMENT of those seeing them to reblog. And those who do? The comments aren’t a guilt trip, they’re often thanks. ‘Oh thank you, I had forgotten.’ ‘That feels so much better, thank you.’ and ‘I really needed to see this right now.’

If you’re reblogging something because of ingrained superstition or guilt, please just take a moment and think WHY. And then if you actually want to reblog, do it, but remember – you are spreading this out in the world, and your actions aren’t benign.

1) Why did you choose your URL?

Way back in the heyday of Angelfire, when you chose your URL, you had to choose from a set handful of two-letter combinations and then your chosen handle went on the end. ‘ia’ was one of the options, so I chose that and made my username ‘mshadow’. The 21 is because I like the number 21 and because some websites I’ve created accounts with, iamshadow has already been taken.

2) What is your middle name?

I don’t give out personal information, but I will say that it’s old-fashioned. Like my first name, which a couple of you know, it’s a name people associate more with old ladies than people in their thirties. I was given it because there were people with that name a few generations back on both sides of my family tree.

3) If you could own a fairytale/fictional pet, what would it be?

I used to want a pocket-sized dragon. Common, maybe, but no less awesome for it.

4) Favorite color?

Right now, probably purple, but I have strong loves for peacock blue, duck egg blue, jade green and cool yellow.

5) Favorite song?

I don’t really have one? I have very eclectic tastes and have handfuls of songs I like in many genres. If I had to pick one I come back to a lot, even though I don’t listen to a lot of electronic music, it’d be Massive Attack’s Teardrop. It was on one of my Triple J’s Hottest 100 albums that I bought around the time I left school, and I found it soothing to listen to on repeat while I was writing, many years before I was dignosed autistic and learned that aural stimming was a thing. I still use it sometimes when I get anxious to mellow me out and calm me.

6) What are your top three fandoms?

Right now, Marvel/Avengers is my primary, but I dabble in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, CSI, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie’s Marple/Poirot, White Collar, Welcome To Night Vale, and Endeavour/Inspector Morse/Lewis.

7) Why do you enjoy tumblr?

I love the fan content, especially the amount of visual media and meta.

8) Tag all 9 of your tumblr crushes (they have to do all 8 questions too who can do this if they like)

No obligation for anyone to do this at all (I rarely do memes myself), but people I love dearly and follow avidly on Tumblr include: @actuallyclintbarton @jabberwockypie @kath-ballantyne @randomyayness @neurowonderful @spiralstreesandcupsoftea @the-wordbutler @literalbookworm and @copperbadge

copperbadge:

theactualcluegirl:

emmagrant01:

moonblossom:

kmaryarty:

persian-slipper:

camwyn:

perspicaciousembroiderist:

voodoo-tiki:

Oh great, I’m an MNU bureaucrat. Or a prawn.

I’m the village witch! I get to fly around on a broom and have a smart-alek black cat for my best friend!

I’m a small-town frontier sheriff. In a town populated mostly by lizards, rodents, and other various desert creatures.

I’m Captain America.

…

Well, shit.

A young peasant maid working in the house of painter, to become his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

A mutant.

I’m five plucky talking golden retriever puppies, then.

Oh fuck… the last movie I watched was Snowpiercer. So I guess I have to be the one to nut the naked Emperor, get my friends killed, destroy the world as we know it, and die for the cause now. Um… you’re welcome?
(@copperbadge, I blame you.) (Again.) (Still)

HAHAHAHAHA do documentaries count, because if so I’m John motherFucking Kennedy. (It was a very biased documentary.)

Fuckfuckfuck, I watched The Losers for the first time ever. I AM SO MONUMENTALLY SCREWED. Unless the Petunias need a permanent cheerleader, that I can probably manage.