Reddit Racism: An Open Secret

http://newrisingmedia.com/all/2013/5/22/reddit-racism-an-open-secret.html

by oinksoft • 13 years ago

13 10 13 years ago

kaonashi• 13 years ago

Kind of an eternal september problem. I unsubbed most of the defaults like 3 or 4 years ago so I don't ever read much of the poop.

e) Ugh, the comments.

toll• 13 years ago

I wish hadn't looked at the comments.

u2328• 13 years ago

It feels like a sea change over the last year or so. Reddit used to feel pretty progressive, but now, even in the tamest subreddits, it feels like casual racism flourishes. Guess that's how it goes with social networks; they always start off with interesting people and interesting dialogue, and as the community matures and grows, the mob-mentality breaks down the doors, says "nice round-table you have here" and proceeds to ruin the place.

oinksoft2• 13 years ago

I believe it is a StormFront initiative, because all racist comments in a targeted thread will be flooded with upvotes, and all comments in any way critical will receive an equal number of downvotes. I did a little research and did find some StormFront threads discussing YouTube comment initiatives, /r/politics initiatives, etc. so I don't think this scenario is at all unlikely. The clear patterns set it apart from the "ugly people speaking their minds" hypothesis. In general I have observed this pattern in specific, seemingly targeted Disqus comment threads, etc. since ~2010. Notably, the comments usually intersect with criticisms of Obama.

giamgiam• 13 years ago

There's no way there are that many Europeans on Stormfront. The single most caustically racist topic on the website is Muslim immigration in Europe, particularly when it's discussed on /r/worldnews. And the ugliest rhetoric comes from Europeans. At least self-described Europeans.

babesh• 13 years ago

Pseudo anonymity lets people show off their unfettered natures for good and bad. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of bad.

It's not that this racism doesn't exist, it's just that showing it explicitly is not socially acceptable in public settings.

runawaybottle• 13 years ago

Prejudice is apart of every human society, so it should not be surprising that it shows up in our online communities. Egregious racist comments are no good to anyone, but I generally feel like anything that creates a dialogue is better than the alternative. If someone, with the veil of anonymity, can articulate their prejudices, then the dialogue that results from that will ultimately be better for reasonable people (with the assumption that all humans have some prejudice, but still hold the capacity to reasonably correct their thinking).

asdf50• 13 years ago

If its their oppinion, who is to say its wrong or that your oppinion is more correct?

Reddit Racism: An Open Secret

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