While the bothsiderist narratives typically propped up by the corporate/conservative media (think NYT, CNN, MSBNC as being some of the very worst offenders) drive me crazy and I think will ultimately destroy this country, I think I know what you mean. One place that exhibits this in nearly perfect form is the Boing Boing forums. I just saw another set of thoughtful conversations completely disappeared, Soviet-style on their forums, and this is because someone disagreed with some of the usual suspects/moderators/moderators’ pals on there, maybe 1%. It is truly breathtaking to watch, and even their terms of service are daring anyone to call them on their obvious bias:
Enforcement may be lax or draconian as befits the whims of the Entity. The rude will be eaten first.
Rules lawyering will fail. Be sure to read our exciting Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
(Emphasis mine). It’s fairly common to see comments from the in-group that clearly violate their rule: “Don’t post or encourage insulting, bullying, victim-blaming, racist, sexist, violent, homophobic or transphobic remarks.” They will bully and insult anyone they feel like that is not in the blessed clique. Same goes for racism and sexism, if it’s aimed at groups that are considered of privilege. The answer to sexism and racism is not to give a megaphone to people engaging in misandry and hatred of white people…it is completely unhelpful.
None of this kind of thing helps to further a liberal/leftist cause. It only makes a mockery of liberal and leftist values, but I think their moderators and their clique just cannot see that.
There is quite a distance between the bothsiderist fake “centrist” and someone asking serious questions (in good faith - I’m not talking about the tactics of the Joe Rogans and the Tucker Carlsons and the Alex Jones of the world, doing their cutesy “Just Asking Questions”, or 'JAQ" technique ) and differs in small degrees from a certain clique.
I suspect it’s a tendency for most groups to spin out. BoingBoing was not always like it is now. Now the comment section seems to be run by a set of people that seem to have little interest in the “happy mutant” roots of BoingBoing, but instead, reinforcing an extremely homogeneous and quite narrow view of politics and engaging in things like oppression olympics.
I honestly would not be that bothered by a set of moderators running a little fiefdom in a site that is clearly dying off, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m not sure BB is an isolated case, and for the almost inevitable result, which is to probably crank out more Republicans, since anyone that is kind of low-info related to politics and runs into this kind of groupthink will think that all of the left or liberals are this ridiculous and intolerant, and it is anything but. Meanwhile, places with algorithms are shoveling awful Nazi-sympathetic content into the minds of people just trying to connect with remote family members and share pics of pets and grandchildren.
While the bothsiderist narratives typically propped up by the corporate/conservative media (think NYT, CNN, MSBNC as being some of the very worst offenders) drive me crazy and I think will ultimately destroy this country, I think I know what you mean. One place that exhibits this in nearly perfect form is the Boing Boing forums. I just saw another set of thoughtful conversations completely disappeared, Soviet-style on their forums, and this is because someone disagreed with some of the usual suspects/moderators/moderators’ pals on there, maybe 1%. It is truly breathtaking to watch, and even their terms of service are daring anyone to call them on their obvious bias:
(Emphasis mine). It’s fairly common to see comments from the in-group that clearly violate their rule: “Don’t post or encourage insulting, bullying, victim-blaming, racist, sexist, violent, homophobic or transphobic remarks.” They will bully and insult anyone they feel like that is not in the blessed clique. Same goes for racism and sexism, if it’s aimed at groups that are considered of privilege. The answer to sexism and racism is not to give a megaphone to people engaging in misandry and hatred of white people…it is completely unhelpful.
None of this kind of thing helps to further a liberal/leftist cause. It only makes a mockery of liberal and leftist values, but I think their moderators and their clique just cannot see that.
There is quite a distance between the bothsiderist fake “centrist” and someone asking serious questions (in good faith - I’m not talking about the tactics of the Joe Rogans and the Tucker Carlsons and the Alex Jones of the world, doing their cutesy “Just Asking Questions”, or 'JAQ" technique ) and differs in small degrees from a certain clique.
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I suspect it’s a tendency for most groups to spin out. BoingBoing was not always like it is now. Now the comment section seems to be run by a set of people that seem to have little interest in the “happy mutant” roots of BoingBoing, but instead, reinforcing an extremely homogeneous and quite narrow view of politics and engaging in things like oppression olympics.
I honestly would not be that bothered by a set of moderators running a little fiefdom in a site that is clearly dying off, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m not sure BB is an isolated case, and for the almost inevitable result, which is to probably crank out more Republicans, since anyone that is kind of low-info related to politics and runs into this kind of groupthink will think that all of the left or liberals are this ridiculous and intolerant, and it is anything but. Meanwhile, places with algorithms are shoveling awful Nazi-sympathetic content into the minds of people just trying to connect with remote family members and share pics of pets and grandchildren.