Risa!

You are describing what will be the worst thing to lose tomorrow: the community of kind and positive people who gathered here because it was, largely, safe for us. It’s interesting to know that, in the service of Vulture Capitalists and other 1%ers, Tumblr will drive away a substantial number of good people who happen to be sex-positive, who may be something other than CIS hetrosexuals, and their friends and loved ones who are here to be with them. It’s further interesting to note that, while Tumblr does this – by design – it is leaving every single hateful, racist, Nazi, white supremacist, incel, misogynist, cruel and destructive blog and their followers untouched.

There’s a strong and dangerous Libertarian ideology that runs deep in Silicon Valley that directly and indirectly supports actions that quite tellingly never affect CIS white hetero men, but have profoundly dangerous and harmful consequences for literally every other group of people. 

Through actions like Tumblr’s upcoming ban that will (through post flagging) disproportionately affect LGBTQ people, like Jack Dorsey’s refusal to address the hate and white supremacy on Twitter, like Facebook’s decision to use right-wing anti-Semitic dogwhistles to deflect attention from its systemic privacy violations, like Reddit’s embrace of right-wing and white nationalist users, it is impossible to deny that the decision makers in the board rooms at the biggest social media platforms are at the very least sympathetic to the voices and ideas of white supremacists and misogynists, and at worst in total agreement with their positions. Every choice these people make moves what should be fringe voices and ideas further and further into the mainstream, while they marginalize and punish nonviolent voices that call for justice and equality.

Social media is broken and it’s the fault of the failed leaders at the main social media platforms, who will be remembered with disdain and contempt by history.

Wow ….. uh …. this answer sort of spun off into a rant, so let me bring it back to what you initially said: I don’t know Dita (though it would make my LIFE to meet her) but April is a very good friend of mine, and I love that you found her work, her nerdiness, and her awesomeness through this Tumblr thingy I run. I’m so sorry that you’re going to be losing a platform and a place where you felt at home and safe. I hope that those of us who stay can use our privilege to move Tumblr back to the place it was yesterday.

Here’s a copypaste from another thing I wrote earlier today:

There’s a strong and dangerous Libertarian ideology that runs deep in Silicon Valley that directly and indirectly supports actions that quite tellingly never affect CIS white hetero men, but have profoundly dangerous and harmful consequences for literally every other group of people.

Through actions like Tumblr’s upcoming ban that will (through post flagging) disproportionately affect LGBTQ people, like Jack Dorsey’s refusal to address the hate and white supremacy on Twitter, like Facebook’s decision to use right-wing anti-Semitic dogwhistles to deflect attention from its systemic privacy violations, like Reddit’s embrace of right-wing and white nationalist users, it is impossible to deny that the decision makers in the board rooms at the biggest social media platforms are at the very least sympathetic to the voices and ideas of white supremacists and misogynists, and at worst in total agreement with their positions. Every choice these people make moves what should be fringe voices and ideas further and further into the mainstream, while they marginalize and punish nonviolent voices that call for justice and equality.

Social media is broken and it’s the fault of the failed leaders at the main social media platforms, who will be remembered with disdain and contempt by history.

- Does it harm people? - Does it result in inequality? - Does it prevent people from engaging in society?

As long as the proposed idea (behaviour, policy) clears those two hurdles, it’s good to go for progressives.This type of thinking is super compatible with consequentialism. For conservatives, there are more foundations to consider - authority, loyalty, fairness, purity and “liberty from”. 

- Does it violate established social hierarchy? (in this approach, hierarchy is good and beneficial). - Does it damage in-group bonds? (again, strong in-group loyalties are considered to be good). - Does it fail to reward contributors and punish wrong-doers? (this is a big one - fairness is about just desserts and consequences for actions, not equality). - Does it breach the sanctity of the body? (this is a complex one, rooted in cultural notions of disgust and body as a temple). - Does it force people to engage in actions they disagree with? (this is the freedom from taxation, PC, and so on).

Libertarians pretty much care only about Liberty from things, usually the government.

This complex set of values means that the same idea or policy will get different moral evaluations. Let’s take a few examples:

Legalising weed: all fine in terms of the progressive foundations. But it breaches purity (the body is a temple) and to an extent interacts with conservative version of fairness by removing a punishment on what they consider to be morally wrong behaviour. 

Universal healthcare: again, all clear in progressive values. This policy will help. But in the conservative value set, the policy fails at fairness by ‘rewarding’ non-contributing behaviour (poverty and illness). Let’s not get into a debate over how this is even classified as behaviour rather than a condition. It also breaches freedom from for people who are mostly focused on being free from government, rather than private insurers. The interesting caveat is that purity should favour healthcare - if the body is sacred, we should as a society value accessible ways to keep it healthy and clean. However, because many health conditions have contributing behavioural factors, it can be considered unjust to help people out of the consequences of their actions - even at a net loss to society.

But now the company holiday party is upon us.

And I’ve been lying about the girlfriend.

Reasonable: “just say she couldn’t make it!”

you can leave Tumblr and go to another social network, but if that gets sufficiently popular it will face the same threat, there is no escape.

the last bastion of freedom is the open web, and I anticipate the day when mobile Safari blocks access to sites that aren’t signed by Apple, for security reasons.