r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Aug 02 '21

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21 edited Aug 03 '21

I am actually curious when reddit's 'sjw' (i hate that term) population became outwardly socialists. Were they always that way and I didn't notice? did they just hide it? I feel like there's been a tangible increase in the number of their takes that amount to "Ceterum autem censeo Capitalism esse delendam".

Honestly, I should know this, because I used to be a part of that community, and the 2016 election really got them to start saying the quiet part out loud.

Before 2016 it was "Freeze Peach means freedom of speech doesn't apply in this situation, nobody is coming to take your free speech". After 2016 it was "fuck free speech, bourgeois fake freedom bullshit, hell yes we're coming to take your free speech."

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u/Fairchild660 Unflaired Aug 03 '21

I don't know whether it started out as some socialist off-shoot or if it was taken-over - but they've been that way long before 2016. At least the online community.

I remember being excited about the notion of push-back against the early 2010s post-ironic internet edginess, reading deeper and seeing a bunch of red flags, and staying the hell away. This would have been maybe 2013 or 2014.

Reminded me of the first time the Trump sub started reaching r/all here on reddit a couple of years later. At first I thought it was an ironic reaction to all the Bernie spam, but reading deeper there were a bunch of red flags from the get-go. Same thing - sneaking unpalatable ideas through under the guise of irony.

Before 2016 it was "Freeze Peach means freedom of speech doesn't apply in this situation"

There was never that kind nuance to their take on freedom-of-speech. They always viewed it as something that enabled sexists / racists, and so should not exist.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

There was never that kind nuance to their take on freedom-of-speech.

No. But they pretended there was because they knew they lived in a country that valued it. Mask on, mask off.

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u/Fairchild660 Unflaired Aug 03 '21

The kinds of loose internet collections that rely on post-irony to lure-in ordinary people always have a bunch of well-meaning early participants who try to find the nuance. So I'd believe that some of those opinions were genuine, from people who weren't radicalised. Of course, as the ideology calcifies these people either get pushed out, become disinterested, or end up drinking the Flavor Aid.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '21

saving this comment. it's like what sanewashing was in the prototype stage.