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Boycotts and why we don't partake

This is a random thought that came to me while watching a Contrapoints video and spiralled into something random.

I've been thinking about why people choose not to partake in boycotts. At first glance, it seems like a simple desire over morality argument; one's desire is stronger than one's moral will. But thinking about JK Rowling and Harry Potter has made me think, instead, from the perspective of why we do boycott, and why it comes so easily to some.

I have a set of videos from my favorite youtuber that I never watch because they feature an old friend of his who was outed years ago for grooming several minors. This youtuber, I love his content and have for years. I associate his videos with high school, with college, with the struggles and the highs. I watched them while I ate, when I got home from class, when I got home from work. I rewatch many of them today, I listen to them while cooking, I fall asleep listening to them multiple times per week. And yet, some of his funniest and some of my favorite videos - those with his old friend - remain untouched since the grooming allegations were confirmed. I skip them in playlists instantly when I hear the friend's voice, I don't dare to relive the pleasure and nostalgia and youth I associate with them. And the emotion that pervades me in those moments when I am briefly reminded of this man's existence, is disgust. Pure, unfiltered disgust.

What is disgust? To me, it stems from an intense fear, a visceral fear of something that can harm coming near you, of something you find thoroughly unpleasant threatening you with its existence. We are disgust by certain things and people because of the threat they pose when they enter our minds, our peripheries, our mental or physical locations. I am disgusted by vomit whether in thought, smell, or sight, whether it comes from me or another, because it threatens to touch me with its texture and odor and bacteria. I am disgusted by cockroaches, whether in video or picture or reality because the image can remind me of their existence, of that feeling of having a cockroach crawl over your leg, of that horror of finding them near rotting and dead things. I am disgusted by some people because they are a threat to my peace, peace of mind or the peace of physical safety. We are disgusted by people who enact perversions, by those who are a little too different, by those who commit atrocities - and none of these disgusts are necessarily good or bad. But they all stem from that same fear- the fear of our peace ending. Homophobes are disgusted by gay people because their existence, whether in thought or reality, threatens the homophobe's peace of mind, that fragile peace they find in their version of normalcy and an idle, moral, and "correct" life. The public is disgusted by warmongers, by totalitarians, by billionaires and colonists and slavers, not only because of the threat they pose directly to the physical peace of those they target, but morally, socially, emotionally, and psychologically as well, because reminding the public of their existence and making the public witnesses to their atrocities murders the peace of mind they so value.

This, I think, is one of the fundamental reasons people boycott, at least, when it is easy to do so. Boycotting for many is a conscious effort borne of duty, empathy, and/or morality. But for many others, it is driven by something more primal and is more innate than conscious. Levels of disgust, I believe stem from proximity to the targets of the disgusting object's destruction. On average, a woman will be more disgusted by the actions of a male sexual predator than another man will be. An Arab will be more disgusted by the actions of a Zionist state than a non-Arab. A transgender person will be more disgusted by the actions of a transphobe than a cisgender person. This is an average, not a rule, but it exists nonetheless. Despite all the emotional cues urging me to rewatch videos that were once an ingrained part of my adolescent memories, I was once a teenage girl, and so, my level of disgust is too high and compelling to be combatted by meer nostalgia and comfort when faced with a sexual predator who targetted teenage girls.

This brings me back to this: why don't people boycott? Why do morally outstanding citizens drink Starbucks? Why do transgender allies read Harry Potter? Why do gay allies eat Chick Fil A? The non-boycotter's proximity to the target demographic of the disgusting object's destruction is a factor, but not the only one. I think another is the predominance of the disgusting object's disgust-inducing actions, and those actions' ability to induce disgust. When the disgusting object's actions fade into the memories of the past, leave the broader social consciousness, are forgotten by the potential boycotter, are hidden and barely spoken of - or, when the disgusting object their self can be easily forgotten about in relation to the subject of a boycott - it becomes easier to limit or repress one's disgust, and allow desire to win out. If you forget that JK Rowling is the author, when you don't even know what Chick Fil A's CEO looks like, when you haven't seen a video or article about Palestinian deaths in a few months, your disgust naturally wanes, and your desires to return to the nostalgic world of Harry Potter, eat a delicious chicken sandwich, and buy a customized iced latte supercede it.

