Before we stepped down, both ziq and I worked to make sure Raddle didn't become yet another breeding ground for white supremacy, queerphobia, and other attitudes that negatively affect marginalised people. The terms of service and the interview we did for Motherboard speak to this. As a result of our policy, a large chunk of the user base ended up being marginalised people, in particular queer & trans people, making Raddle a very special place that stood in contrast to the white/cis/straight/male dominated spaces that are so prevalent on the internet.
But with people fleeing in the wake of the alt drama, that special aspect feels lost. Some of the most vocal people who remain here embody the same negative attitudes that led us to leave Reddit and build our own space in the first place. Here are some recent examples:
- One user making a fuss about the 'straight = bland' trope, treating it like a massive injustice.
- Another user agreeing with them, then showing they hold entirely different standards when it comes to actually homophobic content. (The user removed their posts after I called them out, but I'm sure someone can testify I'm not fabricating shit here.)
- The meme that is the aforementioned homophobic content.
- The first user comparing "racism" against white people to the oppression of people of colour after acting negatively towards a white genocide joke. (reminder that 'white genocide' is a racist dog whistle)
- Edit: going to throw in the ableism in the wake of ziq's outing here too. Not cool.
/u/Tequila_Wolf recognised some of these incidents for what they are: covert white supremacy and queerphobia. They rightfully handed out bans, and are now getting shit for it.
To avoid Raddle becoming a carbon copy of every other echo chamber on the internet, here's what I propose:
- Lower the threshold for what is considered to be oppressive speech to include #AllLivesMatter-esque victimisation of socio-economically well-standing groups, and the framing of homosexual acts as something to be ashamed of. Fuck this noise.
- Give current and future admins a mandate to aggressively remove posts that contain such oppressive speech, and ban those who made them.
- Hand out permanent bans to repeat offenders.
On a side note, I'm disappointed in /u/Fossidarity for posting the homophobic meme. I hope this was a one-time lapse of judgement, because the only person who can de-admin them no longer participates here
Rum_Rabbit wrote (edited )
Replying to !deleted4389 (#41,583)
Why is that? I'm a communist against all forms of discrimination and I could be considered as "belonging" to many marginalized groups. I'm not bourgeois, white, straight, or cis and I have a disability. I just happen to consider identity-based politics, "punching up" at fellow proletarians, and call-out-culture, to be counter-revolutionary poison to the left. If this site is meant to be a hivemind where everybody has the same liberal positions it should be rebranded to reflect that instead of claiming to be a leftist alternative to reddit.
Suggestion: Rebrand to "Radlib"