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Cartoon_Cat wrote

I don't think anyone is actively attacking newcomers, but there have been a few instances of newcomers asserting their misguided views on Raddle as if somehow the users on this forum were unaware of those arguments. If they come here with an agenda rather than an open mind of course they will be met with hostility.

I don't appreciate being policed; being told who to welcome or how to talk to people - Users of this site do not represent this site, they represent themselves. It isn't our problem if someone concludes that leftist ideas aren't worth considering because they saw a lefty being rude to a neo-nazi online once. Some people aren't ready for some of these ideas yet, and that's okay - people have to get to a certain point on their own before they can be expected to digest ideas that fly in the face of their reality.

While new users aren't expected to be experts (im new myself), it's reasonable to expect them to take the time to read around and form an argument if they disagree with something they see posted. It's pretty common to see people online getting tangled up over criticism of 'liberals' because they are stuck in their american definition which paints a 'liberal' as a 'progressive' rather than a capitalist enabler - but 5 minutes of researching "why do leftists dislike liberals?" will save a lot of hassle. If someone refuses to do their own research then what hope is there?

I don't see Raddle as a site to spoonfeed people leftist ideologies, but some people genuinely want to be told what to think. It's very healthy to challenge each other, and users on this site are able to do that well and it serves to further each person's understanding. However, in the 'real world' we are trained to take any criticism as a personal attack - so if you have a new user who is used to reddit/facebook dialogue, they will often take offence at any criticism of their ideas and devolve into name-calling as a defence mechanism.

TL;DR (couldn't resist) - we shouldn't baby new users just because they've been trained to be oversensitive. Fascists are ruled by emotion rather than rational thought, so playing their game won't get us (or them!) anywhere. Fuck their ideas, and fuck sharing a platform with them.

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dele_ted OP wrote

It's definitely not my intention to police, it's just a plea of sorts for people to be a little less hostile towards newcomers.

As emma said, fascists don't belong here. Liberals might be another story, and my personal experience with liberals are that they're either ignorant people who refuse to see beyond their own horizon, or people who's just grabbed onto whatever belief system they inherited from their parents or social circles. The latter is often open to new ideas, but will give up pretty quickly if he's not being met.

I hate spoonfeeding people who don't want to read too, and we of course shouldn't do that, but what we can do is link them to some resources or suggest some books to get them started. Hopefully that'll start them off, and they'll do their own reading if they find it interesting.

What I'm trying to say is, a generic "if you hold liberal beliefs, get out" isn't always the best answer. We could give them a chance. If they turn out to have an agenda, then they of course brought it on themselves, but many are satisfied with a link or two and a book suggestion.

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