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Squabbles, another recent reddit alternative, seems to be taking the doomed "free speech" path (i.imgur.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/RedditMigration@kbin.social
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[–] 24 points 3 years ago (5 children)

In other words, "free speech platform" is not actually "free speech platform," rather it is a dogwhistle.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (4 children)

    In other words, “free speech platform” is not actually “free speech platform,” rather it is a dogwhistle.

    Often, but not always. It's a mistake to immediately assume that it is one (the reason is at #2). Because sometimes it's just the result of cluelessness over the three things that I listed.

    What will decide if Squabbles' admins are genuinely dogwhistling are their future actions. The dogs will get on the garden; let's see if they shoo the dogs or give them treats. (I think that there's some chance that they shoo the dogs, based on "With the exception of racist content, the use of slurs (racial or otherwise), targeted harassment, and incitement of violence").

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I'd argue, it's always a dogwhistle. You might not realize you're using a dogwhistle, but you definitely are.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I disagree because any and all words and expressions can be used to bring the dogs to the garden. Coupled with your reasoning, this would mean that all words and expressions are always dogwhistles.

    Instead I think that it's better to see a word/expression as a dogwhistle if it's within a certain context, and that context is mostly available to a hate group but not to outsiders. This has a bunch of consequences*, but in this specific case it means that we'd need to look for further actions and words from Squabbles' admins to know if it's a dogwhistle or not.

    Or even a lack of actions/words. If transphobic and related content becomes commonplace in their site, and they do nothing against it, I think that their very silence would be already enough to label it as a dogwhistle.

    *e.g. it explains why dogwhistles are often found alongside each other, or why they keep changing, or even how they actually work on a discursive level.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    so I totally get your point. For example, a therapy group that says, "this is a free speech area" and has 8 members who are all queer, would probably not mean it as a dogwhistle, and in that case, it also probably would not be one. But also, they wouldn't be saying it to anyone other than those 8 members.

    The thing is, in this case it legit does not matter the intent, they are saying it on a public chat forum. That makes it a dogwhistle regardless of intentionality, and it will be recognized as such, because if you say that on a public platform on the internet, guess who will hear it.

    And now no matter what their intention is, if they didn't want it to be a dogwhistle, it was one, and now their moderation is 10000x as difficult, because look who they've attracted the attention of now - and chased away.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    I don't care about intent either, and I think that you're right not caring. I think that our major point of disagreement is fairly small - if being a public area already offers enough context to make it a dogwhistle. I think that it's still in the area where that implicature ("this is a free speech area" +> "rev up those hate discourses") can be cancelled.

    And now no matter what their intention is, if they didn’t want it to be a dogwhistle, it was one, and now their moderation is 10000x as difficult, because look who they’ve attracted the attention of now - and chased away.

    Yeah - regardless of dogwhistle or not, it was a fucking stupid move. Someone mentioned in the thread that nicknames like "arian1488" are already starting to pop up; if they aren't looking for this sort of user, they just made expurging them 2000% more difficult.

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