I remember people on reddit misgendering that antiwork mod for the crime of [checks notes] a botched interview on Fox News that didn't even fucking matter.
It was an ugly thing to see all that transphobia out in the open like that.
It was Fox News. Even if had been a stellar interview, they would have made it look bad.
And I don't think it had any actual impact on how people viewed the community in general. It's just people being terminally online and blowing things way out of proportion.
I agree the interview was bad, but it's also one of the most inconsequential parts about it. That's the tiniest most petty reason I've ever seen a community tear itself apart over. It was like a bunch of mindless chickens pecking one to death because they saw a spot of blood. Definitely on brand for reddit though.
The anti work community had a lot of idiotic freeloaders who just didn't want to work. After the interview when the sensible people left, it got so much worse.
Work reform was better, and came about as a result of that interview.
That sub was a joke even before that interview. They banned me for asking someone to explain why an investor shouldn't have all the negotiating power if they are putting up 100% of the capital for a new business. Like I wanted to know how they thought that system should work because I don't see how some random person asking for money has any leverage. I wasn't agreeing with the current state of things.
All I got was a permaban with a childish message from a mod.
You think that interview didn't matter? It basically killed the entire conversation about wage/labor imbalance. And that had zero to do with that mods gender, but with that mods absolute stupidity, regardless of gender
That shit was blown out of proportions, yeah. Critique is fine and all, but that ended up as straight up harassment. Fuck the people using that as an excuse for their transphobia.
But I actually started chiming in when the mod team doubled down presenting themselves as spokespeople for the movement and, in a case of “cannot possibly be timed worse“, presented some kid as a new mod? Spokesperson? I don’t remember. That whole mess got so stupid I zoned out after a while.
The mods were misfiring for sure, but what made me step away were not the mods -- that could have been addressed over time -- but the users. My reaction to the video and what the mods said was basically, "Oh haha, that was bad!" and I think that's where it ended for me. I had noted issues with the mods prior to that and brought them up, and no one seemed to care at that time -- I even pointed out several times that one of the mods had a stickied post on their profile specifically requesting interviews -- so it's hard for me to believe that the users were acting in good faith. Why did no one seem to care before that interview happened? But everyone got drummed up into an emotional frenzy, and that sort of thing is what tears movements apart -- not one or two bad mods.
I agree the mods shouldn't have positioned themselves as spokespeople, but there were so many other ways it could have been handled without melting down.
I... don't think that's the case. Last year was the year of labor wins across the board. Like, I don't understand how to parse what has happened in the world since with this statement. Media, especially corporate owned media, is always going to be somewhat antilabor. One bad interview from one person did not impact labor's perception in any meaningful way.
The purpose of language is to reveal and convey meaning and thought. Euphemisms and euphemistic language are designed to control how you talk about certain subjects and consequently, how you think about them. People who try to control how you think NEVER have anyone's "best interests" in mind but their own.
Don't let other people tell you how to manage your own head.
I try to speak respectfully to whoever I speak to and that includes using pronouns they want so getting it wrong is always unintentional. But I'll still always speak to any group of people as "you guys". I use that speaking to my 16 yo daughter and her girl friends. It's just not gendered speech, and I know some disagree but whatever
Ive seen this community making fun of people for their weight or claiming people have small dicks when they do something they dont like so not really. Point proven though, yall don't care about body shaming.
It’s a bit of an awkward one when it comes to weight.
On the one hand, you shouldn’t be harassing and trying to upset people who are struggling with their weight.
On the other hand, being overweight is undeniably unhealthy and shouldn’t be normalized. Anyone saying being overweight is a good thing deserves criticism for their stance.
Acknowledge it’s bad, but also acknowledge that people may struggle with their weight for many reasons, and supporting them in losing weight is better than criticising and insulting.
There's nothing awkward about it at all, nobody deserves to be bodyshamed, period. Yes, being overweight is unhealthy. The vast, vast majority of overweight people know this. The only thing you accomplish by expressing your concerns and "acknowledging it's bad" unprompted is making the person feel worse, they're not gonna go "Wow, li10 is concerned about my weight, this was the moment I was waiting for to start being healthier". This isn't a hallmark movie, it rarely works like that.
If an overweight person expresses a desire to lose weight and be healthier, absolutely encourage and support that... but support looks like things like offering to be a gym buddy,sharing healthy recipes, words of encouragement as they progress, maybe even joining them on their diet, etc... and even then only if they've expressed a desire for that support. Telling them unprompted "I'm concerned about your health due to your weight" is NOT support, it's nothing but an empty platitude.
The only person whose weight and body is your business is your own. My body isn’t your business. Your neighbor’s body isn’t your business. Your coworkers body isn’t your business. It’s not your business and your opinion doesn’t matter about any body but your own.
So how about this… let’s just not talk about each other’s bodies and let people be who and what they are. Fat people have enough shit to deal with already and they don’t need shit from you too, whether it’s ’support in losing weight’ or criticism.