DictatrshipOfTheseus

joined 3 years ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It is true that there are plenty of people who use reddit that are not racist (setting aside the idea that everyone who lives in a racist society, which we in the west do, has at least some internalized racism). Some people on reddit even actively fight against it, to their credit. That said, as a platform, both in terms of the people who run and administrate it, as well as the larger majority mass of users, definitely tends towards racism. This can be seen in all kinds of ways, from admins always siding with freeze-peach of racists over bipoc to the frothing-at-the-mouth hatred of the "orcish hordes" that dominates in every popular subreddit (and the silencing of those who offer even the mildest criticism of it), to the understandable yet very telling rabid defense of the privilege so many of them insist they earned when it is nothing more than old fashioned white privilege. You seem to agree that reddit is bad for its corporatist bullshit and its laser focus on profit at the expense of people. We agree. But that alone is inherently systemically racist for sociological reasons that I'm assuming you're aware of, given some of your other comments. For all these reasons, it is hardly an overreaction or unfair to refer to reddit as "a racist website."

As for "authoritarian" communists, all I'll say here is that I hope you can learn to seriously, genuinely question a lot of what you have learned from what amounts to an ocean of propaganda deliberately spread for decades (even over a century) to demonize any successful socialist revolution. I'd encourage you to ask some of us "tankies" in good faith about some of that propaganda in other appropriate threads.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Just so it's clear, OP isn't drawing a distinction here between amerikkkan liberals and conservatives. A lot of times when leftists complain about liberals or liberalism, people who aren't exposed to leftism will mistakenly take this to mean that we're pro-conservative. We are NOT pro-conservative.

When we talk about liberals, we mean in the broader sense of people who subscribe to the philosophical tenants of liberalism, or in other words, people who think that capitalism is a good and/or natural thing. To us, conservatives are pretty much just a subset of liberals who have even more reactionary opinions about certain social issues than the standard liberal. This misunderstanding isn't the fault of the people who misunderstand, mainstream media depicts all politics as being a binary battle between the dems and the GOP, a sport where two teams face off and that's it. But in much of the world, "liberal" is actually synonymous with right wing and that's how we use it. In the US, liberal tends to mean "left wing" but only because the overton window is so grotesquely far to the right, and anticapitalism isn't even a consideration in US politics.

Forgive me if you already know all this, but because we're seeing new people around here due to federation, I think it's a good idea to point this out and avoid the possibility of conflating our utter contempt for liberalism with any sort of positive view of conservatism.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago

It's a criticism of liberal democracy, and a fair one at that, because those will always be ultimately ruled by the wealthy elite. Hence the term dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. It's why abortion is once again illegal in much of the US, it's why the US doesn't have universal healthcare despite it being very much wanted by a large majority of the population. It's why France is still upping the age of retirement despite essentially no one wanting that and has become a de facto police state to suppress that population from protesting it. Nazis absolutely do not have to be a majority for a liberal democracy to quickly become a fascist state.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

in awe of how this community can pivot between shitposting to agitprop

Even more impressive when they're same-picture

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

It's hypnotic watching and waiting for the party emotes with different periods to sync up and briefly satisfying when they do.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

🐖 💩 🏀

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Surprise surprise, libs arrogantly assuming they're the default and pearl-clutching about being "brigaded" because they got exposed to ideas that don't fit the narrative they've swallowed, exactly the way they always do. Vapid, self-centered actors through and through.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I've seen several people mention a similar thing about being on the old sub, and are now glad to reconnect with a big chunk of that community. If for no other reason, I think it's awesome that federation has brought about a small kind of reunion of comrades. sicko-wholesome

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, I was perfectly happy having an "echo chamber". Literally the entire rest of the world is far outside that echo chamber, so what's the fucking harm of having ONE PLACE that I don't have to deal with it?

I like the way @Munrock@[email protected] put it:

Communities like this one are less echo chamber and more like a sound-proofed booth to get some respite from the constant torrent of brain shitfuckery that comes with existing as an anglophone.

Hexbear won't be the same as it was, there's no doubt. I am going to miss the kind of community we had there, which wasn't insular, but just a uniquely lib-free (relatively speaking) island of leftist sanity, despite the ongoing joke that everyone there is a lib. I'm still very interested to see how federation turns out going forward, but it really does fucking suck for the people who liked things as they were and used hexbear as a kind of refuge.

As for the original comment by Azzu:

I just hate the hostility, open insults, etc. I think it accomplishes nothing except pushing people away, it's not changing anyone's minds.

It may not accomplish anything for you but there's a reason the chapotraphouse subreddit was one of the highest volume posting subs on the site, often made it to the front page, and was growing quickly, only to be banned. It does work, and we know this because it worked on a lot of us. There's a wide range of how people from hexbear respond to fresh libs, and part of that includes insults and reveling in the dunking on them. Just as there's a wide range to the kind of rhetorical tactics that people (including lurkers just watching the dunks) are receptive to. It's fine if you have other ways to cope, you don't have to participate. Block the hexbear instance if you're inclined to do so.

view more: next ›