in case anyone missed it over the weekend:
the new, improved Fosstodon dot org platformed a fash mod again.
people had to raise the alarm over him again, and he stepped down of his own accord before he could be held accountable again.
the story in brief is that a couple of whistleblowers found that volunteer moderator Anachron had posted a... let's say, questionable entry on his personal blog. Anachron since deleted that post - but, well, thankfully for us (though perhaps not so for your psyche), nothing is ever truly deleted from the Internet.
an archive of the post can be found here: archive.is/vreBu
last night, instance owner Gina stated that, in response to the alarm raised over this post, Anachron had decided to step down. she further clarified that she had read the post before accepting his offer to volunteer(!) and thought that it was A-okay.
Anachron then posted a follow-up to his first blog post, the format of which I'm sure will surprise nobody who's used to how white-boy techbros behave when called out on their shit: painting himself as the victim of a harassment mob hell-bent on shoving "their political views" into "a platform full of... smart people with a lot of passion and amazing ideas."
you can read that second blog post here: blog.cron.world/article_13.htm…
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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those of us who have been around places on the Internet where we've had to interact with "enlightened, objective centrists" with any sort of regularity will recognize a whole bunch of dogwhistles from these posts.
in fact, my initial reaction when reading the first one was something along the lines of, "2013 called; they want their crypto-fascism back."
for whose who haven't, though, and who might be inclined to believe the fiction that someone actually can strike a balance between the "far left" and "far right," here's how this shit usually goes:
1) people whom Enlightened Centrist (EC) perceive to be "the far left" repeatedly demand the bare minimum of EC; for example, that he stop using slurs, or do the work to unlearn some bigotry or another.
2) EC complains about "the intolerant left" and how everyone on The Far Left is so mean to him.
3) EC goes running into the arms of the far right, who soothe his ego through informing him that, yes, he was in fact bullied by The Intolerant Left.
4) EC eventually takes the position of, "well, the Far Left bullied me with their woke political correctness, so I guess I'm far right now."
the above pipeline works as effectively as it does because, ultimately, "enlightened centrism" isn't about centrism - it's about validating the EC's (who is usually, but not always, an economically privileged cishet white boy) self-image that they're some sort of highly educated philosopher-king, rather than someone trying to shelter their own fragile internal narrative.
except these people always, without fail, end up allying with the fash, because the fash not only demand nothing of them, but also actively validate that internal narrative. they are special, they are a philosopher king, and their having been "bullied" is a demonstration of how the women, queers, and Black and brown folks keep people like them from true greatness.
teilten dies erneut
schratze hat dies geteilt.
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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and sure, we can indulge in fantasies of "oh but what if this one is different? what if he deserves grace?"
and also, going down that road would require us to acknowledge an entire, fictitious alternate reality in which Gamergate didn't thoroughly, resoundingly prove the ruthless efficacy of the "enlightened centrist just asking questions"-to-fash pipeline.
a reality in which it actually was about ethics in games journalism.
and, nah, we've seen where that road leads many times over.
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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well, in case anyone's curious about how Anachron is taking all of this, he popped into my replies on this post and almost immediately hit a Bingo card of fragile "centrist" white-boy fee-fees:
anyway, I blocked him, but please feel free to try to engage him if you like.
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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okay, so, I've mostly been quiet about Gina's role in all this, because I earnestly believe that she's trying her best to cope with the complete shitshow that she was handed.
however, her best is unarguably inadequate. she's in completely over her head.
Kev and Mike, who displayed nothing but white-boy techbro condescension and entitlement in the wake of carrotcypher's outing, obviously thought that tossing the nearest woman in front of the problem and fleeing for the hills would quiet their critics. because what better solution could there possibly be to a great big mess that a bunch of men made than some good old feminine labor to clean it up?
hell, I'm even willing to excuse her running cover for Kev and Mike, because they just handed her a huge opportunity and it's understandable to not publicly bite the hand that feeds you.
however, in order to adequately clean up a mess involving a fascist speaking in dogwhistles on one end, and a bunch of marginalized people on the other, you need to know what those dogwhistles are, the consequences for letting them fester, and the entirely justified reasons why people like me are so hair-trigger about rooting them out.
