I have been on reddit for just about 12 years now. Something I’ve noticed over time is just how hateful the place has become. A complete outrage machine. Every single sub became filled with it. I’ve filtered so many subreddits over the last few years, it’s insane. I don’t know enough about this place to be sure, but I do hope it doesn’t become the same type of echo chamber of anger.
To be fair to reddit, it really depends on the sub. If you go on /r/fightporn or /r/crazyfuckingvideos you’re going to get a certain demographic that tends to be reactionary.
Then if you go on /r/politics or /r/socialism or /r/conservative you’re gonna get clickbaity echo chambers
But there are subs with great discussion on niche topics. /r/zizek or /r/credibledefense or /r/askhistorians all have very little outrage and instead good discussions and analysis.
The problem is not unique to reddit. It’s a side effect of a large enough community. The focus gets broad and the issue is that posts like Twitter screenshots or memes are easier to digest. Because they are easier to digest, more people click on them and upvote. Therefore these posts will almost always reach the top before articles or other long for articles.
This over time gives incentive for posts that can a) draw the most attention with a headline and b) is fast and easy to digest
Outrage porn is exactly that. You see an image “DeSantis passed a bill to out toxic chemicals in roads!”
People don’t bother to do research on what the law says m and they immediately go to the comments and make jokes or berate the GOP/DeSantis
Nuanced discussion gets pushed to the bottom and once again people will downvote whatever they feel is against the narrative constructed by the OP.
Tldr: no reddit isn’t getting worse in this regard. It’s a function of large online communities. This website will likely see the same effect should certain communities get large enough.
Zizek is a sexpest obsessed with comparing everything to rape and his followers are a cult of personality. This is a very strange one to include in your list of non-echo chambers, particularly as he and his audience are political partisans just like the first three you criticised.
The inclusion here seems more like snifffff ideeeology, as he would say.
I admit my inclusion is ideology- I am trying to subconsciously convert people to Stalinism. You will be the first to get sent to the gulags.
On a more serious note, it’s obviously partisan but it’s not click baity and it’s a small community that’s actively moderated. Posts are kept on topic so the focus of the sub doesn’t get too broad and lead to the phenomenon in question.
For a sub that got wrecked, check out /r/chomsky
Before 2016 it was a place to post long form articles, interviews with Chomsky, nuanced discussions, etc. Afterwards it was placed on some astroturfing list and now it’s just a generic center left Twitter screenshot type sub. Get similar content as /r/politics or /r/whitepeopletwitter
Which brings me endless amusement to find out when most people on the sub actually hate Chomsky’s belief in freedom of speech or his opinion of the Ukraine war
I don’t think the Chomsky sub going to shit matters much given the Epstein connections now tbh. Left needs to move on from him just as much as zizek
r/politics and r/conservative should be the same sub to create some balance.
Either that or force r/politics to merge with r/progressive or r/liberal or r/socialism or r/far left or something
r/politics not having a conservative voice was my biggest “wtf” when I first joined reddit
The sub name is so misleading
Ya /r/politics should be /r/centerlefttwitter
I think the idea of mixing subs is cool. There’s a sub… /r/capitalismvssocialism which I liked. Basically people from different perspectives actually discuss things.
I hate echo chambers
I remember /r/debatefascism too before it got banned. I would go on there and talk to fascists. I don’t understand why they banned it. Better to have them out in the open instead of hiding in dark spaces of the internet
In fairness, I don’t believe in debating fascists; I believe in stomping them out given they historically trend toward wanting my whole race either liquidated or enslaved. There’ll never be a day where I’m talking cordially to a known brownshirt.
