Archive.org links for the relevant content:
The original call to address vaccine misinformation
The Admin post this post is in response to
This is what the post says:
Response to Yesterday’s Admin Post
Yesterday, over a thousand communities on Reddit made posts to their subreddits, calling for Reddit to take action against harmful misinformation on their site. These posts collectively gathered hundreds of thousands of upvotes, with users showing their support in the comments, and several large media outlets picking it up. Subsequently the admins posted a response to /r/Announcements, in which they stated that this misinformation would be allowed on their site, and that they will continue to action communities that violate their sitewide rules, including encouraging fake vaccine cards & “encouraging harm”. They finished the announcement with a thinly veiled threat of punishing moderators who have participated in this protest, if it continues. The post was immediately locked, making it impossible to directly respond to.
This statement from the admins is hypocritical, dishonest, and misrepresentative of the situation on their site. They are portraying the misinformation as simply discussion that criticises the majority opinion, when it is far more than that: It is discussion that actively advises against government guidelines, opting to follow disproven studies and anecdotal evidence. As stated in our original letter, this type of misinformation is dangerous. The admins are pretending like it is not. As redditors, we should come together against this harmful propaganda.
Reddit’s CEO /u/spez is claiming that the admins will take action on communities that “encourage harm”, while allowing subreddits that advocate not taking an FDA-approved vaccine in favor of taking unapproved drugs, the effects of which have not been studied. Most notably is Ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasites and that the FDA has explicitly advised against using for Covid is often recommended by antivaxx subreddits, most notably r/Ivermectin. This type of misinformation is actively endangering people. The admins are simply sticking their head in the sand, and refusing to take any responsibility for the damage that their inaction is causing.
Until Reddit takes action, we will continue to speak out against subreddits which exist solely to spread medical disinformation.
There are studies that show that average human beings can do horrible or unethical things (things they don’t feel comfortable doing) when an authority figure asks them to and/or when the rest of the crowd does it. Behavioral consumerism is one of the fields studying such behaviors, I think. Yes, witch burning is an extreme. What we find ‘extreme’, though, is often situational. When we remove ourselves from a situational (often a time difference or geographical or even cultural difference), we can often be more objective - or maybe we just had more time and space to think about it. Is it possible that claiming to be the upholder of TRUTH makes you arrogant? Depends on the topic, right? And, who gets to judge that? Maybe that is why the more polite way to handle ‘truth’ is to give people some space to believe or do what they want. I think that is what rights are all about. 400+ doctors and scientists have joined together in a lawsuit against some of this covid-19 stuff, so to say YOUR experts are right and the experts of others are all wrong seems absurd to me. That is why you should give people some SPACE to be themselves and live by the results of their own actions. I recall when gay men were blamed for the spread of AIDS. How far should gov’t or authorities (including business owners) go? This is NOT an all-or-nothing issue and who gets to bark orders anyway? Who died and made you god?
The Calhoun experiments are quite fascinating indeed, I think more people need to familiar with them. What we perceive to be obvious, is a mere sense of familiar, but does not necessarily mean we are correct. I think the crusades on reddit is people taking on their social roles because the situation is familiar. There’s no free will nor the strength to think or change, just an animal kingdom with short sight and too short of arms to reach the truth. Authoritativeness is just a social role to make other people’s social roles more familiar. And a shit ton of money to make it happen.