fighting fascist media, meta
I quite often have warned someone about a platform that's clearly targeting white supremacists, nazis, and other kinds of fascists as their userbase, but that superficially claims they're just "neutral".
These warnings rarely lead anyone to leave those platforms behind. And it usually takes a few years before it becomes publicly documented and accepted that yes, it really is a fascist platform.
On the one hand, the conclusion you could draw from this is that they should have listened to the warning, they should have taken it seriously. "I told you so" and all that.
You might argue that they probably understood perfectly well what it was, but they were actually okay with it as long as it wasn't too obvious, because a little bit of white supremacy helps them feel better as a white guy, and really the problem isn't that they ignored the warning, but that they are racist. And you'd probably be right.
But then the question becomes: how can we prevent this dynamic? Because however wrong and racist someone may be, that conclusion does not change the outcome of them likely having become radicalized further right in this process. How can we avoid that happening?
How do we stop "people who have internalized racist views and never introspected on them" from walking into the just-about-tolerable bar and falling into a fascist pit? Because yes, it's their own responsibility if they do so, but the consequences are borne by everyone else and that's still a problem.
re: fighting fascist media, meta
To make this absolutely clear: this is in no way a *justification* for people getting involved in right-wing movements. That remains the responsibility of those people themselves.
The point I am trying to make here (and asking a question about) is that sure, we know what is *morally* the correct answer, but how does this translate into concrete actions to stop the issue from happening?
re: fighting fascist media, meta
@joepie91 It seems like this is really a recruiting question. I don't really care that much about keeping people from becoming fascist if they're just going to remain a useless centrist. That leaves us stuck doing all the work with people who are already most of the way to fascism. I'd rather focus on recruiting moderates who have already come most of the way themselves.
re: fighting fascist media, meta
@freakazoid It sort of is a recruiting question, but more about preventing recruiting from the right. They are fishing in the same 'moderates' pool, and the whole right-wing media empire is set up to do exactly that, and it's why more and more folks keep becoming right-wing extremists.
Sure, recruiting for leftist ideology is generally a good idea (as long as it's *actually* leftist and not someone's disguised scheme to gain power...), but that alone doesn't do much to prevent eg. racist violence. We also need to deal with the other end.
re: fighting fascist media, meta
@joepie91 I haven't stopped thinking about this thread at all today, and the more I think about it the more convinced I am that the call is coming from inside the house. Our problem isn't fascists. Our problem is that the left is in utter chaos, while the right has found unity around figures like Trump. Meanwhile, the American "left" is unifying around a center-right figure. Sure, maybe defeating Trump will slow down the march of fascism slightly, but I doubt it will slow it much. I'm not even convinced Harris is actually in it to win, but I guess we'll see who she picks as her running mate.
re: fighting fascist media, meta
@freakazoid (I will get back to this thread later, I want to give it my full attention before responding)
re: fighting fascist media, meta
@joepie91 I feel like we're putting the cart before the horse when the vast majority of racist harm doesn't come from fascists. In fact, many of the people perpetrating it in the Fediverse consider themselves antifascist.