her having read Anachron's post and deciding that it's okay, because he's a centrist! is proof that she has zero understanding of any of the above.
after all, why in the hell would someone call a self-professed centrist a fascist? they must be overreacting, right?
well, no. in order to effectively manage online communities, we must be steeped in broader Internet culture - or else we're prone to make mistakes just like that one. otherwise, we're vulnerable to all of the polite Hitlers out there who have become skilled in saying just the right words to both terrorize marginalized people and slip past the ears of others.
if a community manager isn't up to that task, then they need to step aside and let someone who is do the job.
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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update: Anachron is still publicly posting about how he was totally the victim of a harassment campaign and totally not a fascist.
among other things, he's admitted to never having heard of horseshoe theory or the term "good German," and I think that's fucking hilarious. imagine trying to write with authority on the subject of politics and Nazism while never having heard of some pretty basic concepts.
oh to have the confidence and conviction of a mediocre techbro
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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oh, and in case you're wondering whether this is a case of a Single Bad Apple:
another of fosstodon's new mods, Jim Salter, a self-proclaimed "avowed and very demonstrable leftist," is busy running interference for Anachron.
only- well, I think the below screenshots speak for themselves:
and in case you're wondering - yep, older white-guy techbro.
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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ladies, gentlemen, and others, I also present to you: Fosstodon moderator TobTobXX.
I don't even need to comment on this one. I think those filters speak for themselves.
David Gerard
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Rach(el) Against The Machine
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let me make this simple for you, Anachron:
yes. the answer is yes.
♡ miss olivia ♡
Als Antwort auf Rach(el) Against The Machine • • •>Because by ignoring their statements, by trying to silence them, they do grow stronger. Look at the latest AFD polls. Better than ever. Why is that? Because you can’t ignore a growing number of unhappy people by calling them nazis.
this is 100% true though, i don't see anything questionable here. to get around these social problems, we must understand the phenomena causing them in the first place.
Rach(el) Against The Machine
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@voltrina [checks profile]
...well, at least you've openly signaled that you're not worth my time.
David Gerard
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@voltrina the whole instance, goodness me
"voluntaryist" too, these are literal ancaps
David Gerard
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LOL HOLY SHIT
x.com/FreedomBitsCol/following
archive.is/c5y3h
FreedomBits.org is following fuckin Kiwi Farms
oh and the server runs not just Pleroma (excusable), but Soapbox
#fediblock FreedomBits.org
David Gerard hat dies geteilt.
♡ miss olivia ♡
Als Antwort auf David Gerard • • •it's a fully US legal site that's often slandered over shit that is against its rules and the people trying to censor it are doing it to hide their own crimes (say, liz fong jones with her so-called "consent accident"), blackmailing tier 1 ISP's/datacenter employees and threatening them with irl violence
i don't agree with their views on trans people even slightly, but its a good example of a site that has gone through great lengths to stay online and the lessons learned from it might help LGBT+ and leftist movements stay online in a hostile world. try to think of a world where your ideals are suddenly socially unacceptable and be subjected to the same treatment, too.
Ibly 🏳️⚧️
Als Antwort auf ♡ miss olivia ♡ • • •sorry but you’re a piece of shit if you take a single second to defend a website that prides itself on harassing queers to committing suicide.
i think that this kind of stuff does deserve to be socially unacceptable, actually. if these deaths were not caused by harassment but instead by direct physical violence, i doubt you would still be in support. …but if you somehow said you would still support them, you are a deeply troubling person.
David Gerard
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hazel, that's me.
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byte::Arc<Webmaiden>
Als Antwort auf hazel, that's me. • • •Elle 💗 (@ellesaurus@toot.lgbt)
toot.lgbtDavid Gerard
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@byte @h voltrina is right now in the other thread furiously defending kiwi farms
extremely much libertarian as in nazi
Emilithium Thamoyn
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David Gerard
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David Gerard (@davidgerard@circumstances.run)
GSV Sleeper ServiceDavid Gerard
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flere-imsaho 🇺🇦
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