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> in a bid to align to progressive left political views Is there really this huge conspiracy by the left, or are most just tired of hate speech from the right

> in a bid to align to progressive left political views Is there really this huge conspiracy by the left, or are most just tired of hate speech from the right when they want to look at funny memes? > it is far from a place to have conversations on almost anything Well, except for this alt-right stuff and things that are illegal, are so much else censored? I'd wager most people could find a discussion about any of their interests.

leereeves 6y ago
Half of the content on r/popular is hate speech about the right. It's among the most partisan, and from one point of view, toxic, sites on the Internet, but apparently, from another point of view, that's just "funny memes". In contrast to the Hacker News guideline "assume good faith", the attitude on reddit is more like "assume anyone who disagrees is evil".
- matsemann 6y ago
  > Half of the content on r/popular is hate speech about the right. [Citation needed]. You don't do your point any favors by being hyperbolic. And as always, the "both sides are both equally bad"-rhetoric is just discussing in bad faith.
  - leereeves 6y ago
    I was going to say my citation is r/popular itself, but it looks like there's less of it now that the election is over. During the election it was disgusting. The toxic content is still there though, like a LeopardsAteMyFace post crowing about the death of Ron Wright, and as if to prove my point: "This thread has been locked due to extremely toxic and rude comments." Such as the current top comment "...I'm really past playing nice with even the memory of these fucks...... Rot in hell, Ron." The discussion was too toxic even for the LeopardsAteMyFace mods, but they didn't delete it. It's still visible, and featured on r/popular. That sub (and the other we-hate-conservatives subs) are often filled with hate speech like that, and yet, unlike r/TheDonald, they haven't been quarantined. https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/lflxdi/another_gop_covid_casualty/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/lflxdi/a...
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - Kbelicius 6y ago
      > The toxic content is still there though, like a LeopardsAteMyFace post crowing about the death of Ron Wright, and as if to prove my point: "This thread has been locked due to extremely toxic and rude comments." Such as the top comment "...I'm really past playing nice with even the memory of these fucks...... Rot in hell, Ron." Comment that you decided to quote contains no conservative hating just hate towards Ron, because of his behavior and others who behave in that way. Why would you even think that that was a conservative hating comment?
      - leereeves 6y ago
        > Why would you even think that that was a conservative hating comment? The hate in that comment wasn't directed only at Ron: "people like this", "these fucks". The comment doesn't specify who "these fucks" are, but the sub generally directs hate toward conservatives, so that's a reasonable assumption. > because of his behavior and others who behave in that way Others who behave in what way? The post I linked contains only a tweet from him criticizing the hypocrisy of allowing big stores to remain open while closing small businesses. Is that hate-worthy? Surely not, so I assume you're referring to something else. Please be specific.
        TomSwirly 6y ago
        A year of people like this in our faces telling us that there's no pandemic and we're all sheep, and we lose our patience. Four years of Trump screaming lies, hatred and incoherent abuse at us, and we lose our patience. Conservatives go out of their way to be hated - they literally talk about "Liberal tears" all the time - and then they get offended when it works. I'm not even in the United States anymore. The level of contempt that Europeans have for Trump would just stagger you, and the same is true for the few Asians I know. If you tell everyone you want to be hated, you act in a hateful way, and you cause tremendous destruction, you can't act all surprised when people end up actually hating you.
drstewart 6y ago
> Is there really this huge conspiracy by the left, or are most just tired of hate speech from the right when they want to look at funny memes? [Citation needed]. You don't do your point any favors by being hyperbolic. And as always, the "both sides are both equally bad"-rhetoric is just discussing in bad faith.
- matsemann 6y ago
  Trying to be smart by copying my other post doesn't really work here, does it?
  - leereeves 6y ago
    It works as well as it did on my post, where I said nothing about "both sides". And responding to criticism by calling it "'both sides are both equally bad'-rhetoric" is definitely discussing in bad faith. I'm not talking about "both sides", my point is about reddit's hypocrisy in allowing hate speech directed at conservatives. In an alternate reality where reddit chose to ban all hate speech, the discussion would be very different. I would post examples, but they'd probably get me banned from HN just for quoting them. And your responses are descending into flames, so I'm just going to step away.
    - matsemann 6y ago
      Edit: Removing my comment as it made no sense after parent rewrote his..
      - drstewart 6y ago
        > The criticisms from the left of reddit are orders of magnitude less vile and hateful Current top article on /r/politics: >A Majority of Americans Want Trump Convicted but Republicans Can’t Unlatch Their Lips From His Ass, +35k, 49x gilded Ah yes, so dignified and classy.
sdflhasjd 6y ago
> Well, except for this alt-right stuff and things that are illegal, are so much else censored? Yes, fanboy/"power-tripping" mods of some interest-based subreddits can be pretty bad.
- matsemann 6y ago
  But you could always just make your own community. It's done all the time.
gurkendoktor 6y ago
Intentional or not, the word choices in your reply are the reason why my "office politics" alert goes off whenever I visit reddit (enough that I deleted my account): The word "conspiracy" has become a way (mostly for the media) to assign low/outgroup status to unfavorable theories. In the unlikely case where something is later proven to be true, one can always just say, "okay, but isn't it GOOD that everyone was silently cooperating?" And when it works, it's a tool to move the Overton window by painting the others as loonies. I mean, the idea that a company worth $6B has a political strategy is hardly outlandish. You can have five people working in an office and they'll eventually start to conspire against each other, power games are human nature. "Hate speech" and "alt-right" are similar terms that are not clearly defined, but conveniently serve the dominant discourse. reddit's tolerance for "anyone but the bad guys" was brilliantly summarized by SSC: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin... (I agree with the sibling thread that /r/popular looks really fun today! It was a very different place throughout 2020.)

