Why do anarchists stay on reddit or other corporate-run platforms? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by Yingwu@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/anarchism@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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I know these federated communities exist as well as raddle, but it still seems like most people will stay on toxic and corporate-run platforms like reddit or Twitter. I'm far from perfect myself and I still use reddit sometimes, especially for more niche communities, but when it comes to ideologically strong communities like the anarchist ones, it just feels wrong that the majority still hang out on reddit. Or you know, moving to something like Bsky when Twitter became too toxic but which is still run by a large, for-profit corporation (if they moved in the first place). What are your thoughts? Is there any justification for this?

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[-] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago

Most online anarchists aren't anarchists at all. They neither read anarchist theory, do anything IRL, nor adhere to basic anarchist principals - because they don't know what they are, they just know memes and a skimming of Kropotkin. They also define themselves through a liberal-filtered understanding if what they are not, rather than who they are and what they are working towards.

If you do organizing work IRL you will meet actual anarchists and they are much cooler as they are not just LARPing liberals that happened upon an aesthetic that lets them pretend to be radical while acting virtually perfectly in line with the status quo.

Funny enough, the highest concentration of actual anarchists I've seen is on hexbear, a place another commenter said would be offputting to anarchists. Perhaps they are thinking of the "anarchists" that just watch YouTube videos to get angry at "the tankies" based on a misunderstanding of history in the 1920s and never saw a NATO putsch they couldn't defend.

[-] merde@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

Most online anarchists aren't anarchists at all.

what year are you in? Are people still offline irl when you are?

"Most online anarchists aren't anarchists at all" 🤣

[-] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml -5 points 6 days ago

what year are you in? Are people still offline irl when you are?

The self-described anarchists who engage in actual work tend to be better informed and know what anarchism is and organize accordingly. Most people who self-label as anarchkst on the internet do nothing at all outside of comment and post. They also don't read, not even about anarchism. They are not anarchists, they are left liberals that confuse each other and the wider public online.

Occasionally they do pop up in organizing spaces, usually as new members. They are the ones wasting time trying to make an anarchist org "more horizontal" by which they mean "I get to be on every committee and speak for 20 minutes at every meeting". I cannot tell you how many times my anarchist comrades have had to explain the difference between (situationally) just and unjust hierarchy to such folks.

[-] merde@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

i'm guessing that you're in U.S.

[-] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 days ago

Yes

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[-] Steve@startrek.website 1 points 6 days ago

Because its easier

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 0 points 5 days ago

Damn those anarchists, never doing what I think they should! Why can't they just follow the rules!?

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this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024

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