I think this is a valid point that no one wants to hear. I've argued from the beginning that closing our eyes and ears to the problem isn't an effective solution. Banning them from Reddit simply whisked them away to an even stronger self-reinforcing bubble.
It's a powerful bubble, too. I checked in on thedonald.win at Thanksgiving, and they had a meme aimed directly at me: "So glad you could come take some time off during your busy day to come make fun of us. You must be a real piece of work" or something along those lines. I burst out laughing.
But the other side of it is valid too: People say that there's no point in debating with folks who are "True Believers," since it merely gives them credibility and legitimacy. It's valid; I just don't personally buy that. The way to change someone's mind is to try to see things from their point of view, and really walk in their shoes, i.e. allow yourself the possibility of you changing your mind. At that point, it seems like both people are in the right mental space to be willing to change.
Tough problem all around. I'm not sure there's any effective solutions, so maybe both sides banning each other and enjoying their respective bubbles is the best we can hope for, given human nature. I just try to take a positive view.
The country will likely settle down in a few months, so this too shall pass. It raises question marks about the next cycle, but at least it's four years away.
"Banning them from Reddit simply whisked them away to an even stronger self-reinforcing bubble."
Reddit might be a valid example of this since the forums in question are largely closed communities, denying them one forum moved them en-mass to another. On other platforms like Facebook and Twitter the ecosystem is different, de-platforming works! In the grand scheme of things the traffic at TheDonald.win just isn't very many American voters.
Yup, that's why I left reddit and now read/post somewhat regularly on thedonald.win. The last straw for me was when I was banned from a few subs on reddit. People on reddit don't want to have a debate. They just want confirmation bias to be reinforced.
Also, there will be no unity. Everyone on the right-wing is doubling-down to oppose anything Biden plans on doing.
This Jan 6th march was actually planned weeks prior and many people were calling "for every able bodied man" to go to DC for the march.
You've left out the fact that The_Donald was banned from reddit for repeatedly and egregiously breaking site wide rules on harassment, brigading, and issuing death threats. Despite the mods efforts to keep it clean the subreddit was a cesspit that was only getting more extreme.
I don't agree with other subreddits automatically banning people based on post history, but I can see why the subreddit was banned, along with the left leaning subreddit chapotraphouse which engaged in similar behaviour.
Even disregarding any content that may or may not have been on the subreddit, the ban happened (four?) months after the subreddit's mods had already locked it down and everyone had migrated to thedonald.win. The ban didn't actually have a purpose by the time they did it, so that reason was just an excuse to get rid of content they didn't like.
I kept a fairly close eye on /r/The_Donald, specifically looking for signs of that behavior. Personally, I didn't see any. They pretty much kept to themselves, at least for the last year or so. That doesn't mean there wasn't any, but they had a far higher bar to clear than other subs. It also seemed like quite a coincidence that they were banned just before the crucial period leading up to the election.
You say "issuing death threats" like it was mandated by the mods. As far as I could tell, the mods were doing what they could to keep everybody contained within their zone. And the premise of Reddit is that anybody can create their zone; if you don't like it, you don't have to view it.
My point is, the counterargument that they were banned due to bad behavior seems to be slightly misleading. Every sub has bad behavior, and I know for a fact (because I saw it!) that the mods were clamping down hard on anything remotely like what you mention. The community was downvoting such comments too.
along with the left leaning subreddit chapotraphouse which engaged in similar behaviour
Can you be more specific? /r/LateStageCapitalism is still up, and they seem to "issue death threats" just as frequently. For example, they frequently reference guillotines while gesturing towards the rich.
It's a powerful bubble, too. I checked in on thedonald.win at Thanksgiving, and they had a meme aimed directly at me: "So glad you could come take some time off during your busy day to come make fun of us. You must be a real piece of work" or something along those lines. I burst out laughing.
But the other side of it is valid too: People say that there's no point in debating with folks who are "True Believers," since it merely gives them credibility and legitimacy. It's valid; I just don't personally buy that. The way to change someone's mind is to try to see things from their point of view, and really walk in their shoes, i.e. allow yourself the possibility of you changing your mind. At that point, it seems like both people are in the right mental space to be willing to change.
Tough problem all around. I'm not sure there's any effective solutions, so maybe both sides banning each other and enjoying their respective bubbles is the best we can hope for, given human nature. I just try to take a positive view.
The country will likely settle down in a few months, so this too shall pass. It raises question marks about the next cycle, but at least it's four years away.