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Ordinarily I wouldn't post personal Reddit drama here, but the thread is slow and I'm mad.
Here is a post that I saw on /r/baseball:
Anthony Bass promoting anti-LGBTQ propaganda on his Instagram
You probably noticed that the thread is locked with a moderator message: "The trolls are flooding in, and the conversation has run its course at this point. Friendly reminder to love your neighbor, and that it's not intolerant to oppose bigotry. Everyone have a nice holiday Monday!"
This message was posted only a few minutes after I was permanantly banned from /r/baseball for comments in that very thread! In fact, I believe they are referring to me as one of the "trolls flooding in". Lets take a look under the hood to see what counts as perma-ban and threadlock-worthy comments.
First, the actual article in question. Anthony Bass is a pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. He posted an Instagram story saying Christians should boycott Target and Bud Light. That's it. That's the "anti-LGBTQ propaganda". I posted a top-level comment in the thread sarcastically making this point.
Is this a high-effort comment? No, but if you are familiar with the sports subs at all then you know that this type of low-effort sarcasm is all over the place. That's the posting culture there. I also got involved in another comment thread.
This was the extent of my participation in the thread. I did not expect my comments to be particularly well-received by the Reddit population, but I felt that I pointed out enough legitimate issues that I would be safe from accusations of trolling. I was wrong.
Here is the modmail message I received informing me of my permanent ban, along with the brief conversation we had before they muted me with their absolute power.1 For reference, here are the /r/baseball rules. Would an honest reading of these rules give you any reason at all to think that anything I posted would not be allowed, much less permaban worthy? You would have to be steeped in internet leftist culture to understand that, "Trolling, threatening, harassing, or inciting violence towards individuals or groups will not be tolerated. Racist, sexist, or otherwise intolerant language in both comments and submissions will be removed." means that pointed questions against the progressive consensus will get you tossed out.
I understand why so many subreddits are complete circlejerks now. It's not about echo-chambers and voting dynamics. They literally just banned everyone who disagreed.
1. Here is the source they cited for their "62%" figure. I'll let you decide for yourself whether this poll is applicable
Don't speak in venues where you don't want to be heard. If you're banned, leave. The same goes, especially so, for reddit - you can stay outside and watch the little fishes flit about, but joining them for a swim is forbidden. Nonetheless, it's still possible to cast stones in from outside of the community and observe how the ripples propagate through it. After all, it is a "hive-mind."
The message of reddit is no longer the actual thoughts of its users: it's the message of reddit as medium - that is, a highly restrictive diet of information curated by those wanting to impose a particular reality tunnel on its users. By banning cogent rebuttals to its own view of the world, and elevating vigorous affirmations of the same, it creates the semblance of public discourse where there truly is none - only distorted, exaggerated angles and highlight reels that present a particular perspective, an optical illusion of sorts. A warped, fish-eye lens of discussion.
Participating in such media only lends credence to the illusion that "everyone is there" and that these "discussion forums" actually represent a healthy and diverse range of views. Surely, our stance must be correct, because otherwise someone would have upvoted "the real answer" in the comments? Much better to leave the system to its own designs to make more apparent what it truly is - a false representation, a simulacrum of discourse.
However, I get the feeling that there are many who fear silence and solitude and the inevitable gaps in the (externally visible) narratization of their selves this creates (though, watching others attempt to fill in the gaps can be quite illuminating). You have to say something, after all - otherwise, do you even exist, unless you have an active presence, take a stance and a position, on reddit, Twitter, & other fora (it's also interesting to consider this in light of what happens when you have that speech taken from you)?
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