Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]

Tim Urban used to actually be a pretty great science communicator. It’s a shame he fell in love with and got a fatal case of

It does work, and we know this because it worked on a lot of us.

This is a great point that I think should be underscored. Lots of people here came onto r/CTH as vaguely disaffected libs, Bernieceats, “progressives,” or the like. For very many people here, it was interacting on that sub that actually kicked us down the road to a more sophisticated and radical understanding of political economy. It led to us reading theory, getting involved in our local socialist orgs, and generally learning to understand exactly what is wrong with the global capitalist order. I definitely believe that this happens–at least for some people–because of the tone, not in spite of the tone. The jokes are the thin end of a wedge that, for at least some people in the right headspace, can open your mind.

They have the freedom to die in war zones.

We’ve definitely got some anarchist mods. I’m not sure about the admin team, but it’s never been an issue. The “no sectarianism” rule is strongly enforced, and I’ve seen posts get removed (and users get banned) for breaking it; if a poster is ever making you feel unwelcome, tell the mods and they will 100% have a conversation about community norms (at least) with that person.

I completely get why you’re nervous about it (I had the same reaction to Lemmygrad, for what it’s worth, which is why I ended up on ), but it really is a very, very nice community of folks who are united in their love of dunking on liberals. You’re welcome any time, comrade, whether as a member or just to hang out.

Yes, and yes.

and then they kind of spoke back and forth in emojis. I didn’t really understand it.

A hearty to the floor

There are comms that are less active (that’s one of them) and some good-natured ribbing, but I’ve never encountered any genuine hostility and there are lots of prominent anarchist posters. The site takes left unity very seriously; it’s one of the things that sets us apart from Lemmygrad, which is also great but very explicitly ML.

We’re an old instance by lemmy standards, and have been really active for several years. We had a big boom after the CTH banning, and then just kind of got left to our own devices for a few years. The site developed a much more distinctive culture than most other places because of that–it feels more like an old message board from the 90s or 00s than a modern social media site. It’s great.

I’m an anarchist, and have been on Hexbear since the beginning. We’re explicitly non-sectarian, and that’s enforced. The left unity is actually part of what keeps me here. Folks are actually incredibly nice–it’s one of the most positive and friendly online spaces I’ve been a part of in decades.

Most of that school seems like complete gibberish to me, and I have a PhD in philosophy. There are definitely easier ways to express their ideas. It’s not just you.