leereeves 6y ago

Half of the content on r/popular is hate speech about the right. It's among the most partisan, and from one point of view, toxic, sites on the Internet, but apparently, from another point of view, that's just "funny memes". In contrast to the Hacker News guideline "assume good faith", the attitude on reddit is more like "assume anyone who disagrees is evil".

matsemann 6y ago
> Half of the content on r/popular is hate speech about the right. [Citation needed]. You don't do your point any favors by being hyperbolic. And as always, the "both sides are both equally bad"-rhetoric is just discussing in bad faith.
- leereeves 6y ago
  I was going to say my citation is r/popular itself, but it looks like there's less of it now that the election is over. During the election it was disgusting. The toxic content is still there though, like a LeopardsAteMyFace post crowing about the death of Ron Wright, and as if to prove my point: "This thread has been locked due to extremely toxic and rude comments." Such as the current top comment "...I'm really past playing nice with even the memory of these fucks...... Rot in hell, Ron." The discussion was too toxic even for the LeopardsAteMyFace mods, but they didn't delete it. It's still visible, and featured on r/popular. That sub (and the other we-hate-conservatives subs) are often filled with hate speech like that, and yet, unlike r/TheDonald, they haven't been quarantined. https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/lflxdi/another_gop_covid_casualty/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/lflxdi/a...
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - Kbelicius 6y ago
    > The toxic content is still there though, like a LeopardsAteMyFace post crowing about the death of Ron Wright, and as if to prove my point: "This thread has been locked due to extremely toxic and rude comments." Such as the top comment "...I'm really past playing nice with even the memory of these fucks...... Rot in hell, Ron." Comment that you decided to quote contains no conservative hating just hate towards Ron, because of his behavior and others who behave in that way. Why would you even think that that was a conservative hating comment?
    - leereeves 6y ago
      > Why would you even think that that was a conservative hating comment? The hate in that comment wasn't directed only at Ron: "people like this", "these fucks". The comment doesn't specify who "these fucks" are, but the sub generally directs hate toward conservatives, so that's a reasonable assumption. > because of his behavior and others who behave in that way Others who behave in what way? The post I linked contains only a tweet from him criticizing the hypocrisy of allowing big stores to remain open while closing small businesses. Is that hate-worthy? Surely not, so I assume you're referring to something else. Please be specific.
      - TomSwirly 6y ago
        A year of people like this in our faces telling us that there's no pandemic and we're all sheep, and we lose our patience. Four years of Trump screaming lies, hatred and incoherent abuse at us, and we lose our patience. Conservatives go out of their way to be hated - they literally talk about "Liberal tears" all the time - and then they get offended when it works. I'm not even in the United States anymore. The level of contempt that Europeans have for Trump would just stagger you, and the same is true for the few Asians I know. If you tell everyone you want to be hated, you act in a hateful way, and you cause tremendous destruction, you can't act all surprised when people end up actually hating you.

drstewart 6y ago

> Is there really this huge conspiracy by the left, or are most just tired of hate speech from the right when they want to look at funny memes? [Citation needed]. You don't do your point any favors by being hyperbolic. And as always, the "both sides are both equally bad"-rhetoric is just discussing in bad faith.

matsemann 6y ago
Trying to be smart by copying my other post doesn't really work here, does it?
- leereeves 6y ago
  It works as well as it did on my post, where I said nothing about "both sides". And responding to criticism by calling it "'both sides are both equally bad'-rhetoric" is definitely discussing in bad faith. I'm not talking about "both sides", my point is about reddit's hypocrisy in allowing hate speech directed at conservatives. In an alternate reality where reddit chose to ban all hate speech, the discussion would be very different. I would post examples, but they'd probably get me banned from HN just for quoting them. And your responses are descending into flames, so I'm just going to step away.
  - matsemann 6y ago
    Edit: Removing my comment as it made no sense after parent rewrote his..
    - drstewart 6y ago
      > The criticisms from the left of reddit are orders of magnitude less vile and hateful Current top article on /r/politics: >A Majority of Americans Want Trump Convicted but Republicans Can’t Unlatch Their Lips From His Ass, +35k, 49x gilded Ah yes, so dignified and classy.

sdflhasjd 6y ago

> Well, except for this alt-right stuff and things that are illegal, are so much else censored? Yes, fanboy/"power-tripping" mods of some interest-based subreddits can be pretty bad.

matsemann 6y ago
But you could always just make your own community. It's done all the time.

gurkendoktor 6y ago

Intentional or not, the word choices in your reply are the reason why my "office politics" alert goes off whenever I visit reddit (enough that I deleted my account): The word "conspiracy" has become a way (mostly for the media) to assign low/outgroup status to unfavorable theories. In the unlikely case where something is later proven to be true, one can always just say, "okay, but isn't it GOOD that everyone was silently cooperating?" And when it works, it's a tool to move the Overton window by painting the others as loonies. I mean, the idea that a company worth $6B has a political strategy is hardly outlandish. You can have five people working in an office and they'll eventually start to conspire against each other, power games are human nature. "Hate speech" and "alt-right" are similar terms that are not clearly defined, but conveniently serve the dominant discourse. reddit's tolerance for "anyone but the bad guys" was brilliantly summarized by SSC: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin... (I agree with the sibling thread that /r/popular looks really fun today! It was a very different place throughout 2020.)