Hashtags: Do they mean other things than the words used?

[Jehct]

#Blacklivesmatter seems to have a different implication than the wording used. If I look at the words Black lives matter I immediately think "well yes of course black lives matter, every person/race matters." But people who say All lives matter are shut down and told " Okay, white people. Let's talk about "all lives matter" and why that response to Black lives matter is racist." ( Just a quote I found when searching for responses to "All lives matter" ).

#Blacklivesmatter clearly has more of a meaning than the simple wording. I think some people are mislead by the wording and think the meaning is different to what the actual meaning is. So why do we have to have fun little series of words for #? Why cant they explain it better and have that explanation out there so more people understand?

I fully support what #Blacklivesmatter is but I think people can misunderstand what it is by looking at the words.

Just my 2 cents thank you.

[Endus]

#Blacklivesmatter seems to have a different implication than the wording used. If I look at the words Black lives matter I immediately think "well yes of course black lives matter, every person/race matters." But people who say All lives matter are shut down and told " Okay, white people. Let's talk about "all lives matter" and why that response to Black lives matter is racist." ( Just a quote I found when searching for responses to "All lives matter" ).

#Blacklivesmatter clearly has more of a meaning than the simple wording. I think some people are mislead by the wording and think the meaning is different to what the actual meaning is. So why do we have to have fun little series of words for #? Why cant they explain it better and have that explanation out there so more people understand?

I fully support what #Blacklivesmatter is but I think people can misunderstand what it is by looking at the words.

Just my 2 cents thank you.

Here's why #AllLivesMatter is wrongheaded (paraphrasing from something someone else linked in another thread);

Imagine you're at dinner with your family, but you don't get served anything. You say "Hey, I feel like I should get a fair share of the food." Your father responds with "we all deserve a fair share of the food", and doesn't fix the imbalance.

Taken out of context, his statement seems reasonable, but it's just repeating what you were saying. Which wasn't "I deserve all the food", but "Everyone deserves an equal share, and I haven't received mine, so could we correct that please". By responding to you like that, the context means your father has dismissed your concerns, and left you hungry; his statement is not actually supportive of the equality that the words suggest, because it's being used to dismiss your call for that same equality, by disputing that you have any right to be concerned.

#BlackLivesMatter isn't #OnlyBlackLivesMatter, and that was never what it was about. By responding to it with #AllLivesMatter, you're essentially dismissing the concerns of the black population, which is why there's such opposition to it.

If you really felt that "all lives matter", you'd be backing the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in the first place.

[Feali]

It's more like #BlackLivesAlsoMatter

[purebalance]

Here's why #AllLivesMatter is wrongheaded (paraphrasing from something someone else linked in another thread);

Imagine you're at dinner with your family, but you don't get served anything. You say "Hey, I feel like I should get a fair share of the food." Your father responds with "we all deserve a fair share of the food", and doesn't fix the imbalance.

Taken out of context, his statement seems reasonable, but it's just repeating what you were saying. Which wasn't "I deserve all the food", but "Everyone deserves an equal share, and I haven't received mine, so could we correct that please". By responding to you like that, the context means your father has dismissed your concerns, and left you hungry; his statement is not actually supportive of the equality that the words suggest, because it's being used to dismiss your call for that same equality, by disputing that you have any right to be concerned.

#BlackLivesMatter isn't #OnlyBlackLivesMatter, and that was never what it was about. By responding to it with #AllLivesMatter, you're essentially dismissing the concerns of the black population, which is why there's such opposition to it.

If you really felt that "all lives matter", you'd be backing the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in the first place.

Except it's not an accurate analogy.

It's more like: You're at dinner with your family and 1 family member begins to act up at the dinner table and is told they don't get dessert. They then try to steal said dessert and get sent to their room for the rest of the night and scream that they matter too. Dad replies, no we all matter.

[Endus]

Except it's not an accurate analogy.

It's more like: You're at dinner with your family and 1 family member begins to act up at the dinner table and is told they don't get dessert. They then try to steal said dessert and get sent to their room for the rest of the night and scream that they matter too. Dad replies, no we all matter.

