In this post, I’m talking about why exactly I feel like the blackout-movement isn’t exactly working and what would be better. Sadly a lot of the things that I wanted to say were already put into less words in a lot better way by Lowco, so I’ve linked her video down there and tried to talk about something else in this post. :) Please check out @Lowco2525!
It’s a small movement with little to no force behind it. A view thousand people stopping to stream is not going to bring down the bad guys. There are demands that are being heard but I am not a fan of the “silent protest” treatment that we’re supposed to give to Twitch.
Be loud! Be angry! Make yourself heard!
Spread awareness!
Don’t go silent.
For anyone who doesn’t know, the TwitchBlackout “trend” was a movement in support of #BLM where you don’t stream on Tuesdays and essentially try to host/support POC on Twitch. I didn’t participate for the same reason that I’m not participating in the movement now.
Right now, it’s to make ourselves heard about the harassment and bullying as well as the sexual assault and the abuse of power that is happening in the Streaming/Gaming industry. Women are sharing their stories once again talking about their abusers and the predators that haunt them to this day. And now people won’t stream today (the 24th of June) because… that spreads awareness?
I’ve read plenty of these stories and it’s saddening and sickening to hear about what these victims and survivors have been through.
What a movement like this needs is for people to SPREAD AWARENESS by NOT GOING SILENT. How does one spread awareness? Well, talk to people, educate them, spread resources and links about the issues.
Twitch-streamer Lowco summarized the issues that she has with the movement quite well in a recent video that I’d recommend checking out as well. She also put out a google doc with all kinds of important resources, links and information, so check that out as well.
I’ll set up a command with this doc so that people can educate themselves and, if they want to, support charity foundations that help assault victims. I’ll talk about it. I’ll try to show my support with a logo on the screen. That’s how I’ll try to spread awareness. By not being live I’ll just mess with my viewers. I won’t be able to spread anything. I won’t be heard. I’d be silent.
Don’t go silent. Be heard. Be loud.
That’s my opinion at least. And while I think that a movement like that is alright… I don’t think it’s perfect.
There is no force behind it that pushes forward.
The tweet by @SirKatelyn that I could find was from two days ago, so there was barely any time to organize it and from what I’ve seen most “bigger streamers” that I follow don’t take part in it either.
So overall, I’m not a fan of it. I feel like it’s pointless and harms any movement more than it helps.
I’d rather spread awareness for a longer period of time while making sure that my viewers (that possibly could get harassed somewhere else for being female or lgbtqia+ or whatever) have some place to return to where they are safe. I’d rather have that going for me than a silent, black screen with some information or whatever and no context.
Indiecator 
Insightful and informative as always, and thank you for the links to Lowco’s video and the google doc.
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Thanks for the feedback. I honestly wasn’t sure on whether or not to publish this blog post, especially as it’s a tad controversial to “shit on a movement” (even when it’s unsuccessful). I apparently came across as aggressive and sarcastic in a different community when I mentioned that “a bunch of small streamers not streaming won’t make a difference”.
There are also people on Twitter right now that say that they’re going to unfollow all people that are still active on Twitter and Twitch today, despite hardly anyone knowing about the movement.
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I agree with your stance though and Lowco’s, staying silent won’t get us heard. It’s a difficult subject to tackle, but you wrote it concisely and in a firm tone. I’m understand everyone has different opinions, and there’s a lot going on outside; but if we stand silent.
How can people know.. (((╹д╹;)))
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