#is ultimately unhelpful. and fucking rude. if they've done or said nothing wrong at least

[shopcat]

this might sound a bit dumb and out of no where but hmmm. how do i say this... there are a lot of posts and a general consensus about quote unquote media literacy on tumblr and how we feel about it, as well as the things that go hand in hand with all that (discussion of mischaracterisation, symbolism, analysis, etc) and i think people (generally) need to be more open about their thoughts or findings and less i don't know... harsh isn't the word but like, just less assumptive that people are inherently out to be willfully ignorant when it comes to dissecting media thematically or discussing characterisation & the narrative, esp things where the outside factor of the consumer/creator changes things drastically if you do or do not know or experience something (and therefore would have no reason to be like, somehow maliciously interpreting something). i guess?

like i get it and i absolutely understand and also hate when people seem to go out of their way to say all the wrong things and stubbornly cling onto things that are WRONG, and confronting someone's opinion and it being SO wrong that you can comfortably think of a rebuttal is ultimately very satisfying and scratches a certain itch and can lead to a lot of thoughtful discussion despite being essentially a big "get a look at THIS guy". but i do think there is a vast difference between like, a) someone masquerading behind being knowing buzzwords and being able to say the right words in the right order, b) someone who isn't familiar with certain concepts and DOESN'T know the right words to say but is happily open to learning, and c) someone using the guise of talking about "media literacy" to be ignorant, bigoted or willfully misinterpreting something in a biased way who refuses to concede if confronted or goes out of their way to pick arguments. whilst the first two aren't malicious, both could turn out to be, just like the last category tends to be rejects of the first two who dug their heels in about it.

whilst there is a DIFFERENCE if someone was being say bigoted and prejudiced with hateful intent, not being "media literate" is not actually a moral failing as much as it is made out to be in moments of sweeping generalisation, and i think punishing people for not knowing how to hold thoughtful discussion is obviously cruel and dumb and unnecessarily othering. you don't want people to learn things out of a sense of shame or guilt. i know it's not the INTENT, and i don't like, interpret even 99% of discussion about this whole thing that way, but that doesn't change that discussing people very broadly who just Don't Know something is always going to leave the 1% of a LOT of harshness thrown against someone who doesn't deserve that. even if they're the stupidest twitterina known to man or something.

media literacy itself is not inherent and it is HARD, as much as people try to pretend it isn't. personally i am someone who has always and probably always WILL struggle to understand complex themes and often do need someone else to guide me towards thinking a certain way, thinking in these ways don't come naturally to me as much as i try my best to and i often think the "wrong" thing as my natural conclusion. and every Damn time that happens i see someone going "if you didn't realise this you're a fucking idiot" like woah man 😭 calm down. i dunno i feel like people just forget that this stuff is something you have to train like a muscle, esp things like vocabulary or a more complex academic way of speaking, and to some of us that is always going to be inherently inaccessible or it's going to take twice as long for us to grasp, for whatever reason. i just wish people were more fair is all.

#🐾 #esp and i think i'm qualified to say this when it's someone who comes from a very isolated niche of online fandom or whatever. any online #community. who is used to being in that space with likeminded people and then loses their absolute shit when they're confronted with how #the average person thinks. like ohhhh my god calm down it is not that dramatic ever #as much as i like going to war about characterisation or something like that you don't need to be calling people evil and braindead and #stupid bc they didn't Politically Analyse a children's cartoon in great depth #😭😭😭 #anyway ... #i think this is in a roundabout way connected to that one post going around i reblogged #abt media literacy being taught in highschool and people just not paying attention #and i still think that's like unfair as a position to hold bc Again i DIDNT go to high school as in i did Not Attend it #the breadth of my knowledge ends after year 7 #and that's just me. like yeah some people ARE idiots and ignorant and pretend Again like their brains welded shut #but people generally are always open to learning and a lot of people very much Like thoughtful discussion about the arts #and thematic analysis of their favourite shows so they can describe why they like them properly beyond ''i just like it'' #and just really really broadly cutting them all off declaring them hopeless and indirectly declaring yourself smarter than them forever #is ultimately unhelpful. and fucking rude. if they've done or said nothing wrong at least #and even if they did think something wrong like damn that's happened to everyone please.. it happens all the time #there is just this inherent condescending way some people talk that gets on my damn nerves