The Narcissism of Queer Influencer Activists

“Any serious assessment of gender as it operates in the context of war would understand that these men and boys are victims — war inflicts a cold and broken masculinity which physically and psychologically damages men, often beyond repair. If we’re to introduce axes of exploitation, it is poor and working-class men, whose lives are literally disposable during wartime, that are sent off to die to protect the interests of an elite class of overlords. Certainly many of them will be queer, but that is not the subject position upon which they are being recruited to fight for their country. Marginalized groups of course face specific harms that relate to their social position. On conquered lands, women often become victims of mass sexual violence from invading forces. And certainly I support donations to The Ukrainian’s Women’s Guard which work to prepare women for the extreme conditions of wartime. As we are seeing, racial hierarchies in Europe have meant that Ukrainian nationals are enabled to escape occupation whilst African medical students are left to languish at the border. Certainly too, queer people face the prospect of political imprisonment and restrictions of freedom. But this ‘first hit’ analysis centered singularly on queerness is not only unable to track the specific short- and long-term harms faced, it actually obfuscates them.”

I keep forgetting Gawker is a thing again.

My virtual pussy stinks.

Influencers and general social media posters are forgivable for simply doing what works, to an extent.

Powerful media and news editors and producers should be the ones truly called out for proliferating stories and articles for the same reasons.

But I imagine one follows the other.

I think this piece is great and I appreciate that the author is unafraid to name names.

I wish more people would speak up like this. It’s time to call out the fakes and phonies.

Influencers are all part of the grift of today. They're really not much different than Trump and his rabble. But instead of saying something outrageous and begging for money from their followers, they post something outrageous with the hope for a product sponsorship or a book deal or a spot as a pundit on TV or podcasts. It's just a more sophisticated version of GoFundMe without the sad backstory.

I long for the days when "social media influencer" wasn't a thing.

I read this earlier and it really felt like the author was deliberately forgetting that the social media influencers in question have a very specific brand, and that everything they say is about that brand, not about being a narcissist.

The issue is social media branding, the way algorithms work, what people respond to. Changing that to "gay influencers are so narcissistic" doesn't sit right with me.

He also adds a healthy dose of "gays are mostly colonizer white guys with privilege, they're narcissistic and vapid, and I guess the only way they can empathize with people in Ukraine is imagining themselves being the gays running from Russian imperialists." Why? Because HIS brand is to be the black guy who is always calling out selfish white imperialist colonizers.

He's doing the same thing he's criticizing others for: focusing on his one particular personal angle and using it to improve his image and reputation.

He's not even wrong about a lot of the points he makes, it's just that HE'S DOING IT TOO, but he thinks he's righteous and justified while everyone else is wrong and self-absorbed. It's frustrating.

Good food for thought

This is a good piece that offers perspective rather than throwing down a gauntlet. I hope this essay doesn’t get quickly buried by mob group-think, again.

Doctah Jake?

Nicely done

It;s quite depressing that Adam Eli was considered one of Out's most eligible bachelors in 2018.

I know nothing about Adam Eli, but I'd sit on that nose.

[quote] unafraid to name names.

Who?

Influencer is just another name for shill salesman grifter (if it's illegal).

I was surprised to see this take down of insane identity politics and intersectionality printed on Gawker. Then I inferred the writers' race/ethnicity from his name and realised identity politics is why he was allowed to write this to begin with.

Gawker? lol. Gawker is dead and is never coming back.

The writer is borderline illiterate and that article is unreadable nonsense. He’s as annoying as the irrelevant influencers he’s trying to rip. Pathetic.

No one gives a shit about this.

Apparently you do.

[quote]that article is unreadable nonsense

It's written by someone who is writing for Gawker in exactly the same way they would write for their grad school cultural studies professor.

Thanks OP this was an interesting read. T

here’s a book I read an excerpt from called Get Rich Or Lie Trying: The Monetisation Of Black Twitter (I think). It’s a very similar subject and tone and may be the same author. I read an excerpt from it, let me see if I can find the link.

Not the same author. Here’s the link.

Do you think the author, Jason Okundaye, is sexy?

We live in a snake oil salesmen society / grifter's paradise. No matter which direction you go (Conservative, Libertarian, Liberal, religious, queer friendly, etc.), there'll always be people (mostly shady individuals) trying to sell you something, you don't need, for a price.

Where are the screams of "TERF"? The rape and death threats? The negative career effect? The social media shunning?

Oh, right... Those things only happen when WOMEN express these very same thoughts. It's almost like sex is a "thing" and matters in people's lives.