Why Hello There

I saw a post about someone chiding Millennials for not knowing about JKRowlings transphobia, and asking how it is at all possible that people can exist in the world and the internet and, you know, not know.

Which I mean, I get. It is so present in so many of my online spaces that it seems astounding that someone could simply be ignorant! It feels impossible!

But let me tell you a story:

I went on a girls trip with a bunch of friends. All of us are rather incredibly liberal and all of us are incredibly online.

One girl would not stop talking about Harry Potter.

At one point, another girl asked her why she was ok with supporting it, and she had no real clue that JK Rowling was at all transphobic. She had heard that she likes to support Lesbian causes and thought “oh ok cool!” And that was it. She was AGOG with the news and rather horrified.

I must once again emphasize that she was an incredibly online person. She’s a foodie and a restaurant blogger.

Later in the trip we were picking restaurants and I suggested one I found on Google, and she gasped at me. Actually gasped, asking how I could ever be okay picking that one.

The shock must’ve been on my face, because she then told me all of the shitty things that restaurateur does. He abuses staff. Underpays them. Fires them on a whim. Is known for being one of the worst people to his employees in the entire restaurant business on this coast.

And she was so shocked I had never heard of this. Because in her mind, I was just as online as her. And in her online world, EVERYONE knew about this guy.

So I think the moral of this story is: always approach the other person with some empathy. Even online people, even people you think MUST know about how bad people are, may not have heard. It may truly be just them being on a different sphere of the internet than you.

So be gentle, be kind when letting people know they might not have heard about the cancellation of XYZ person. Don’t assume that everyone knows all the same info as you.

Henchman 1: Huh? Whose clothes?

Villainess: The magical girl! Whenever she transforms to fight me, her normal clothes just dissolve into light and she spends like a full minute naked before her costume forms.

Henchman 2: Really? When she fights us there's just this flash of light and then she's all transformed.

Henchman 3: Yeah it's basically instant.

Villainess: Instant? What about all the sexy posing?

Henchman 4: I mean I'd describe her fighting stance as more tough than sexy, but I guess if you're into that...

Villainess: No no, during the transformation! She does this whole rehearsed routine, it's like something right out of a strip club. Have none of you seen it??

(henchmen discussing amongst themselves)

Henchman 5: Uh, boss, you think maybe she only does that when she's fighting you?