Where do we go from here and who is going to step up to help us?

Post by marcus_holmes » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 10:51 AM UTC

RubberbandSoul wrote: post #132

_ifvv wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They definitely referred to themselves as autists/retards in a self-deprecating manner but that's hardly the same thing. I fail to see how 'autist' is any less of a slur than e.g. 'trap' or 'gay', when used in the right (wrong) context. It's not a racial slur, but it's quite certainly a slur.

Spillover from medical terms is very common. You sometimes hear someone being called a "psycho" or a "sociopath" but you don't make the assumption that the accuser is a trained psychiatrist. "Idiot" used to be a medical condition, someone suffering from idiocy. "Retard"; someone whose mental development had been retarded and remained in a childhood state into adulthood. These words are not supposed to be taken litera…

Post by uzakov » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 10:58 AM UTC

benjaminjosephw wrote: post #123

Isn't the lesson to take away from this that online mega-communities simply doesn't work after they reach a certain size. Humans aren't wired in a way that allows them to gather in that number and be able to communicate with each other well. The only workable solution is software moderation which can never possess the moral agency required to legitimize tough decisions and make ethical calls. Rather than one big comm…

Post by rland » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 11:18 AM UTC

nsator wrote: post #91

jakeva wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like an aristocratic response to a revolution. I don’t mean this as dismissive, I mean that clearly there are enough people dissatisfied with the status quo that they are taking measures surprising to those satisfied with the status quo.

I think you are talking about a subject that's completely out of your depth. WSB has always been about greed and making profit. The so called revolution is just a halo that they attached to themselves so they can all look like heros. From an economic perspective, what they did is irresponsible and dangerous. I agree with most of what OP said. It's just that some facts are harder to swallow in the current political cl…

Post by xg15 » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 11:24 AM UTC

ng12 wrote: post #11

> On both Discord and Reddit, wallstreetbets users frequently refer to themselves collectively as “retards” and “autists,” and have been known to deploy the kinds of racial slurs and deliberately offensive language that have become commonplace in 4chan-style posting forums. I read WSB daily for years and cannot recall a single usage of a racial slur. They definitely referred to themselves as autists/retards in a self…

Post by Guthur » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 11:46 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #86

cycloptic wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused, what is the lesson here? That quote seems to get thrown around so often that it can be applied to anytime that anyone gets criticized for anything. The moderator's statement appears to be asking for more help with moderation, not advocating for less moderation or advocating for more hateful behavior to be allowed.

> That quote seems to get thrown around so often that it can be applied to anytime that anyone gets criticized for anything. That's the point. It serves to show the perils of judging people by what they say , particularly if single offence against some perceived norms becomes a standard for punishment. And there's another quote from that same period: "like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children" (Jacques Mallet…