I have been asked to keep things short with a Content Warning. I apologize in advance, I won't be doing that here:
I am exceedingly upset that @wilw has more or less been chased off Mastodon.
He absolutely doesn't deserve to be treated badly, to be maligned, or abused. This admin who's banning Mr. Wheaton because of the actions of OTHER PEOPLE is, quite frankly, a total hashtag. I'm going to use Hashtag here as an insult, because honestly I can't think of anything else without swearing loudly.
I don't know the full story. I don't want to know the full story- because some dude, and it *doesn't matter who said dude is* just got bullied and harassed right off of a social network by toxic, garbage people.
And do not for a moment think that you are not garbage people, those who did this. You are. You are garbage. Rationalize your behavior however you want, but at the end of the day? You are a dumpster fire of a human being and you need to look at yourself good and close and do something about it because I don't want your toxicity poisoning the well any further.
@Surasanji
I too am disappointed. I saw some comments and maybe because I don't the history an missing context, but it seemed like users trying to rally a mass exodus from an instance and attack the mod unless he shut down a user who hadn't violated the rules of the instance. I appreciate you posting
"some dude, and it *doesn't matter who said dude is* just got bullied and harassed right off of a social network"
I think many on many sides disagree with this, believing it's right for "us" to attack "them", but it's wrong for them to attack us. Actions of presidents, mobs, and media personalities are cheered or damned not based on what they're doing but on whether they're perceived to be one of "us" or them.
Here's hoping for being excellent to each other here on #qoto
I'm fairly sure I disagree on lots of things with @wilw, but would be happy to have people I differ with to interact with here. Not looking for an echo chamber.
CWed because I promised long things would be mostly CWed.
Not a single one of us is totally innocent and we all have views that may, or may not offend others.
And that's fine. People are free to offend and be offended as they will. That's life. Not everyone is going to get along.
I won't pretend to know if Mr. Wheaton is phobic to anything at all. I won't pretend to know him as an individual.
I certainly won't deny that one of the reasons I'm willing to defend to him is that he was involved with one of my favorite things in the world, Star Trek. I'm a human being, and there are certain mental processes that just sort of click. My biases will always play into my decision making process.
It is totally unforgivable and unacceptable for what amounts to the 2018 version of a pitch-fork wielding mob to tar and feather some poor dude who was- as near as I can tell- not doing anything at all to try and harass anyone.
Personally, I don't care at all what your outlook on life is, what your gender is or isn't, your religion, or your creed, or race- none of those things truly matter to me whatsoever.
What does matter, however, is your behavior and how you treat others..
You can't change how other people act- but if you're someone who feels it is okay to attack someone else because of a traditional bias, bad actors, social issues effect you than you are, quite simply, part of the problem.
You aren't going to change the world by attacking other human beings. Nobody responds well to the proverbial (or literal) punch to the face.
This doesn't mean you accept bad behavior, or people who's opinions (or actions) are destructive. IT does mean, however, that you- as an individual- have to behave in a way that is almost entirely consistent with the values that you claim to hold. Integrity is, without a doubt, a far better measure of a human being than any spoken, written, or followed ethical/moral code.
TL;DR: Be Excellent To Each Other. Treat people like people and *be consistent* in the application of your chosen morality. Being a member of a minority does *not* give you a right to be a douchebag.
@Surasanji @wilw
I just muted everything from mastodon.cloud.
I don't trust people with anime avatars on bluebird and I am not going to start here and both admins over there fall into that category. Yup, confirmation bias is a wonderful thing to rationalize things isn't it? :)