this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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I probably shouldn't be making this post. I hate getting involved struggle session highschool drama shit and I won't even point to specific evidence because frankly this shit depresses me. But here goes:

This might be a "wtf are you ranting about, Owl?" moment but there are some serious reactionary vibes in this place sometimes. Maybe it's a holdover from the dirtbag leftist era, I don't know, but it's gross. I see it trying to worm its way in here and it's a bad sign

If you ever catch yourself using the kind of shitty othering and ableism you'd see on stupidpol or a 2016 cringe compilation, go do some self crit or fuck right off

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[–] Liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I hope someone calls me out for it since I find myself saying a lot of wrong stuff as a baby leftist that needs further introspection

[–] fluffy8192@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's a literally reactionary attitude. You are telling us about your reaction condition and look out!

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

jesse-wtf

is this because you think I'm coming after you?

[–] fluffy8192@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

No, fuck off back to reddit

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

Call people out, with the appropriate level of confrontation. If you're called out, try to resist knee-jerk defensiveness. You might have an opportunity for growth. Everyone make an effort :)

[–] CARCOSA@hexbear.net 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

thank you for the post, and a reminder to people that a fundamental aspect of moderation is for the people to report posts and comments that violate the code of conduct.

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago (11 children)

So, to reassure us, it's not "too small of a matter" to report a post with commonly used casually ablest language? (etc)

I think my instinct is often that if I can't summon the energy to engage directly to at least ask politely for a correction, then I haven't done the basic work myself before hitting report.

But sometimes one is just too tired to engage and I'm realising that hitting the report button is not just acceptable, but appropriate and perhaps necessary since it might spare the next vulnerable person from hostility.

[–] CARCOSA@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago

100% without reports the mod team has to see every post and comment during all timezones. When someone makes a report you help to focus our attention and are very happy to have anyone's participation in the process through the report function.

[–] StillNoLeftLeft@hexbear.net 7 points 2 days ago

And also, I personally don't necessarily want to personally step in as I've been on the receiving end of ableism all my life and it can easily become triggering. It has happened a few times here.

I've started to just hide posts that are like this. Because I also feel like just reporting something that some might consider "minor" is not necessarily good if I haven't first engaged in the post. A clarification on this would be nice.

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[–] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If I say anything reactionary I will be extremely disappointed if you fuckers don't drag me for it

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You've only ever been cool 👍

[–] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

Nah I've definitely posted L takes (much more so on my old account than my current one) and had to be corrected. Never let it be said that I've learned nothing of value from this site.

[–] GnomeGodsGnomeMasters@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago (4 children)

No, I feel you. I’ve noticed a lot of punching down lately — especially towards people with mental health issues and ESPECIALLY substance use issues.

In a recent thread I was honestly floored at the lack of compassion, but even more floored by the… support for the criminal (in)justice system and prison industrial complex?? When I said something about it I was told that… I was wrong?? That I should… support those systems because… DWIs are bad?? Okay then, hexbear, I see you.

Apparently yall don’t actually care about these issues or the people experiencing them if you deem them to be “trashy” — got it. Very cool. If this is the state of amerikkkan leftism we are indeed cooked and truly deserve to be wiped of the map.

So what's a more productive take on someone like Pete Hegseth?

He's a cosmic void of malevolence and evil to be sure. But if someone suggested his alcoholism is connected to this in some way, is that ableist? Or if the fact that he gleefully orders war crimes gets described as "psychopathic", is that in the wrong?

[–] Arahnya@hexbear.net 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

it can be a bit disappointing if you discuss prison abolitionism here

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[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

I don’t mean to insinuate that hexbear is an amerikkkan site

its fr*nch catgirl-disgust

(/s but that was where it was hosted last I checked.)

[–] MidnightPocket@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

DWIs do get mentioned here as a condemnation of a person very casually - I agree. It's up there with someone "coming to the left" after being part of the US armed forces.

A lot of people who get DWIs rightfully deserve the contempt (politicians and famous actors who outright kill people while driving and lawyer there way out of ever receiving a proper sentencing). But, if someone has a substance abuse problem and is properly sentenced and learns from their mistake - I can assure you - the last thing they need is to be shamed by their comrades because stigmatism is what they've been inundated with since their arrest - they have shame in spades. DWI isn't some ignored, "benign" crime like it used to be - it is probably one of the leading contributors to state revenues after taxes in the modern day - there is a whole cottage industry around it. The capitalist state fully is onboard with stigmatizing DWI convicts to hell-and-back (provided they are working class people with substance abuse problems).

Obviously, driving while intoxicated should not be tolerated. Hell, driving itself should not be tolerated. We should all be doing our part to prevent the harms caused by driving inebriated by preventing our friends and family from ever considering it. But, the nature of substance abuse coupled with 95% of people in the West being forced to pilot automobiles to make ends meet and participate in society guarantees the emergence of DWIs. Yes, yes - there is Uber/taxis - but inebriated people don't think clearly and poor people are prone to take risks (we're all pro shoplifting here last I checked).

