Hate Speech on Steemit. No recourse?
So earlier tonight, on discord, a trans friend shared a link to this gem, which I have screencapped, so as not to give the dude the benefit of a link, but which you can find easily enough as the username is viewable:
This is obvious hate speech. When you say a group has a "depopulation agenda," you are leveling an extremely hateful accusation. I commented.
I also considered downvoting. But as you can see in the screencap, the original poster has a higher reputation than I do.
What to do? I went on Steemcleaners and checked out the Abuse Guide. Here's the relevant bit:
If you can't read the screencap, here's what it says:
While we don’t intervene directly with the @steemcleaners account, please report any instances to #steemitabuse for help and advice from volunteers.
Great! A recourse! I signed up to and signed into steemit.chat and went straight to #steemitabuse. I shared the link, and... well...
I have redacted the person's name. They're a Witness with enough SP to downvote me into oblivion. If you can't read the screencap, here's what was said:
Me: So... this is hate speech: (link redacted)
Witness: You’re free to downvote it if you don’t approve of such words.
Me: And get into a potential flag war with a bigot with a higher reputation?
Witness: Then don’t downvote it and ignore them.
So this is "help and advice"? It's basically, "You're on your own, kid."
I'm still new here. A little more than a month on the platform. So I ask you, fellow Steemians: Is there no recourse for hate speech on this platform?
I found this post to be delusional tinfoil hat conspiracy drivel, supported by a blog they called an article, but not hate speech. I save my flags for posts inciting violence. I will defend everyone's right to be a total asshole, even if I won't defend their choice to do so. I would rather have it out in the open, because at least it can be ridiculed, at most we might engage in a rational discourse and change someone's mind. Call me idealistic or naive, perhaps.
It's a slippery slope I'd rather not even be on. If we ban certain points of view, no matter how repugnant, 1) Who makes us the arbiters? Why is our point of view the correct one? 2) What prevents whoever the arbiter is from banning our point of view? The simplest solution is that nobody should wield such power. I agree with the Witness, I'm sorry to say. And I think responding to the post directly is the correct approach.
We disagree, which I suspect is a result of our outlook on what constitutes hate speech. And incitement of violence. This is an indirect version of exactly that. It's a dog whistle to violence.
You're probably from the same marxist crowd that deems any conservative view as hate speech. Controlling speech is nothing more than thought control. You make the assumption that people are sooooo feeble that if they read hate speech, they will just take it as gospel and go out and start beating gays and trans people. Then again, you are a feminist, so you already infantalize women, and call out any woman that does not subscribe to your movement.
I flagged the post. This could be bad...
I think that in taking note of who it is and watching for an escalation is where to begin here. As soon as it becomes habitual i think organizing push back and downvoting is the answer but live and let live is the best policy ive found on here so far.
That being said they are once again using our tags to bait a reaction. There is no reason to tag up on our established tags unless you are outrite trying to start a fight, so this idiot is noted and if it repeats we move to correct the behavior;-)
The power of the Steem ecosystem lies in the strength of the communities it holds within it. When we see content we disagree with there is more than one of us standing alone. In the end its the community decides what content is worth. It doesn't depend on the weight of your own votes but on the weight of all likeminded users'.
In short? No. There is almost no recourse. Your best bet is NEVER steemit.chat. Thats for sure!! However you do have a few friends in high places (not me but, you know) of whose vote is powerful enough to do some damage. That said, downvoting probably wont stop them. In fact, it will probably make it worse! the only way to defeat this stuff is for us to keep on trucking and doing our thing.. being who we are regardless of their asshattery. Steemit is a jungle and "you're on your own kid" is pretty much standard. But somehow, we are all able to focus on our little positive things we share with each other and it becomes this wonderful thing. Have the time i dont even know what other ppl are doing. Someone will tell me some whale or dolphin is being an asshat. sigh
I gotta say, I ended up being way more encouraged after posting this than I was before. Because it shone a light on this. I think that's powerful. I think anyone who reads the exchange here and isn't an entrenched bigot will have learned something.
Yes!!!
What about this is hate speech? That you don't agree with it?
First I think that you are conflating two different terms as one.
