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comment by DC-3
DC-3  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Voat is working for now

I can't understand the whole "MUH FREE SPEECH" mentality at voat and reddit. Why shouldn't the admins remove offensive hate speech subreddits?





RicePaddy  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There's quite a few problems, the main one being that you now need to define what is and isn't offensive. What offends you will be different to what offends me. If you go around removing everything that offends anyone you'll end up with nothing at all.

In the specific case of Reddit, I began to have problems when they announced they wanted to turn it into a "safe space". "Safe spaces" for thoughts don't and shouldn't exist. Other people should be open to criticize everything you say. You have the options of engaging in that conversation, or if they are aggressive, just ignoring them. Going around claiming that people shouldn't say certain things because it 'offends' you is not very constructive.

Plecko  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think by safe space they meant the removal of hate speech groups from /r/all. Nowhere in their rhetoric or actions does it seem they want to turn reddit into your kind of safe space.

RicePaddy  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I don't browse /r/all, so I'm unaware of the impact different subreddits have there. However, I don't really remember any of the announcements or blog posts talking about /r/all. Can you show them to me?

I'm also a little confused about these different "kinds of safe spaces" you're talking about. The one I see Reddit pushing for is an environment where certain 'things' cannot be said (without a rigorous definition of said 'things'). What type of safe space do you see as a good thing?

DC-3  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

FPH was unconstructive and blatently offensive. I don't see why people were upset by that being banned. Thoughts should be open to criticism however.

RicePaddy  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

People were upset that FPH was banned and other, far more toxic subreddits were left untouched. If you are going to start moderating the content on your site, you need to moderate all of that content consistently.

Also, the great thing about that subreddit system is that people who think a certain way will stay in their own subreddits. There are really horrifically racist subreddits, as an example. If people tried to say those sorts of things on another subreddit, they would get shouted down so fast and likely banned for good measure. If you don't want to see those kinds of things, don't go to their subreddits.

Plecko  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

FPH got onto /r/all regularly, no other hate sub achieved that.

They constantly posted pictures from other parts of reddit to make fun of those people, There's no way a system like that doesn't leak.

The problem is that subs like this allow people to feel that their ideas are validated. You cannot argue that hating on a massive group of people is normal or okay.

RicePaddy  ·  3431 days ago  ·  link  ·  

As long as people are around we will find some reason to segregate into groups and hate one another. Historically, hating large groups of people is something humans are very good at. Is it normal? Yes, in that the "us-them" mentality has been around for a long time. Do I agree with it? No. Not at all, and we should all as individuals try our best to eliminate that "us-them" mentality from ourselves.

You're right, I can't argue that hating on a group of people is okay and that is not what I'm arguing at all. Where did you see me make that argument?

In everyday life people will hate you for no reason whatsoever. As a brown guy I get racist comments hurled at me on the street all the time. Is it okay? No. It isn't. However, since when did "sticks and stones" stop being applicable? People can say or think what they like. Thought crime doesn't exist. As soon as it turns into action is where problems arise.