I don't have a real, coherent argument above - just some insight. I'm sure the "bullying works" segment of Hexbear won't stop their shame campaigns, but not all people who have a DWI (or multiple) are reactionaries when they are sober. A lot of them are caught in a quagmire of capitalist dystopia and with compassionate education can heal from substance abuse never to endanger others again - making them feel like a "person non-grata" can prevent this outcome.

As an aside, the DMV (US specific department of motor vehicles) is cracking down hard on these offenders - and this is saving lives. These measures will never prevent the first infraction though, unfortunately. Access to both automotives and drugs is just too high to not expect these outcomes.

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Compassion is a requirement in leftist spaces. Capitalism/imperialism is a collective and universal trauma inflicted on the world population. Everyone’s fucked up by it. To be honest a DWI is upsetting to me but I also agree with your points which you articulated well.

I still need to properly engage with Frantz Fanon but I appreciate his centering of psychology and subjective experience of imperialism. This is also found in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (which is basically an elaboration of Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth):

Because it is a distortion of being more fully human, sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so. In order for this struggle to have meaning, the oppressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers of the humanity of both. This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.

It’s deeply unfair that the victims have to carry the burden of fixing everything; yet I have to admit that Freire speaks the truth here. We are dealing with a societal problem that can’t be solved without compassion.

[–] Poutine@hexbear.net 11 points 2 days ago

I don't know if this post is about a particular explicit incident, but the constant baseline of casual ableism here is quite offputting at times. Everyone should be looking at the ableist terms in their own everyday parlance and excising them, as a first step. Consider why these words came into use as put-downs.

I have seen users here reject this suggestion offhandedly multiple times because it's "too hard" (all things require effort, and this is no harder than switching pronouns and grammatical gender when someone you know transitions) and "the words' meanings have changed". In the 1990s, the word "gay" almost went through this same process, yet we all agree that using "gay" as a put-down was bad. How is this any different?

I beg others to self-reflect.

[–] Moidialectica@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago (21 children)

Hexbear has a lot of users so utterly unaware or possibly even uncaring about their own reactionary politics but I guess this is inevitable of an online forum, but the lack of effort to slow it down and when it does eventually get called out the speed at which people dunk the OP for simply suggesting there is an issue is infuriating especially from somewhere that claims to be leftists, communists and materialists

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[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I don't think this is what the post is about, but the "J.K. Rowling escapes insane asylum" Onion article that was posted here yesterday was pretty bad, it was basically just making fun of mentally ill people.

Also, I'd like to point out that autocorrect wanted to write "escapes insane asylum seekers" :disgost:

[–] fannin@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I hadn't thought of it that way but yeah that was bad. Though I'm not sure "inpatient mental health facility" really captures how bleak the atmosphere has been in the ones I've been in.

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think it's a good example of how not everything we find funny or interesting or worthy of our time belongs on hexbear. We could exercise a bit more restraint in sharing reactionary stuff.

Someone direct linked to a nazi's youtube video very recently and I raised the issue and they just said "I think it has value" like we're studying the enemy's tactics as some sort of organised resistance movement.

Like, okay go enjoy that value but maybe don't turn hexbear into a space to recruit for the right wing. It's okay to just admit you're wrong sometimes.

[–] Enjoyer_of_Games@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

posting waste water analysis is good, posting a stream of shit is not

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[–] tamagotchicowboy@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago

Its been making a resurgence irl as well, so its worth a mention, on one hand easy to type unthinkingly and this place is a spin off the cth reddit-logo and reddist tendencies die hard in a terminally online population, on the other despite this seeming a bit much education on the harm of words maybe be useful since in the deepest, dankest pit of reaction one doesn't see the light of humanization of the other, and to begin crawling out of that you must be re-taught all and yes I think some just don't know or make assumptions of 'this is how xyz concepts-ideas where always said' and not consider subtext.

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

I'm a bit worried that someone I enjoy reading the posts of on here might have finally cracked the shits with hexbear for good over this earlier.

We really could use more self crit and struggle sessions cuz I think as a whole we have lowered our posting standards on almost every front. (except badposting which should be worse)

edit: and another user who I haven't seen in a couple of months who I also suspect would have left for similar reasons.

Have we pretty much lost the well read core that kept our community regularly introspecting on their language and beliefs? I know we still have some prolific well read effort posters and people who take that energy out of hexbear into the broader lemmy, but I feel there's less valuing of self awareness on hexbear recently. (I say as an addicted badposter)

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[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't know exactly what you're talking about in this instance, but it's uphill getting communities to make progress because they want overly-pat solutions like forbidden words* and standpoint epistemology where you are liable to need to actively tokenize yourself to not be brushed off, when there are much deeper issues of social attitudes that are ableist. It's kind of difficult to explain how so very much of how everyday conversation is framed is ableist, especially since I'm not an expert in psychology or social work or anything and only know what I've experienced or can infer.

