Don't get me wrong, I love the blogging community, it's immensely positive and motivating. But I regularly find myself annoyed by the lack of discussion on important topics, instead only seeing typical beauty questions and photos of breakfast. I remember waking up on the day of the brexit results expecting to see twitter full of comments on the vote, but nope. I think I saw about 3. And the same recently with the Pulse shootings and more recently Black Lives Matter protests... nothing. I sometimes find myself so disheartened by the lack of social/political discussion from bloggers that have an amazing platform to share opinions and raise awareness.
Helen Anderson recently touched on this topic in one of her vlogs as she deleted her tweets and blog post on Brexit, a topic she was obviously passionate about, as she didn't want viewers that weren't familiar with her content to see her as aggressive or 'too political', and it made me so sad. Why is being political a bad thing? Yeah if you're sending death threats or being angry or violent in the presentation of your opinion then you're definitely going about it the wrong way. But what's so bad about retweeting a political image or getting involved with a intelligent, open-minded discussion that so many bloggers turn their back on online activism?
For me, my favourite bloggers to follow and my favourite blogs to read are the ones that are unafraid to share their opinions and engage in discussion on issues with more substance that high-street brands. I love bloggers that open up the discussion to issues of animal rights in the beauty and fashion industry, body image and insecurity, feminism etc etc. There are so many amazing bloggers that open up really important discussions, yet I often feel like the 'bigger' bloggers at the top of the pile steer clear of this for fear of being controversial. And honestly, I used to be a bit like this. My blog until a year or so ago was all frilly socks and topshop, until someone told me "we're all controversial so you might as well put it to use".
Since opening up my blog and social media as a more social/political platform, I've found myself being so much more aware and levelled as a person. I've learnt so much simply from sharing and receiving comments on issues and I feel like discussing topics is one of the best ways to learn. I always want my platforms to prompt thought and discussion, and put simply, I wish the blogger community was more willing to share and shake off that fear of being labelled 'controversial' or 'too political' as these things need not be bad.
As such a big, powerful community, we could do so much good and raise so much awareness. Staying silent on issues does nothing. You shouldn't feel anxious to share your opinion and step outside of your 'brand'. It's not all sparkles in the real world, and I think as a community we should address and discuss that more.
And so my platforms will always be ones of activism and opinions, I will always share and discuss, and I'm asking you to join me.
