While I don't think tumblr is the only place this happens or where it began... I do think it's undeniably a hotbed of this sort of outrage-seeking attitude. Given the close proximity of fandom and SJ communities on tumblr, there's bound to be some crossover of ideas between the two, and I agree that the issues your brought up seem to have become more prominent within fandom over the last few years (which is when the shift to tumblr happened for many fandoms). So I think it's worth examining how fandoms are influenced by ideas that the SJ side of tumblr tends to espouse.
The thing that bothers me the most is what you said about "deep-diving to find something 'problematic' about every aspect of every work" - which I think is something that happens frequently outside of fandom matters as well. This is just a small case in point out of many, but weeks ago I saw a photoset of several famous disabled people that at first appeared to be celebrating their accomplishments... until I got to the text part and read the OP's weird rant about how well-wishes were offensive to the disabled community and how we should all stop saying such an obviously awful thing. (And of course it had thousands upon thousands of notes.) I probably don't need to explain why this particular instance rubbed me the wrong way, but while I do think that microaggressions toward disadvantaged groups shouldn't be discounted, there's a difference between small transgressions that actually hurt people and manufactured outrage, and all too often I feel that the things tumblr gets up in arms about fall into the latter category. As a person who falls into some of those disadvantaged groups, I have more than enough real issues to handle already. Making up things to get angry over just for the sake of being angry does not help.
As far as fandom goes, as a consumer of media I don't really want to see it in that context either. Does attacking Rule 63 fanart really help the trans community? Does attacking fanart of a female mountie hugging a bear really help people affected by police oppression? It all just gets exhausting after a while, plus I think it actually detracts from the causes they attempt to support. When so much anger is being wasted on these non-issues, how does that reflect upon the larger picture? After a while I think it almost starts to feel secondary to the outrage.
Tuning out this sort of thing is more or less what I've done too. I've become very careful about who I follow on tumblr. The fandomers I do follow are people I've either known prior to tumblr, or who have proven to be reasonable over time, and my love/hate relationship with tumblr has improved considerably since I got more strict about who I follow. :P But mostly I just feel similarly to what you said - I only have so much energy to expend on feeling outraged about various injustices, and I'm not willing to waste it on nonsense that I consider inconsequential at best (and manufactured at worst).
no subject
The thing that bothers me the most is what you said about "deep-diving to find something 'problematic' about every aspect of every work" - which I think is something that happens frequently outside of fandom matters as well. This is just a small case in point out of many, but weeks ago I saw a photoset of several famous disabled people that at first appeared to be celebrating their accomplishments... until I got to the text part and read the OP's weird rant about how well-wishes were offensive to the disabled community and how we should all stop saying such an obviously awful thing. (And of course it had thousands upon thousands of notes.) I probably don't need to explain why this particular instance rubbed me the wrong way, but while I do think that microaggressions toward disadvantaged groups shouldn't be discounted, there's a difference between small transgressions that actually hurt people and manufactured outrage, and all too often I feel that the things tumblr gets up in arms about fall into the latter category. As a person who falls into some of those disadvantaged groups, I have more than enough real issues to handle already. Making up things to get angry over just for the sake of being angry does not help.
As far as fandom goes, as a consumer of media I don't really want to see it in that context either. Does attacking Rule 63 fanart really help the trans community? Does attacking fanart of a female mountie hugging a bear really help people affected by police oppression? It all just gets exhausting after a while, plus I think it actually detracts from the causes they attempt to support. When so much anger is being wasted on these non-issues, how does that reflect upon the larger picture? After a while I think it almost starts to feel secondary to the outrage.
Tuning out this sort of thing is more or less what I've done too. I've become very careful about who I follow on tumblr. The fandomers I do follow are people I've either known prior to tumblr, or who have proven to be reasonable over time, and my love/hate relationship with tumblr has improved considerably since I got more strict about who I follow. :P But mostly I just feel similarly to what you said - I only have so much energy to expend on feeling outraged about various injustices, and I'm not willing to waste it on nonsense that I consider inconsequential at best (and manufactured at worst).