Everybody loves a story about an underdog who overcame incredible odds, or a
prodigal son/daughter who found redemption. This in itself does not qualify as “Inspiration Porn”.
(1.) In general, Inspiration porn is when an individual takes someone else’s genuinely
inspirational story and uses it to support their point of view on something. (This point of view is often revolting and completely detached from the life experience of the story they are using.)
Example: A guy posts a story about a multiple amputee athlete with something like, “Quit your excuses” when the guy is neither an athlete, or suffering from a physical disability. (Just hates fat people).
(2.) When someone takes a one in a million odds story, and tries to use it to make a case that X, Y, Z, systemic issue is not really a problem, because this one person in a million got past it.
(3.) When a person with all the tact and empathy of a rock, uses
inspirational stories to justify their general lack of compassion, (often while laboring under the delusion that they themselves are beacons of total self-sufficiency.) This sort of person often pays scrupulous attention to the beginning and end of an
inspirational story, while ignoring everything in between.
An
inspirational story wouldn’t be considered
inspirational if the outcome was likely or probable. So you’ve got to be equal parts revolting and stupid, to try and use “inspiration porn” as an argument for what every person should achieve. Especially when that life experience is completely out of your depth.
Be careful to
watch out for snakes who try and use inspiration porn as an excuse to keep the world just the way it is, while ignoring systemic injustices.