In short, boycotting fails where disgust does not sufficiently prevail, and those who do not boycott are those who are not sufficiently disgusted by the actions of the boycotting target.

#anyways #idk why i wrote all this #i mgith delete it #boycotts #random ramblings

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hate when i hate a female character and then i see a bunch of people also hating her but for completely misogynistic reasons. me and you are not the same. now i am a #1 defender of that female character that i hate on the basis that you are wrong and i hope she obliterates you into a million pieces

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In my next life I will be reborn as #goncharov.

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Water biscuits

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she’s like an alternate universe jerma985

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people who upload pirated shows, anime, and movies online

people who run blogs and social media accounts entirely dedicated to compiling low view, grassroots journalism/news updates

the pillars holding up society:

people who film bootlegs of stage shows

people who write transcripts/captions for media that was released without them

wikipedia editors

people who translate funny tiktoks

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the pillars holding up society:

people who film bootlegs of stage shows

people who write transcripts/captions for media that was released without them

wikipedia editors

people who translate funny tiktoks

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You cant make this shit up

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The type of parents who argue that simply putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their kids' head is sufficient parenting are always so shocked when their children no longer want to deal with them once they've got their own place and can buy their own groceries. Like what else did you expect to happen? You told the people who had no other choice than rely on you for food and shelter that asking for any more than that is unreasonable of them, and then they don't go to you for anything once they can get those some other way. What would they go to their parents for?

They've got food at the house.

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Aaron Bushnell's final social media post before his self-immolation.

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Horse loves butt scratches

(via)

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Uni's magical Mario Galaxy adventure..

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Tumblr is doing some stupid AI shit so go to blog settings > Visibility > Prevent third-party sharing.

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Hi, Tumblr. It’s Tumblr. We’re working on some things that we want to share with you. 

AI companies are acquiring content across the internet for a variety of purposes in all sorts of ways. There are currently very few regulations giving individuals control over how their content is used by AI platforms. Proposed regulations around the world, like the European Union’s AI Act, would give individuals more control over whether and how their content is utilized by this emerging technology. We support this right regardless of geographic location, so we’re releasing a toggle to opt out of sharing content from your public blogs with third parties, including AI platforms that use this content for model training. We’re also working with partners to ensure you have as much control as possible regarding what content is used.

Here are the important details:

We already discourage AI crawlers from gathering content from Tumblr and will continue to do so, save for those with which we partner. 

We want to represent all of you on Tumblr and ensure that protections are in place for how your content is used. We are committed to making sure our partners respect those decisions.

To opt out of sharing your public blogs’ content with third parties, visit each of your public blogs’ blog settings via the web interface and toggle on the “Prevent third-party sharing” option. 

For instructions on how to opt out using the latest version of the app, please visit this Help Center doc. 

Please note: If you’ve already chosen to discourage search crawling of your blog in your settings, we’ve automatically enabled the “Prevent third-party sharing” option.

If you have concerns, please read through the Help Center doc linked above and contact us via Support if you still have questions.

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Original blog post

Le important day in meme history has arrived

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when i came out as trans i had an old friend from my church days message me to congratulate me and ask me for my name and pronouns. and i was shocked tbh cause he was such a head-deep-up-the-church’s ass kind of guy so i was super wary.

and after digging a little deeper i found out that he was very supportive of transness, saying that trans men are men and trans women are women

BUT

he also believed in the church’s gender roles meaning that trans women had to marry men and be submissive wives and trans men had to marry women and be strong christian husbands.

which is like ????

the weirdest and most surreal form of trans inclusive misogyny i’ve ever seen.