Transgender and the NWO (The Powers That shouldn't Be)
The NWO has quite provably been trying to practice depopulation. And their using of transgender (or gay, lesbian, deviant) to promote deviancy to destroy societies is well known and documented.
So, the person, who you think is spouting hate speech is trying to inform you that there is a much bigger thing happening.
Further, this platform is about free speech. No censorship.
That means, there are no ways to silence anyone. However, you can stop listening to them. There are blocking utilities built into steemit. (click on the persons link and then press "mute")
So, I do not believe the above is hate speech. And I do not agree with you that steem should even consider recourse against "hate speech". Free speech is far more important.
The author conflates the two, not the OP here. And "the NWO" is such a vague term it is pretty meaningless. You say it like "they" (whoever they are) sit around in smoke-filled rooms plotting like movie villains. "They" don't need to do anything so obvious. There's a system in place - one which most of us are too complacent to even acknowledge - that does it for them.
The point is, why are transgender people such a sore point for you self-described revolutionaries, anarchists, libertarians, etc.? Don't tell me it's just "SJW's" 'cause we both know that's bullshit. It's a fucking obsession. You would think people who claim to defend an individual's freedom to choose would SUPPORT transgender people's right to do so, but instead they group everyone into their own conception of tribes so they can claim moral superiority and refuse to see their own glaring hypocrisy. You would think people who claim to hold the rational socio-political view would do more research and drink less Kool-Aid.
Say it again for that fucker in the back i think he clogged his fuckin ears with right wing bible koolaid it takes some serious noise to get through to ignorance like that...
Free speech? Fuck you sayin builder? When you talk about free speech and side step recourse to hate speech you label yourself as ignorant. If, as a community we don't have discussions about how to prevent intimidation and overt hate speech inciting violence then we have abandoned all rational thought and truly live in the animal pit. Disinformation and hate speech need to be discussed and dealt with in the community or this amazing experiment will not work. Re examine your definitions and bring thought through arguments, your inattention to detail and inability to use fact in your statements is painful.
Since I already did this elsewhere, let's do it here and break it down:
"Transgender has become a buzzword lately. " Well, that's just a bullshit statement, but let's move on.
"They're even going as far as trying to convince us it's a part of evolution!"
Who is they? Note he doesn't say "the powers that be" or "the Democrats" or "the libs". He leaves that vague. But the word "transgender" is still out there.
"Many people think Michelle Obama is transgender. Could that be why Obama pushed the issue for transgender bathrooms?"
This is the smokescreen. "Obama is trans" is a well known Alex Jones trope. That is being tied, specifically, to Obama - not "they" pushing the issue for transgender bathrooms.
"Why are they promoting it so much? Could it be part of their depopulation agenda?"
Who is they? Again, he specifically doesn't say, but the very clear indication, the very loud dog whistle? Is trans people.
Well, the transgender people here on steemit generally agree with @arevolution.
When talking about conspiracy theories, it is fairly normal to refer to them as "they". Because we really do not have a name for an amorphous blob of evil that does its best to control all the nations and pit them against each other as one would kill pawns in a chess match.
So, sorry that the group doesn't have a nice name to refer to them by. "They" is the term used most often. (Illuminati, Devil worshippers, Satanists, Masons, Skull & Bones society, CFR, Trilateral Commision... none of these are correct and all of them are correct)
The fact is there is a really big push over transgender people. And it is not coming from any transgender community. Many transgender people are appalled at what is happening and state that they are not for these laws and outcomes. So, a small percentage of a tiny percentage are the ones driving this? I don't think so. Something bigger is afoot.
You'd like to make this about some shadowy organization that may or may not have the power you assign it - outside of your need to abrogate responsibility to some fictional movie villain - but it's a diversion from the actual topic, and I think you know it. The only "transgender agenda" is the one you lunatics are imagining. Most of them would be quite content to just be left alone. I realize you can cite dozens of examples of jackass militants that "prove" you're right, but for every one of those there are 100 who would rather not get involved. I'm not one of those. I suggest you tag a few more delusional children who think blog posts are articles though. Because you know, your point is more valid if a mob agrees with it. And that's individualism, right? As long as it doesn't make you uncomfortable.
Fucking sociopathic children ...
The... transgender people here on steemit generally agree with him? The what now?
