Look at 4chan, which was always awful but has only gotten moreso over the years.
4chan is a great lesson there. In the early days, actual Nazis would have been mocked and bullied off of the boards. But the “jokes” were allowed. Like, I think a lot of us thought Jew jokes were funny because of South Park. It didn’t seem real. But pretending to be racists makes it trivial for the racists to blend in.
It allowed the actual Nazis to slowly take over. Qanon is a 4chan creation that has gotten out of control, so much of our politics is what Alex Jones is getting from losers on /pol/.
Like, god damn I love edgy humor. Maybe it was ‘tism, but the idea that you would mock someone for being gay or black or Jewish was funny because it was so stupid.
But it makes it super fucking easy for the real deal to show up. For the jokes to become genuine. The fact that it was always completely and outright misogynistic should have been a tell.
Moderation is one thing, but they’ll create their own spaces and then use those to plot to take over others. Lots of shibboleths and codes for plausible deniability.
Educated mockery seems to be the only effective strategy, but requires a lot of work.
4chan is a great lesson there. In the early days, actual Nazis would have been mocked and bullied off of the boards. But the “jokes” were allowed. Like, I think a lot of us thought Jew jokes were funny because of South Park. It didn’t seem real. But pretending to be racists makes it trivial for the racists to blend in.
It allowed the actual Nazis to slowly take over. Qanon is a 4chan creation that has gotten out of control, so much of our politics is what Alex Jones is getting from losers on /pol/.
I get it, but there has to be a better middle ground than current methods.
It is really hard to have that kind of nuance.
Like, god damn I love edgy humor. Maybe it was ‘tism, but the idea that you would mock someone for being gay or black or Jewish was funny because it was so stupid.
But it makes it super fucking easy for the real deal to show up. For the jokes to become genuine. The fact that it was always completely and outright misogynistic should have been a tell.
Moderation is one thing, but they’ll create their own spaces and then use those to plot to take over others. Lots of shibboleths and codes for plausible deniability.
Educated mockery seems to be the only effective strategy, but requires a lot of work.