I really need to sleep at the moment so I'll just link to an arbitrarily-chosen old comment I wrote on the subject. I should mention that while I express pessimism on this topic, a number of users have been supportive and I really appreciate them, though you should assume they disavow everything else I've ever said unless stated otherwise. Some people have reputations to uphold, or so I understand, but even Bordiga could make a good point now and again.

I apologize if it comes off as me just hijacking your post for a soapbox I've gotten on like a dozen times already, but my purpose in talking about this is that I'm trying to address the "reactionary vibes" issue in a way that is more clearly-defined (albeit incomplete!) for the purpose of coming to a constructive solution. While I sometimes have trouble conveying something to a specific person, I usually have an easy time at least figuring out how to express something in a way that makes sense to me, but this is something where I still struggle to articulate it even to myself and I know the feeling of being stuck with a "vibe" that you can't account for.

*Not that forbidding words is bad, we should do that, I'm talking about conversation excessively revolving around such matters or, maybe more to the point, stopping there.

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago (8 children)

To me, it's not so much language that bothers me as much as when I see people say borderline eugenics shit about neurodivergent people or throw them under the bus to be more 'normie' friendly (I hate that word but I couldn't think of a better word than normie)

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

As I try to explain in the linked comment, I agree that people seem to only talk about problems in e.g. vocabulary and then ignoring real underlying ideological issues.

If you're talking about the "be normal" mantras and so on, I also agree that those are unconstructive and really obnoxious to be lectured on by fans of podcasters and streamers repeating dictums of people who are rich and beloved. Obviously it's important to any socialist to learn how to communicate effectively and come off as reasonable, etc., but "be normal" is not actually a good description of what is desirable for socialists and ends up frequently being a term of abuse for marginalized people who were violently excluded from "normalcy" and receive yet more abuse for having been subjected to that exclusion (just, you know, as an example . . . ).

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[–] Acute_Engles@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago

Love you dort

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Hopefully this isn't about me. I'm certainly guilty of an "idiot" or a "stupid" from time to time, self referentially and not, because I don't really have a good set of alternative language for casually dense behaviour of many liberals or ditzy "oh yeah, duh" moments I often have myself.

[–] Dort_Owl@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago (5 children)

It's definitely not you. I've also slipped up on using ableist words because I suck at communication (ironically due to level 1 Autism)

My gripes come from peoples treatment of neurodivergence in general, which I'm finding hard to describe because it's a lot of little things. Things like doubt being thrown at someone's actions being related to their neurodivergence, or that they're embarrassing or broken in some way. The sort of vibe that being asked to accommodate neurodivergent people is them getting special treatment. Things like that.

The amount of shame I carry in pretty much every interaction either in person or online simply by virtue of existing as an autistic person is likely unfathomable to non-autistic people. Add to that the shame that those people both intentionally and unintentionally pile on top, plus the further shame of making mistakes myself, and the weight can sometimes be almost too much to bear.

I yearn for a day where there is no such thing as neurotypicality or neurodivergence, rather, we just accept people as they are and do our best to accommodate everyone regardless of brain-body functioning, gender, sex, race, etc., etc. This of course requires a dramatic overhaul of… literally everything, and I fear that is a long, long ways off.

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[–] manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 days ago

Logging back in to upvote this post (I am bad at taking a break)

special reminder, please find a better soft word than lame, if something is dogshit, or dissapointing, call it what it is

lame(adj.)

"crippled or disabled by injury to or defect of a limb or limbs," especially "walking with difficulty," Middle English, from Old English lama "crippled, lame; paralytic, weak," from Proto-Germanic *lama- "weak-limbed," literally "broken." This is reconstructed (Watkins) to be from PIE root *lem- "to break; broken," with derivatives meaning "crippled" (source also of Old Church Slavonic lomiti "to break," Lithuanian luomas "lame").

In Middle English especially "crippled in the feet," but also "crippled in the hands; disabled by disease; maimed." The figurative sense of "imperfect, halting, defective in quality or quantity" is attested from late 14c. The sense of "socially awkward" is attested from 1942.

As a noun meaning "crippled persons collectively" it is attested from late Old English. To come by the lame post (17c.-18c.) was an old colloquialism in reference to tardy mails or news out-of-date.

Germanic cognates include Old Norse lami "lame, maimed," Dutch and Old Frisian lam, German lahm "lame."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/lame

peace, I'm logging back out x

[–] starkillerfish@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

seconded. quite a bit of reactionary comments from hexbear accounts lately

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