Also, thanks for tagging him when I specifically didn't. That was a nice touch.
So as a Transgender person here on steemit i can explicitly tell you that i do not agree and you are trying to construct a very poor argument from authority that you lack.
The "big push" you speak of is those of us in the transgender community tired of being killed by people like you touting free speech but spewing misinformation and hate.
You are not clever or arguing anything real. Stop using disenfranchised marginalized communities to back your made up stats. I deal wityh thousands of my brothers and sisters weekly and trust me we are all pushing for equality, underfunded and being killed at higher rates every year but we are pushing. drop your act I see through it its insulting to my intelligence that you expect me to listen to your under informed opinion when i live the facts every day. If this asshole didn't want to be inflammatory he would not have used the transgender tag plain and simple this article is baiting not information, drop the pretense.
I do not have any hate. And I have done my best to explain where the person was coming from that @didic took the screen shot from.
All you have done is attack me personally. You haven't said anything informative except that you are transgender person.
I suggest you get off your hate-speech soap box and start with a real conversation.
I believe something big is afoot, as does arevolution. (but we do not share the same theories)
I believe that an evil group is shoving LGBT in everyone's face to
Just like Hitler did with the Jews. Have you studied the propaganda campaign done by Hitler to make the Jews out as the most evil of evil. The ones responsible for all the problems in Germany?
There is a very close parallel with what Hitler did then, and what is happening now. And since I do not want to see my gay and lesbian friends hurt when this blowback comes, I attempt to point out these parallels.
You decided to not read my posts then but its cool, i got time.
You do in fact bring your arguments from a hateful place this bares out by reading a little further down in all your posting where you refer to being a part of the lgbt community as being degenerative to society.
I will get down from my soap box when I am well and ready peasant, i don't take orders from you.
There is nothing being shoved in anyone's face, you seem to completely lack any functional knowledge on this topic so you will forgive me when i get angry at having to explain the basics repetitively to every single cis het person claiming to know something about who i am.
Your comparison to the holocaust is pedantic and baiting. also meaningless as the lgbt movement is trying for equality not self eradication. We have fought for every step of freedom for the last 100 years in this country but no...you right big papa, its a government plot...Im heavy on tangible
history, stonewall, pride ect showing that we are just people sick of being stepped on and denied basic rights, then you want me to listen when you've put nothing in the ring but you have an asshat half baked theory? Naw papa ima keep fighting so they don't try to kill my son later this year ya? So maybe I can leave my gun at home one day of the week? So perhaps the six dudes that beat three teeth outa my face last year could be arrested? Seems like I got big things going on, ground up self lead no dark intent just trying to stay alive...but im glad you watched some utube...
Are you fucking seriously going there? Alright, I'm opening the can then. Daring to exist in public spaces is not "shoving LGBT in everyone's face". I've said a few informative things, which of course you aren't responding to. Nobody thus far has engaged in hate speech, but you are definitely delusional.
Hitler put yellow Stars of David on Jews and pink triangles on homosexuals. Just like you're advocating. Hitler got away with it because he convinced people that Jews and homosexuals were "degenerate" and reducing the birth rate and "purity" of Germany. Have you even read the Nazi Party Platform or Mein Kampf? Maybe don't invoke Hitler when it's gonna backfire so spectacularly.
I am glad you have half of the story.
The other half is what happened that allowed a person like Hitler to come to power.
It didn't start with Hitler. That is where it ended. There was a push for normalcy of deviancy (that is being pushed by the same families as are pushing it today. Remember, Grandpa Bush funded Hitler.) These years before the rise of Hitler were just as important to this narrative.
Have you read Gulag Archipelago? It helps shed light on the Nazi Party Platform and Mein Kamp.
Grandpa Bush didn't fund Hitler you fucking moron. He was personally appalled by the Nazis and withdrew from Union Banking Corp. when he found out they were holding Nazi assets. There's a cause-and-effect relationship going back to the dawn of humanity. Grow up.
My family is Jewish. You want to take your head out of your ass now?
It's the Reverse Vampires. Definitely.
Would you like to have this conversation on the LGBT+ Discord server I help moderate?
How is this news?? This happens REGULARLY on Twitter and Facebook to anyone with conservative views.