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Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

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Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#161

Post by soundwave106 »

najati83 wrote: post #116
kjdndisneinj wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but are you actually comparing Nazi symbolism to the LGBT flag? This has to be sarcastic, no?

A swastika, an LGBT flag and a hammer and a sickle are all political symbols. I found it funny admins only banned one of them.

Of the three, the swastika internationally is the most problematic symbol as far as international law goes. It is banned outright except for narrow historical exceptions in several Western countries (eg France and Germany). Other countries may not have banned the symbol per se, but they may have "hate speech" type laws, and a swastikas used for this purpose may also fall afoul of that.

The hammer and sickle is more comparable; it is indeed banned in a few (mostly post-Soviet) countries. But I've never heard of the hammer and sickle running into the same problems regarding hate speech laws, which was probably Reddit's focus here.

Though politics are involved, the LGBT flag represents identity and is not very comparable to major political movements with dodgy human rights records, or a symbol with a history of being behind "hate speech".

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#162

Post by hueving »

eropple wrote: post #115
Karunamon wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This defines the word "political" to be so broad as to render it essentially meaningless. I can't like Star Trek without "buying into a box of propositions"? Really ? First, you're going to have to tell me why I like Star Trek.

What I am saying is that politics is an externalization rather than an internalization--which is very far from meaningless. Your why doesn't matter (and it's one reason why the right wing's "but I didn't support the Republicans because of racism" is so hollow). Your what matters. And it matters to other people. It's inescapably political because you live in a polity and your decisions impact other people. See, for ex…

Living in absolutes is like that is only afforded to people who agree with their group on absolutely every topic (a.k.a. mindless people).

Do you support the Democratic party? If so, are you okay being defined by Nancy Pelosi using a Muslim person as a prop?

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#163

Post by tcdent »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #65
gallerdude wrote: post #3

I can't think of many examples, but I do like these sort of projects - Twitch Plays Pokémon comes to mind. Interesting how an entire subculture can develop: inside jokes, wars, and more. It's amazing because it's a microculture, but it develops far faster than any "regular" culture would.

Other examples include the Bob Ross reruns and SeeBotsChat on Twitch.

Twitch installs Arch Linux was an interesting ride, too.

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#164

Post by hueving »

sooheon wrote: post #151
rmccoy6435 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify: I do not view orientation or sexual identity as politics. In the sense of /r/place and their arrangements: that is politics, or more so rather diplomacy. They have common grounds and worked together, that's all.

Well, having (or lacking) a sexual orientation or identity is not politics, it just is . But expressing it, identifying with others who share it, forming groups and alliances and a shared sense of community is precisely what politics is. I think we pretty much agree.

No, it only becomes political when it comes to forcing other groups to change or support your cause.

My meetup dedicated to showing off old hardware is not political. If I tried to force a tax on everyone through a referendum to support my group, then I've made it political.

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#166

Post by icc97 »

Did anyone note the similarity to playing Go / Weiqi?

Watching [0] the blue corner expanded masssively and then getting eaten from within somehow reminds me of all of the complexities of playing go when someone can place stones anywhere in your territory.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRCZK3KjUY

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#167

Post by sqeaky »

doubleunplussed wrote: post #107
sqeaky wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This would just be pushing filter bubbles to the extreme and driving resentment underground where nobody would notice it until it bubbled over. Then people would be like "whoa, where'd all the hate speech come from?", when it was there all along but not the dominant voice. And they would be making poor decisions regarding their own political strategy, because they mistakenly believed that they had won a battle that…

Yes, I wasn't trying to be subtle!

Well it was too subtle for me! I am living in one of the Many trumpvilles. Subtly on this topic isn't a common tactic around here.

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#168

Post by mproy »

eropple wrote: post #115
Karunamon wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This defines the word "political" to be so broad as to render it essentially meaningless. I can't like Star Trek without "buying into a box of propositions"? Really ? First, you're going to have to tell me why I like Star Trek.

What I am saying is that politics is an externalization rather than an internalization--which is very far from meaningless. Your why doesn't matter (and it's one reason why the right wing's "but I didn't support the Republicans because of racism" is so hollow). Your what matters. And it matters to other people. It's inescapably political because you live in a polity and your decisions impact other people. See, for ex…

You are mostly speaking of the potential external impact of personal decisions. This is almost completely antithetical to politics. If I'm not proselytizing about Star Trek or even Christianity, there is nothing political about it.

Even if one buys into your premise, your examples are quite notably biased and there is an obvious left wing analogue to each of your right wing boogeymen.

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#169

Post by advertainment »

>Did Reddit’s April Fool’s gag solve the issue of online hate speech?

I certainly hope that doesn't become a widely accepted solution; To me (I didn't participate but have read about the event) it seems like their solution was to

A) marginalize each individual's impact/voice

B) moderate heavily to remove offensive things

This doesn't just remove "hate-speech", this removes anything unpopular.

Re: Reddit’s April Fools’ experiment

#170

Post by cremno »

najati83 wrote: post #160
kjdndisneinj wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't ban political symbols, they ban bullying and acting disrespectfully. The swastika fits that, the LGBT flag doesn't. This might not be the case, but it feels like you're acting naive to further an agenda.

If that's the case, I have to say that for the political views of many people, an LGBT flag is as disrespectful or dangerous to society as a swastika can be to any individual or group. Being unable to see that just proves further that reddit admins are biased. I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything; everybody has their own views and trying to change them over the internet is a waste of time. So this off-topic…

Homosexuals are just as bad as Nazis. What a great world view you liberals have.
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