The community c/libertyhub@lemmy.blahaj.zone states in the sidebar it’s a community for leftists and post leftists, but if you actually look at the posts the mods are making, it’s almost nothing but trolling and telling people not to vote in the general election.
This rhetoric is especially dangerous to trans people, who this instance is supposed to be a safe space for, and West Bank Palestinians. If the USA elects a fascist president, there is guaranteed to be multiple genocides of society’s most vulnerable groups, in addition to what the US is already doing in Gaza.
The mods on Liberty Hub openly troll their users and ban people for advocating left wing or harm reducing positions. The only action that is allowed on the sub is advocating political inaction in the face of genocide, taking a centrist position with regards to open fascism.
This community has absolutely no place on Blahaj Zone and should be removed by the admins.
I’m not going to remove a community for pushing back against a system that forces them to vote for genocide.
I don’t think that not voting is the answer, but I also don’t think that me telling people they’re not allowed to feel differently is the answer. The majority of the people in that community will be forced to live with the consequences of their votes. They will be directly targeted by Trump. And if they still feel that pushing back against genocide in Palestine is more important than the consequences of Trump on their very own personal safety, I’m not going to stand in the way of that.
This isn’t outside trolls and agitators. This is a community of folk, directly in the line of fire, choosing to stand there for a cause they see as important. As long as their intentions are genuine (which I believe they are), It’s not my place to tell them that they’re not allowed to take that stand.
That being said, I am going to reach out to the staff there, and address the insults and the like being thrown at other users. It’s against both the community rules, and against the Blahaj Zone Community Guidelines.
There’s a difference between taking a stand that will harm themselves, and taking a stand that will harm everyone else as well while preventing others from taking a stand against them.
There is no harm free choice here.
I fail to see how that community is pushing back against any system by repeating the same tired talking points that dissuade people from voting.
And that’s s perfectly reasonable perspective. But it’s not a reason to moderate or ban the community…
Quickly going through the modlog of that community I’ve found these three comments that were removed for no other reason than they didn’t align with what some mod thinks, along with a lot of people who were banned with the reason “liberal”.
I don’t even agree with these comments, but that doesn’t matter. You’re willing to host that community to give them a voice, while the mods stifle dissent and ban anyone who disagrees.
I am not willing to exclude trans and queer folk over a difference of opinion, when those opinions are genuinely held, and on issues that directly impact them.
I am not going to tell queer folk that there is a right or a wrong way to deal with the rising tide of bigotry, racism and intolerance we are all facing.
As long as the their community rules live up to the instance community guidelines, they’re allowed to moderate on their own terms.
I get that you see me as “giving them a voice”, and I guess, ultimately it is. But that’s because the goal of blahaj zone is to create a space for trans and queer voices. And that’s what those voices are.
Is there any procedure for when a community enforces different rules from the rules in their sidebar? And when the rules in the sidebar live up to the instance terms, but the real rules do not?
As long as they’re not ignoring the instance guidelines, I’m not going to get involved in issues regarding moderation of individual communities. If people are unhappy with the mods, they will just go elsewhere. I’m not in the business of telling moderators how to run communities they’re more connected to than I am.
If the community or its mods are ignoring the instance community guidelines though, then I want to know about it, because that will get dealt with.
I worry this leaves the door wide open for troll communities to operate with near impunity as long as they all lie consistently enough about their intentions