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Gab will become a Mastodon fork

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Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#151

Post by ptah »

jtr1 wrote: post #149
rlt wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not saying I disagree, since I haven’t seen any evidence one way or the other, but maybe you or jtr1 could provide some evidence for those who haven’t been following Gab?

A fair request. I did sign up some months ago to see for myself, but you can get a good idea perusing the references on their wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gab_(social_network)

as an aside i always find it amusing that agitating for removing freedom from people based on religion, ethnicity or sex is somehow considered an enshrined freedom

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#152

Post by jtr1 »

anon12345690 wrote: post #144
jtr1 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't share any such appreciation for Gab. IMO, "free speech" in this case was a thinly veiled excuse for white supremacism, which has plenty of other homes on the internet. The developers of Gab chose to devote substantial portions of their lives to creating a platform for people who promote ethnic cleansing and the suppression of minorities. I don't think it's possible to do that without your eyes wide open, and…

free speech is free speech. that means people say bad things sometime. you know theres a big story on the frontpage right now about china activists being attacked? bet they would like some free speech.

Certainly. And here I am, pointing at some speech and saying "that's bad."

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#153

Post by vorpalhex »

rchaud wrote: post #136
vorpalhex wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The darkness is only ever undone by shining a light. By all means, people of reasonable sense should take a moment to look at Gab and realize what counter-factual nonsense it is, because banning it or censoring it will only make it more powerful.

All that does is create a filter bubbles. On subreddits like the_donald, cringeanarchy and others that slowly turned into hate-filled cesspools, there have been users who had a bout of self-realization and left the sub. Over time, there's a larger exodus of regular people, leaving only the crazies talking to each other.

> Over time, there's a larger exodus of regular people, leaving only the crazies talking to each other.

That's how it's supposed to work. At the end of the day, there's a nonzero amount of people who believe this nonsense, and reaching them is a different set of problems (Education? Therapy?) but getting the vast majority to abandon it is sufficient.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#154

Post by amiga-workbench »

I tried to find some remotely interesting content on that site, all I found was boomer political rambling and bile.

If they do this, I'll be making sure I blacklist their instances. While there are plenty of free-speech oriented or even right wing mastodon instances, the signal to noise ratio on these is pretty good and there is actually content worth engaging with.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#155

Post by rchaud »

krapp wrote: post #39
0815test wrote: post #7

Regardless of how you feel about the Gab folks in particular, this is great news that clearly shows the power of the federated web in enabling, empowering and preserving diverse audiences.

Maybe now they'll stop concern-trolling about the inevitable slippery slope into an Orwellian fascist nightmare the world will descend into every time a site bans them. They have their own playground where they can be as racist and edgy as they want. Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1357/

That won't happen because the constant alarmism about censorship is part of the appeal. "Your rights are being violated by the Hollywood/feminists/liberal elites! Send me money so I can tell you how to combat this scourge with Logic & Reason (TM)"

People like J Peterson and Sargon could deal with being deplatformed in the way they preach to their disciples, but instead they whine about it while shaking their e-collection boxes.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#156

Post by kgraves »

jtr1 wrote: post #135
kgraves wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ..."free speech" in this case is a thin wrapper over white supremacism, Even though this is your opinion I find this statement extremely ridiculous. I don't support or agree with their views, but free speech grants them the right to say it and I will defend that right (which includes everyone). The great thing is that you don't have to hear it, just block them if you don't like it.

Yes, yes, we're all familiar with the Patrick Henry quote. If my statement is so ridiculous, then point out why instead of making bald assertions. I made no argument about the value of free speech. I am arguing that, given the fairly obvious clientele, it is reasonable to assume that principled fealty to free speech was not the driving motivation in Gab's creation. I don't think it's ridiculous to point to the specif…

> I am asserting that, given the fairly obvious clientele, it is reasonable to assume that principled fealty to free speech was not the driving motivation in Gab's creation.

Well, I believe that free speech was the reason for Gab's creation, they were getting censored from other social platforms so they built their own. It just so as happens that over time they have attracted vile users to the platform who have way more unpopular views.

So what are you really trying to say here?

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#157

Post by anon12345690 »

boapnuaput wrote: post #118
scohesc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, alt-right is such a subjective term. I've seen people say that wearing a hat with "MAGA" on it is alt-right. I've also seen people say that opinions like "we want an entire race of people locked up and punished" is alt-right as well. While one is definitively magnitudes worse than the other, they're both put under the banner of "alt-right".

MAGA hats boldly proclaim a fascist resurrection myth, though; it's not an inaccurate banner to be put under! I can understand the unhappiness of many folks on the right. It's unpleasant to have one's beliefs placed under scrutiny.

some bad people also wear tshirts. guess we gotta hate everyone who wears tshirts now right?

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#158

Post by anon12345690 »

jtr1 wrote: post #152
anon12345690 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

free speech is free speech. that means people say bad things sometime. you know theres a big story on the frontpage right now about china activists being attacked? bet they would like some free speech.

Certainly. And here I am, pointing at some speech and saying "that's bad."

you called it evil because they support free speech. why?

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#159

Post by vorpalhex »

wpietri wrote: post #69
vorpalhex wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The darkness is only ever undone by shining a light. By all means, people of reasonable sense should take a moment to look at Gab and realize what counter-factual nonsense it is, because banning it or censoring it will only make it more powerful.

That's a common claim, but I've seen precious little evidence for it. For decades US Nazis and other loons were justifiably obscure. But the rise of the Internet, which enabled all sorts of connection, also enabled our country's worst to more easily connect, network, and recruit. A good book on the topic is Neiwart's "Alt-America", written by a journalist who studied American white supremacists starting in the 1980s.…

Deplatforming is like trying to cure cancer with an axe. Even when you have a temporary win, it's at a terrible and horrible cost.

Plenty of folks have tried to ban history books too.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#160

Post by anon12345690 »

jtr1 wrote: post #135
kgraves wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ..."free speech" in this case is a thin wrapper over white supremacism, Even though this is your opinion I find this statement extremely ridiculous. I don't support or agree with their views, but free speech grants them the right to say it and I will defend that right (which includes everyone). The great thing is that you don't have to hear it, just block them if you don't like it.

Yes, yes, we're all familiar with the Patrick Henry quote. If my statement is so ridiculous, then point out why instead of making bald assertions. I made no argument about the value of free speech. I am arguing that, given the fairly obvious clientele, it is reasonable to assume that principled fealty to free speech was not the driving motivation in Gab's creation. I don't think it's ridiculous to point to the specif…

your misrepresenting on purpose. they created a platform for free speech. you get the bad with the good. so what? thats not evil.
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