Check out my post history. I use this account to comment on politically hot topics on HN, and my highest scoring comment was removed, in fact the entire thread of that comment is gone.
Was it because I broke some rule, or was it because someone didn't like what I said?
Coca-Cola, the company that intimidates, kidnaps, tortures and murders union leaders in South America. The company that over-exploits and destroys natural resources in India. The company that routinely does business with dictators and avoids taxes and sanctions.
That's the virtuous company putting pressure on Facebook to tackle "hate speech" during election year in the US. i.e. stop opponents of the far-left.
I don't think people would have a problem with this if the political public squares (YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, etc) - and that IS what they are - applied these policy changes to everyone equally.
What's happened is we've already gone over the edge. Racism has been redefined to only be effectively possible by white people in the West. The intention of this change is racist in itself.
Putting aside freedom of speech, what people likely have a problem with is all the OTHER racists on YouTube NOT getting banned and instead being PROPPED UP.
These bans are political, not civil justice. If these racists were A) a real problem, and B) not singled out as a faction among multiple other racist factions, then people might believe this is fair.
To those that contend that criteria A has been met: The modern rise of white supremacists in the West is being spurred by racist politics; it's almost as if they want to corner these people into extremist ideas.
I am an adherent to Daryl Davis' way of dealing with racism, and that's by understanding the root causes of it and addressing them.
These bans are a farce, and meant to consolidate far-leftist power - not liberal power.
It's clear that woke culture is driving people to stop engaging with it, as many of us here have probably also done in the name of preserving our mental health.
What I'm questioning is, what happens when everyone just stops fighting it? Do people think they can out-vote it?
It has control over academia (with STEM fields barely holding on), the major tech corporations, mainstream culture, and soon politics. This isn't an endorsement of Trump, I'm just stating facts.
All I see here is people saying "man, social media is really unhealthy smh" and no one seems to realize that they are willingly vacating all of the platforms where they can oppose what they deem to be unhealthy.
On Hacker News I still see people debating things like the handling of the coronavirus, the BLM movement, and other politically charged issues. I see some comments that make me angry, but mostly I either agree or disagree. I think it's quite well balanced and civil. I really like the moderation here, and I like that most people are willing to approach others' opinions with sincerity.
With the current trend, how long will that realistically last? Now that mainstream news, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit are falling to toxic ideology, coercion and censorship, what's to stop it from happening here too?