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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by ada to c/main

Update: In light of the programming.dev update here https://programming.dev/post/8399272, the defederation is no longer going ahead.

However, something more needs to be said. Even here on Blahaj, some of our users took issue with the choice to defederate over this issue.

So I would like to give some background and context.

Blahaj Zone exists, because both Kaity and I left mainstream social media to escape transphobia. Reddit, with its lackluster approach to fighting transphobia, and twitter, with its outright celebration of transphobia pushed us here, to the fediverse, and to create Blahaj Zone and Blahaj Lemmy.

To that end, we will continue to treat transphobia seriously. Our goal is to create a space where gender diverse folk can exist and let our defenses down a little, where we don't have to worry about getting dragged in to an argument with a transphobe, or a bad faith actor "just asking questions".

If you are looking for a more reddit like experience, where in the interest of increased engagement, we let low level transphobia slide, and push responsibility for dealing with it on to community mods and individual users, then you will likely not be happy with blahaj going forward. If you choose to stay here, understand that we may defederate again in the future over similar issues.

The choice is yours.

======

It has recently been brought to my attention that the lead admin of programming.dev is engaging in ongoing transphobia.

You can see the conversation in question here https://programming.dev/comment/6131539

For that reason we will be defederating from programming.dev in 48 hours.

There are only three communities on that instance used by small number of our users, so this won't have a big impact, but if you are one of those users, you will need to use an alt account on another instance if you wish to access the communities.

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[-] RoseTintedGlasses 76 points 10 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

[I got a bot to automatically delete all my comments over 1 month old so you can’t see this comment anymore]

[-] Gormadt 32 points 10 months ago

Do you have a link to this exchange?

Honestly though that comment about Hexbear is pretty on point. Hexbear makes every comment thread they invade a nightmare, and is one of the goals of their instance.

[-] RoseTintedGlasses 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

[I got a bot to automatically delete all my comments over 1 month old so you can’t see this comment anymore]

[-] Gormadt 30 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They make comment threads a nightmare for everybody not just transphobes.

Also I couldn't help but notice that the part you clipped out conveniently skips the whole first half where they cite instances where they defend trans people and even tell people to check their mod logs for instances where they removed antisemitism and transphobic content.

Edit: By everybody I mean everybody that has even a slightly different opinion then them on anything.

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[-] melmi 22 points 10 months ago

I think it's important to distinguish that they were not defending JKR, and explicitly condemned her

[-] Gormadt 21 points 10 months ago

And also that they have made many many comments (even citing a few) supporting trans people and have removed copious amounts of content that's transphobic and antisemitic in the past.

They even invite people to check their mod logs.

Yeah Garfs comment really takes things out of context

[-] Sop 6 points 10 months ago

Putting in the energy to make well-rounded arguments in a discussion and educating a person who clearly has no idea what they’re talking about does not seem like a nightmare to me. I'm honestly pretty glad that they did that.

[-] ada 26 points 10 months ago
[-] Gormadt 16 points 10 months ago

The whole comment that the previous commentor took a small section of actually includes them citing instances where they've defended trans people.

And also includes them saying that they remove transphobic and antisemitic content all the time and invites people to check their mod logs.

link to the comment

[-] ada 7 points 10 months ago

Which gives me hope that they'll be able to recognise why these comments were a problem

[-] toasteecup@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago

Hey, as a Jew to a trans person, I don't make call outs on what is and isn't transphobic. I rely on your community when I think I'm seeing it since as the affected individuals y'all are the experts.

Do me a favor, give us the same respect about antisemitism. I'm getting awfully tired of seeing people throw that word around and as a Jew it's fucking scary that it's losing its meaning.

Thanks

[-] TheAlbatross 39 points 10 months ago

You and I are both Jews. It's true that some people are using the phrase "antisemitism" in a way that promotes their own interests instead of as a warning of bigotry, but that isn't the case here. JK Rowling and her works are antisemitic and promote vile stereotypes of not just Jews but other minority groups as well.

Rowling is a bigot and her works should be forgotten.

[-] toasteecup@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree cousin.

While I know the common argument is "but the goblins!" The goblins look like what I'd expect goblins to look like. That harkens all the way back to my mental image of the goblin bankers when I first read the chamber of secrets.

[-] TheAlbatross 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I don't think that's unreasonable thinking, though the modern image of goblins is constructed from antisemitic stereotypes and imagery.

I do think it's possible to divorce the image of a fantasy goblin from its antisemitic history, but I don't think Rowling has done that and instead has leaned into the vile history of goblins as a Jewish stereotype.

The article someone else shared discusses this fairly well and I think it does well to note that the use of goblins as antisemitic tropes has become so commonplace that it's original intent is often lost. While some may celebrate that and say it's successfully divorced from its antisemitic roots, I think this is something far more sinister in the way that it's integrated antisemitic imagery into modern thinking.

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[-] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

A racist, a transphobe and an antisemite walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says "aren't you that girl who wrote harry potter??"

[-] muse@kbin.social 23 points 10 months ago

While I'd be happy to do that in general, Hogwarts Legacy has major antisemitic themes carried over from the story designer.

https://theconversation.com/how-hogwarts-legacy-video-game-reinforces-antisemitic-scapegoating-with-goblins-202710

[-] RoseTintedGlasses 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

[I got a bot to automatically delete all my comments over 1 month old so you can’t see this comment anymore]

[-] toasteecup@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

You rock, thank you! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise yo

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 14 points 10 months ago

Fuck transphobes. Transphobes don't deserve to be coddled for having reactionary views just because they haven't murdered a trans person, fuck that noise. Transphobia is Transphobia.

[-] backhdlp 14 points 10 months ago
[-] Strawberry 11 points 10 months ago

Yeah most of the argument seemed at first to me to be that admin and the hexbear folks slapping each other, but if being stressed out by some bad faith interactions causes you to rant about some other group of trans people being "the good ones" it's not a good look

[-] Smorty 10 points 10 months ago

Oh wow that's really evil. Didn't know we were being used in such a way

[-] RoseTintedGlasses 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

[I got a bot to automatically delete all my comments over 1 month old so you can’t see this comment anymore]

this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
295 points (100.0% liked)

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