Quote of the Day
I once heard that Reddit was a free, anarchic and self-governed community that allowed for an open exchange of ideas.
When I came to Reddit, I found an authoritarian community heavily biased against any view apart from the vague liberal identitarianism that passes for establishment wisdom in the U.S. joined at the hip with an unspoken corporate agenda.
I encountered mobs of users who bristled at the faintest suggestion that the various hysterias gripping American politics had little basis in any discernable evidence. I encountered moderators who censored my modest and thoughtful posts for little reason other than that it contradicted their personal politics.
And today, I encountered a “spez” fellow who assumed the power to intrude into my feed and announce from on high his noble quest to purge “hate” from Reddit. Everywhere dissenting views are being tarred with the label “hate.” Black people and various minorities are presented as helpless children who do not have the power or discernment to fight their own battles or to speak for themselves. The enlightened God Kings of Big Tech must make the world safe for their utopia (while keeping their neighborhoods in California and New York scrupulously clean of actual black people, and the poor, and the homeless).
Am I crazy to think that an opaque cabal of Big Tech insiders do not have the most noble of intentions? Am I impolite to point out the obvious political expediency of a crusade against “hate” when the fist of an authoritarian police state smashes into black, white, and brown alike? What a potent tool something like Reddit could be against the malevolence of the police and the intelligence apparatus; but no, “spez” must drive the deplorables out!
It’s a bit depressing that a site as once-respected as Reddit has so thoroughly come to resemble the smiley-face authoritarianism of modern liberal politics. Who is “spez” friends with? Do they rankle at those pesky dissenting views? Why won’t “spez” do something about that rabble?
/user/Butkantcant