It isn't anything like that, since you're implying there that black people all "act up" and "steal". Which is sort of precisely the problem of prejudice that this kind of movement is trying to address.

[Wells]

Except it's not an accurate analogy.

It's more like: You're at dinner with your family and 1 family member begins to act up at the dinner table and is told they don't get dessert. They then try to steal said dessert and get sent to their room for the rest of the night and scream that they matter too. Dad replies, no we all matter.

So you don't think there are any existing problems? That black people are treated just the same by the police?

[breadisfunny]

a hashtag is just a pound sign.

[PACOX]

People confusing the BLM tag is why people say 20 something white males tend to be out of touch with social issues.

[endersblade]

People confusing the BLM tag is why people say 20 something white males tend to be out of touch with social issues.

And my rebuttal to that is (even though I haven't been a twenty something for quite a while) people now a days are mostly focused on what immediately affects THEM. Instead of the morons who worry themselves sick over what the rest of the entire world is doing, they just worry about what is going on around them.

For instance, and I had this exact conversation with my 'twenty something' siblings, the whole 'blacklivesmatter' thing. They don't give a shit about it, because it isn't a problem with them. They have black friends who are treated the same as they are, they see no problem. They have LGBT people all over the place, and again, they're treated like everyone else. There IS no problem as far as they're concerned. Their jobs pay them the same, school grades them the same. Is it a problem elsewhere? According to the internet, women and blacks are still slaves, white males rule the earth, and America is trying to take over the world.

It's all about perspective. Don't expect everyone in the entire world to care about what is going on outside of their immediate lives. Many people don't. If an issue arises in their lives, then they'll stand up and fight for it, or just live with it. Either way, it takes actually seeing the problem to want to do something about it.

I work with blacks who get paid the same/more than me, depending on how long they've been there, one of my bosses is a woman, and I have two transgender and at least a dozen gays/lesbians in my workspace. We all get along, we all get our paychecks, and we all bitch about 'the man' (being those secretive people at the top of the food chain, not white males) keeping us down. The last time someone tried to spread drama about some group of people being oppressed somewhere in the world, we all looked at them like they were crazy and the subject was dropped. Let THOSE people deal with it. We have our own problems. I'm not going to stress myself to death because some random dude in Europe is being oppressed, or some black guy in Georgia isn't getting paid as much as a white coworker. Not my problem.

[Jehct]

Here's why #AllLivesMatter is wrongheaded (paraphrasing from something someone else linked in another thread);

Imagine you're at dinner with your family, but you don't get served anything. You say "Hey, I feel like I should get a fair share of the food." Your father responds with "we all deserve a fair share of the food", and doesn't fix the imbalance.

Taken out of context, his statement seems reasonable, but it's just repeating what you were saying. Which wasn't "I deserve all the food", but "Everyone deserves an equal share, and I haven't received mine, so could we correct that please". By responding to you like that, the context means your father has dismissed your concerns, and left you hungry; his statement is not actually supportive of the equality that the words suggest, because it's being used to dismiss your call for that same equality, by disputing that you have any right to be concerned.

#BlackLivesMatter isn't #OnlyBlackLivesMatter, and that was never what it was about. By responding to it with #AllLivesMatter, you're essentially dismissing the concerns of the black population, which is why there's such opposition to it.

If you really felt that "all lives matter", you'd be backing the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in the first place.

I agree. I dont think someone going up and saying All lives matter to someone saying Black lives matter is the correct way to get their point across that they care about everyone equally. I just think that a lot of people that say "All lives matter" don't really understand the meaning of #Blacklivesmatter. I mean I had to be told by someone what that means when I first came across #Blacklivesmatter because my initial thought was yea of course Black people matter. So I just think there can be more education about what it actually means.

I also don't like how communication to the masses has to be "catchy" and without revealing the meanings in the original communication. AKA hashtags. It just seems misleading sometimes.

