this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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This seems obvious to everyone else, but not to me. Why would we want to do that instead of just dealing with them one by one when needed or just individually blocking communities/users?
I'm extremely uncomfortable with an authority deciding for me what I may see in my feed and what not.
Two things.
First, you can opt to follow that instance still, but I don't know why you would want to hang out with a bunch of Nazis.
Second, I liken it to cutting out a cancerous growth. If you have an instance infested with Nazis and those Nazis are not being stopped due to a lack of admin and/or mods or worse actively being promoted by an admin then defederate them to keep the Nazis from spreading.
Look at the incel and redpill movements that happened on Reddit. Failure to act quick enough helped the movements grow. They were vitriolic to most people but most of them didn't break any rules. They were destructive in nature and validated misogyny but Reddit didn't act until it was a very vocal and well established community on its platform. Now, even after closing down their major subreddits, those users who weren't the most extreme still actively espouse the values of those communities and have created new subreddits.
Or in this case Beehaw has some very progressive ideals, with rules that require a lot more active moderation, they can't handle the influx of everyone jumping ship from Reddit. Instead of leaving the gate open for people who will ignore the rules it's better to shut it and open a smaller "apply to join" door creating a protective barrier from individuals that may be Nazis.
In closing, I've both been a shitty redditor and seen shitty redditors and I appreciate that the fediverse has tools to decouple and recouple as needed. And again, if you like hanging out with Nazis that instance still exists and you can willingly hang out with Nazis.
I understand all this but I just don't personally see it as a problem the same way many others seem to. I constantly read comments I strongly disagree with (for example when discussing this topic) and it's fine. A racist comment here and there doesn't bother me much. If it's written in "good faith" but I disagree with it I'll either downvote or not engage. If it's just pure hate with no content I block the user and I don't need to deal with them ever again. I'm an adult capable of deciding myself what I don't mind seeing on my feed and what I do. I view it as a kind of a science experiement. I like exposing myself to ideologies even if I strongly disagree with them. I find it interesting when people have a completely different world view to me.
When it comes to stuff that's illegal it's a different story. Ofcourse I need to deal with it wether it personally affects me or not.
Also nazis are not the point here. It's just an extreme example. We could be speaking of flat earthers aswell.
Ah but see you're a well functioning adult with the ability to rationalize and self correct. A lot of people on the internet see a lot of up arrows so they follow the up arrow. If they themselves can't get a coveted up arrow when they talk but it's easier to get a down arrow they will get attention that way.
I surround myself with people who don't share the same views as myself, I try and avoid echo chambers as much as possible but even with being careful I can find myself drawn into groupthink because we're hardwired to identify with groups. What hope is there for the people who follow the almighty up and down arrows instead of questioning why?
Look on any ballot in the US. The average voter can't tell if they're voting a Nazi sympathizer or a Communist enthusiast into office. All they see is two different letters and the option to vote whichever letter their group supports.
When the masses don't follow groupthink and the majority apply discourse instead of verbal attacks then we can have a social media platform free from censorship. I feel like this is more that we sort of suck as a species when we have no consequences for our actions so we put in consequences for those actions (albeit imperfectly) to make the ones who suck the most not bring down the rest.