I registered for an Instagram account in April for the sole purpose of watching a CHANGE OF MOMENTUM unboxing in Spanish and translating it for my editor.
As I wrote my 2021 Business Plan in November I made the decision to actively and intentionally engage on social media with the goal of broadening my horizons. I don’t need another social media app or distraction, but I know some of my readers love these apps. After a brief consult with my friends who love Instagram I convinced myself I could make the jump and find a way to adapt Instagram into my life.
The plan was to create some cute graphics with a theme, schedule them to post on a regular basis, and let Instagram grow organically to be a place where I could drop the occasional bit of book news while keeping everything calm, happy, and basically the exact opposite of the chaos that is my Tumblr account (I’m not even going to provide a think… if you want chaotic good madness and eclectic fandoms you can go hunt it down yourself).
With this plan of intentional, focused social media use I went quote hunting. Quotes on themes of things like new beginnings, adventure, discovery, writing, hope… and as I was building my list of quotes from various sources around the web I noticed a very pale, masculine trend to the Best Quotes About Books lists I kept finding. It wasn’t problematic on the first post. It wasn’t really noticeable on the second. But by the fifth or sixth list and search and theme there was a distinct pattern to the people who were recognized for their famous quotes on any given subject.
What is the point of me promoting great thoughts of people, of investing my time in creating something to share, if it doesn’t uplift those who need to be lifted?
There really isn’t a point.
None at all.
If you want a list of quotes by famous dead men of European descent you can go to any public school or lecture on literature and get the same quotes about writing that everyone has been repeating since the start. I bet you can name three quotes by white men without breaking a sweat.
There’s no point in creating a social media channel that supports What Is.
I’m not happy with the world As Is. I’m not content with the erasure of so many lives. I’m not delighted with the levels of racism, misogyny, ablesim, and homophobia I see in my culture. The status quo does not spark joy.
It’s very easy to be content with What Is. It’s easy to accept that we should agree that Neil Gaiman is a Famous Author and N.K. Jemisin is a Genre Author because Neil is older, whiter, and masculine than Nora. Yes, Neil has had a longer career. He’s twelve years older and started in a better social position. But they are both great authors.
So why was Neil on every list about writing quotes and N.K. wasn’t?
I don’t think it was out of a conscious prejudice. I don’t think anyone sat down and went, “Today I will pick all my favorite writing quotes from men only!” I think they simply sat down and wrote a quick list of the most common quotes on writing and never stopped to ask WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE FAMOUS?
Fame is a slippery, ephemeral, toxic thing.
Fame is a will-o-wisp created by the belief of people.
What makes a person famous? The approval of other people.
Sometimes fame is organic. A lot of people find the focus of the fame on their own and decide they like it without consulting anyone else. But most fame is created. It’s forged by the smoke and mirrors of marketing. Summoned by the careful application of SEO, paid ads, and bot stan accounts.
Fame can be bought, if you know where to look.
Fame can be created for anything or anyone.
But fame is a frail thing. The illusion only lasts as long as you can sustain it. Fame feeds off the biases of society.
If 2020 did nothing else it taught all of us how easy it is to go along with What Is, even if What Is isn’t a good idea. The number of people willing to go out maskless, or excuse politicians for ignoring the CDC, or willing to risk their lives to defend the billionaire’s rights to profit of the exploitation of their workers is stunning. People go along with it not because they think it’s right, but because everyone else is doing it so… maybe it is right?
The sense that maybe everyone knows something you don’t – or that maybe your anxiety is blowing the plague of of proportion – is strong enough to silence most people. The dissonance created by seeing other people’s social feeds filled with family trips and dinners with Grandpa is enough to cow sensible people into acceptance of terrible things.
On a larger scale… this is why we still have misogyny, racism, ableism, homelessness, and people dying of treatable diseases. It’s not that a majority of people think this is a good thing, it’s that a majority of people are willing to stay quiet.
In a group of ten, one racist will speak up and the other nine shuffle around, looking guiltily at each other as they think, “Well, I don’t agree, but everyone else does so I guess I’ll just stay quiet.”
Having a better future – creating a better world – means you can’t be content with What Is. You can’t let yourself become comfortable with what already exists. You can’t become complacent when you are trying to create something better.
For me, that means hunting down quotes from people who have been overlooked in their fields. People of color, from the LGBT+ community, from the disabled communities, from the Deaf/HoH communities, from women and genderfluid and nonbinary humans. It means my Instagram will be a mix of familiar quotes and something new from people who deserve to be famous in our communities.
For you maybe it looks like ending a toxic relationship, looking for a better job, trying a new author, listening to new music, or simply standing up for yourself when someone interrupts and saying, “I’m speaking. I wasn’t finished. I’m speaking. If you don’t mind letting me finish, we can then have a conversation.”