[Nadiru]

Endus' explanation seems closer to a pitch to garner support for a specific hashtag instead of an actual explanation. Which is itself wrongheaded, because it implies that hashtags have relevance on the world stage. Clicktivism's barriers to entry are so low and the signal-noise ratio is so easily fucked with (see: #NotYourShield, both sides of Gamergate, anything 4chan has done in the last ten years, etc) that it renders the whole purpose of a voice moot. Never mind that the international nature of the 'net makes it difficult to suss out what voters actually want.

[Jehct]

People confusing the BLM tag is why people say 20 something white males tend to be out of touch with social issues.

So are you saying that as well? If people don't understand something they are reading that has a different meaning than the words given then they are "out of touch"?

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Endus' explanation seems closer to a pitch to garner support for a specific hashtag instead of an actual explanation. Which is itself wrongheaded, because it implies that hashtags have relevance on the world stage. Clicktivism's barriers to entry are so low and the signal-noise ratio is so easily fucked with (see: #NotYourShield, both sides of Gamergate, anything 4chan has done in the last ten years, etc) that it renders the whole purpose of a voice moot. Never mind that the international nature of the 'net makes it difficult to suss out what voters actually want.

Well said.

[Wildtree]

a hashtag is just a pound sign.

amen brother, amen

dem kids today

[Blur4stuff]

like posted above, imagine there to be an "also" in it. or at the end a "too". perhaps a mistake on the creator's part, but the hashtag was never meant to imply that only black lives matter.

that's why when all of the old white men on TV say, "but all lives matter" it creates a series of eye rolls across the country.

[raianeorge]

They have black friends who are treated the same as they are, they see no problem.

[Sevyvia]

Here's why #AllLivesMatter is wrongheaded (paraphrasing from something someone else linked in another thread);

Imagine you're at dinner with your family, but you don't get served anything. You say "Hey, I feel like I should get a fair share of the food." Your father responds with "we all deserve a fair share of the food", and doesn't fix the imbalance.

Taken out of context, his statement seems reasonable, but it's just repeating what you were saying. Which wasn't "I deserve all the food", but "Everyone deserves an equal share, and I haven't received mine, so could we correct that please". By responding to you like that, the context means your father has dismissed your concerns, and left you hungry; his statement is not actually supportive of the equality that the words suggest, because it's being used to dismiss your call for that same equality, by disputing that you have any right to be concerned.

#BlackLivesMatter isn't #OnlyBlackLivesMatter, and that was never what it was about. By responding to it with #AllLivesMatter, you're essentially dismissing the concerns of the black population, which is why there's such opposition to it.

If you really felt that "all lives matter", you'd be backing the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag in the first place.

This is some sort of joke, right? You're just trolling the guy? Christ, I really, really hope you are. That is the most depressing, authoritarian view I have heard someone take the time to spell out for a long while.

[Asrialol]

I'm really tired of hearing about USA killings while driving to work. Not only that, but I'm really tired of hearing the newscast specify that a white cop shot a black kid. It's not "cop shoots kid".

[Jehct]

like posted above, imagine there to be an "also" in it. or at the end a "too". perhaps a mistake on the creator's part, but the hashtag was never meant to imply that only black lives matter.

that's why when all of the old white men on TV say, "but all lives matter" it creates a series of eye rolls across the country.

Yea I agree. It was possibly an error in the creation. Once again some people don't understand the meaning based on the information provided by the hashtag or they are just racist.

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This is some sort of joke, right? You're just trolling the guy? Christ, I really, really hope you are. That is the most depressing, authoritarian view I have heard someone take the time to spell out for a long while.

Lol

10char

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It's more like #BlackLivesAlsoMatter

Agreed. Thank you

[Endus]

This is some sort of joke, right? You're just trolling the guy? Christ, I really, really hope you are. That is the most depressing, authoritarian view I have heard someone take the time to spell out for a long while.

I've been trying, but I can't even comprehend where you could have gotten "authoritarian" out of anything I said in that post.

[OreoLover]

"Are hashtags shorthand and packed with alternative meaning?" Yes...