Identity: Hipster, Geek, Nerdfighter?

Hey guys!

Today I'd like to talk about some thoughts that were stemmed from this cool video right here because it really got me thinking in a way I've never really thought or considered before.

We use ourselves and the image that we think of ourselves as as the way of knowing who we are and what kind of person we are. This is often through labels and identifying with a certain image of person. For example, I've been told before that my normal Tumblr blog is quite hipster which I can then identify with through the content that I put up and in this way, I feel more secure in some ways because I know who I am through looking at the other blogs that have been similarly labelled. You can be called a geek or nerd if you're clever or are expressedly interested in something or other and this can explain your characteristics. Similarly, you can create an image of yourself by choosing to not associate yourself with a label. For example, some people don't like to be seen as feminists or chavs for example and this is because of the image of themselves that they believe that they would create by using that label. But what is the real point that I'm trying to get to here?

There is an awesome truth in realising that we are not the labels that we identify with or don't identify with because are much more complex than the labels that we give ourselves. We're so much more than a few words with connotations, we're unique people with entire universes inside of ourselves that can't be encompassed by words alone. For example, my blog may seem like it's hipster but it's full of content that could be classed as verticle, or grunge or to do with YouTube. There's very little way in which we can try and understand ourselves through limiting ourselves to a few words. 

As human beings, we expressly love labels - they make us feel like we understand and that we're in control but in reality, there's so much to know and so much more to understand that labels aren't really worthy of us. You'll never find two people who identify with the same label who are exactly the same.

I think that summarises what I got from the video - we're so different and we're so complex that using labels doesn't do us justice. We should always strive to delve into the depths of ourselves which is pretty scary but there's so much to discover!

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post! Please do feel free to leave me your comments below and I do hope to speak to you guys soon! God Bless!<2

p.s. I tried to find a picture to go with this post but nothing really fitted ;)

There's Always a First :/

Hey guys!

Today I wanted to talk about something I haven't really been affected by before and it's not really something I have any advice on or really any experience at all; it's a first and I really hope it doesn't happen to you guys or anyone you care about.

My good friends on the internet were attacked for using the same hashtag as another organisation on Twitter. I'm part of this organisation however I wasn't present when the harassment kicked off. We're completely different groups with completely different reputations and agendas and yet the other team who used the same hashtag felt as though they had to make our lives miseries rather than be polite and try and talk through the problem they had with us using their hashtag.

The problem started when the figurehead of our group started getting aggressive tweets from the members of the other group. This also then spread to trolls on one of the members of our group who had used the hashtag in reference to our group and they attacked. Around 3 people were attacked and though at first they fed the trolls, they soon realised that the trolls would only keep going if they kept fighting them. So they did what they had to, stayed quiet, made their accounts private where possible and blocked those who had harassed them. Not only did the harassment happen on Twitter but the tweet that the friend used when tweeting contained a YouNow link which then led to the other team flooding in and spamming the chat which meant that the show was ruined.

I'm writing this a day later and we were hoping as a group, that by laying low and blocking anyone who appeared to be malicious, that we'd be able to return back to normal usage asap. We haven't used the hashtag and otherwise, things were looking good. Then it got worse - our figurehead received death threats and one of the main leaders of these trolls revealed our figurehead's number and home address as well as that of his mother and it was outrageous. On top of that, some of the blocked people found ways of refollowing those who had blocked them and right now, we have no idea what to do but to keep reporting and blocking.

As this has never happened to me before, I don't know how to react to this nor do I know how it will play out though from other people's experiences, they should move onto other people if we lay low and keep reporting. What I hate is that we can't do anything but report and hopefully wait for Twitter to respond. I didn't realise how hard it is to wait when you want justice to happen, that's something I'll definitely take from this experience; hopefully it should be sorted out soon! I also hate how they're parasites, how they take goodness away from their victims and how the victim must simply wait out the disease until it leaves and finds a new victim. It's a horribly vicious cycle, even if you do get their account suspended because it's far too easy just to create another account and restart again.

Anyways, if I have any updates for you guys before this goes live, I'll definitely add them in here so you can learn from my experience with trolls.

I hope that you guys can take something from my experience, even if it's just to make sure you don't feed trolls but also to make sure that you don't underestimate the power of keeping your full name out there.

I hope to speak to you guys soon on a happier topic but thank you for listening and God Bless!<2