#if you are sending criticism or hatemail to a stranger who has already received a thousand such messages...

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

I know there's this myth that getting harassed online is supposed to be less traumatizing than getting harassed irl, but like. no, it isn’t.

a lot of times the safe spaces we carve out for ourselves occur online (especially common for queer & neurodiverse folks). for many of us, it becomes one of our few options to socialize in a way that feels safe and good. that space becomes as special and intimate as any physical community. 

and when that space gets violated by trolls, by bullies, or just by confused and frustrated people who are encouraged to attack first and check facts later--these acts are not inherently less violent or traumatizing than things that occur in our “real” lives. when we are part of a community, and we are attacked by members of that community--that is a harrowing experience, in any form.

#not a shitpost #serious post #harassment tw #been thinking about harassment a lot lately #the stuff i've dealt with and the stuff my friends and acquaintances have experienced #some of it is...truly gruesome #the trauma and the pain and the grief around it is very very real #please please please stop harassing people even if you think they 'deserve' it #and examine your actions & words very carefully when spreading rumors and 'call outs' #because many times people don't even realize that they are participating in mass harassment #if you are sending criticism or hatemail to a stranger who has already received a thousand such messages... #if you are digging through things someone said years ago just to find more ways to call them 'problematic'... #if you are part of a reblog chain spreading misinformation--even if you are unaware it is misinformation--you are still fueling the problem #so please for goodness sakes be CAREFUL #when in doubt--just leave people alone #once we start believing 'this is a horrible person so i can be horrible to them'... #that opens the floodgates to so much abuse and untruth. #because who exactly gets to decide? #anyway. mob violence doesn't stop being mob violence just because it happens online #and neither does abuse