apparently fosstodon has some kind of a "no politics" policy in place? that's a very big warning sign!

to see why, i suggest watching "How to Radicalize a Normie" from The Alt-Right Playbook.

if you're super pressed for time, begin watching at 8:35 and stay until 12:30.

that part of the video explains very clearly how having a "contained" fascist on the mod team is still part of an effective recruitment strategy, and why the way mike (the instance owner) is acting now is a sign that the strategy is working.

but i REALLY think you should watch the whole video, because it explains not just what communities with "no politics"-style policies does for the alt-right (the "no controversy" kind that gets you a warning for saying trans lives matters), but also the rest of the alt-right radicalisation pipeline that those communities are part of.

ok, since I'm seemingly not really doing anything useful today, I'll use my own words to state something from that video. (so i'm not the smart person behind this; that's ian danskin/innuendo studios, self-identified cis guy)

when there's a "no politics" policy, what does that really mean?

well, "politics" actually means controversy here. "don't talk politics" really means "don't cause political conflict". ian points out how "nazis are bad" is an uncontroversial opinion and therefore also non-political. but therefore, "nazis are good" is also non-political, since nobody will defend it! it's obviously a joke. it doesn't cause conflict within the group because everyone disagrees.

"trans lives matter" DOES on the other hand cause controversy within the group, so it is considered political and yields a warning. (yes, on fosstodon)

what this means is that being a nazi is considered non-political and allowed, while being trans is on the other hand considered political, so you better not talk about it—and if you do, then you are ruining the community with your political agenda.

now, it's worth pointing out that fosstodon doesn't actually have a literal "no politics" rule. instead, it has a "don't cause political conflicts" rule—and that's the exact thing that "no politics" usually means. look, they made it super obvious that the above is what is going on:

3) Do not be intentionally antagonistic. A post or reply designed to provoke a confrontation is not acceptable.

and that's part of the alt-right playbook.

in conclusion,

• trans lives matter!
• nazis are bad!
• block fosstodon.

@jasmine wow was this a rabbit hole for me!

Good to know. Should we start placing bets on whether fosstodon fucks this up and how long it takes for them to do that?

Seriously, this is what the beginning of a big defederation looks like, right? They can either do the "we fucked up but have cut out the rot and brought in a third party to help identify where we went wrong," or it's going to spiral into "we have our rules, plainly stated, *stomps foot* and if you don't like it, get out!" while the nazis move in and get comfy. That's going to require any decent instance to defed eventually, because we've all seen this movie.

@sillyCoelophysis judging from the replies I've seen from the instance owner, and from stuff people have said who know more backstory than i do (none at all), i don't think there's going to be a backing down.

@jasmine that pretty much settles it, then. No need to place bets.

@sillyCoelophysis hahaha I'm not that kind of witch well ok actually i am…

but i can still be wrong. it's really just a hunch