#'ah yes next week we need to prepare for a dental cleaning & to be re-traumatized by confused teenagers and adults who should know better'

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

one weird thing about being the target of mass harassment over a long period time is how random it becomes. there are things you can predict—old smear campaigns popping back up because you’ve spoken out about a controversial issue, or because you’ve recently been particularly active and visible. that is always a risk; I’ve learned to mentally prepare myself for an uptick in harassment before starting new projects or posting about certain issues.

But. But. a lot of times it has nothing to do with your actions. which means you can’t predict it, you can’t prepare yourself. you are always on edge. because you can do everything right, or nothing at all (and the first will piss off way more people than you would expect), but once trolls have set their sights on you, there is nothing you can do to prevent being targeted again and again, years down the line, for the same old shit. this is how harassment culture works—it enables the harassers, ad nauseam. because at the end of the day, it’s about other people’s actions, other people’s whims. you can tread on a tightrope, anxious not to step on toes or invite discourse, but eventually someone who already hates you will remember you exist, and will take the opportunity to drag you through the same traumatic shitshow you’ve been through before, as many times as they are allowed.

and I wish I had a solution to share. but I don’t. this will keep happening and happening for as long as we, as a community, enable it.

we live in an age of constant misinformation and normalized harassment. please be careful how you treat other social media users, be careful what accusations you believe, and remember there is a human being on the other side of the screen. read critically and with doubt.

#tw harassment #harassment culture #not a shitpost #serious post #ask to tag #i've noticed this happens to me at least once every 6-8 weeks #or more often than that. but 6-8 weeks seems to be the maximum amount of 'break time' i get #even when i'm not especially active #i wonder if other semi-large blogs have noticed a similar trend or if it's just me #maybe i should start marking it on my calendar so i know to expect it #'ah yes next week we need to prepare for a dental cleaning & to be re-traumatized by confused teenagers and adults who should know better' #anyway if you'll excuse me i need to message my therapist #i had plans today but instead i will be dealing with the re-emergence of c-ptsd symptoms triggered by unscheduled cyberbullying #really wish yall would clear this with me first it plays hell with my schedule #honestly at this point it's not even the harassment it's the fact yall don't even send me a courtesy email or smthing ahead of time