idk, I’ve seen all the hype around hexbear users being obnoxious around Lemmy (including our own instance debating blocking the instance, followed by several of their members brigading the thread true to form)… but I’ve explored the communities on the instance itself and even subscribed to some of them like mutual aid, gaming etc, and those that I’m watching are actually just normal people doing normal things if more left than some other similar groups. In my experience it isn’t “all” hexbear users, because that would be a dumb generalization.
There are some assholes on that instance to be sure. Show me one that this isn’t true of. I’m glad our instance didn’t block them because I now get to decide for myself. I block communities and/or users if they’re a problem for me. I think that’s a good way.
Yeah it was, but it was only a few individuals. It wasn’t the entire population of the instance. I do sort by All quite a bit and honestly I don’t see much of note from any one instance other than weird porn or niche meme communities that I block individually as needed. I just nuke communities and individuals that annoy me.
I’ve never seen a single post or comment from hexbear, I didn’t even block them maybe my instance maintainer did block them so I don’t know lol, what did they do to get so much hate?
There are three relevant things to say about hexbear.
It is not a serious instance. Or at least not completely serious; they’re mostly there for memes, funposting, “I know that feel” etc.
So they’re less like the meeting room of a communist party than like the bar where those communists hang out and drink beer, after the meeting is over.
I feel like this is often misinterpreted, as HB users say something that is mostly a taunt and others interpret as actual argumentation. And it also tends to attract younger users, who… well, behave like young people?
Even if not a serious instance, they’re serious about their views. Your typical HB user is communist, antifa, vegan, anti-cop, and interprets things in a very specific way. They’re rather transparent about it.
And, because of #1, they aren’t really willing to spend their time entertaining anyone’s counterpoints. It’ll be interpreted as sealioning or similar.
Hexbear was already its own thing before federation. As such it developed social norms that often conflict with the norms typically found in the rest of the Threadiverse (Lemmy, Mbin, Piefed etc.)
For example, even if Lemmy as a whole is prone to intrusive political discussions, HB users tend to do it far more. Because they’re used to an environment where this is typically taken as OK.
When it comes to dealing with HB users here, my advice is the exact same as dealing with other users:
if you don’t like what someone is saying (because it’s idiotic, obstrusive, or whatever), block the person for some peace of mind.
if you’re consistently uninterested on the content coming from an instance, block the instance.
Is there something in the name requiring people to support fascism if it wears the right color?
Do some people fighting fascism (aka antifa) go overboard? Yes, certainly; that’s bound to happen with any movement, group, or cohort.
For example, someone might miss the target due to witch hunting, or adopt an “ends always justify means” mindset, or even conflate “non-suporter = enemy”.
However. By implying that “antifa is fascism wearing a different colour”, like you are doing, you’re showing to not understand the obvious difference between
individuals following an ideology grounded on xenophobia, nationalism, racism, militarism, censorship, suppression of your individuality by force, more often than not sexism, homophobia and transphobia; and
individuals who don’t want the shit above to transform their lives into living hells, including some willing to use force to fight back.
This conflation between both groups is not just immoral. It’s worse - it stinks stupidity and similar filth from a distance. As such I’m not wasting my time further with you, go chew some grass.
Plenty HB users are authoritarian. I disagree with them in this; however I don’t think that both things cancel out, given the fascism is orders of magnitude worse than authoritarianism alone.
The one dude I spoke that was decent and respectful asked for proof of the Uygher genocide, gave him proof, the proof wasn’t good enough. Gave him more proof told me it still wasn’t good enough. Figured it wasn’t worth it anymore because he’s denying everything I give him. Told him he has a movable goal post and peace be with him. Blocked the community and just found out today they banned me. There probably are people that willing to have a dialog, but the few are giving all a bad rep
I found the thread and you had several people read your links and go through them in detail. Most of what they’re claiming is traced back to crackpot Adrian Zenz.
As I said, if you go there and say wrong things and then can’t back them up, they’re going to be rude to you. Citing Adrian Zenz is one form of not being able to back up your claims.
Whoopsie! That’s already two. It was easy to find those because they were already pointed out to you (along with several other of your sources) in the thread that you’re complaining about.
Here’s a tip - when you post a source on this subject, press “Ctrl+F” then type “Zenz,” and if anything comes up, don’t post it. Obviously, I can’t expect anyone to actually read their sources before posting them, but is 6 keystrokes really too much to ask?
I have a rule that anytime anyone says something happened on the fediverse without providing a link, they are lying or mischaracterizing it literally 100% of the time, and that rule has proven itself yet again.
I think anyone who’s even remotely curious about hexbear should go make an account and just… Iunno, check it out? That’s what i did and it ended up being my home away from home.
Their viewpoints are gonna be absolute whiplash for most people unaccustomed to speaking about world topics from a non-us-centric perspective, or who have only learned about what communism actually is from our (definitely not biased) general education.
Calling those viewpoints “crazy” is just a shortcut, a base dismissal of thought unworthy of critical thinkers.
If you take me up on this, go lurk a bit! They can’t hurt you. If after awhile of lurking, you have a question (you will have questions) ask them from a position of curiosity that you’re interested in their perspective instead of one there to “educate the commies” and you’ll be just fine. Hell you don’t ever have to engage in politics at all there, hexbear has as many shitposts as the other instances do
I recall i went to hexbear because sh.itjust.works was defedding and erryone was just so mad at them i had to see what the fuss was about. Im very glad i did
If you’re saying I’m calling their viewpoints crazy, I’m not. I didn’t get a view point besides I’m pig slop, a piece of shit, brainwashed by the empire (whatever the hell that means), stupid, a basement dweller, and today, I think they called me a pervert
So this post is because you’re angry ya got dunked on? You can’t just post liberal political opinions (that would do well in liberal spaces) and expect them to fly in a commie space…
Wait, i recognize you! Ive argued with you myself! You definitely don’t approach hexbear with a perspective of learning something, and iirc you’re not the most respectful of other opinions haha! You been banned a couple times and still ain’t learned shit about shit. Should i pm you with those threads with explanations of what and where you went wrong? Id be ecstatic to teach you something today
I’ve said it multiple times. If I get talked to respectfully, I talk respectfully. If someone is a smartass, I’m a smartass. OP of the post yesterday was respectful so I had a conversation with him while everyone was telling me how big of pile of shit I am. I know why I got banned. You don’t have to send me anything. And I guess I’m up to 3 communities now because I said the same exact thing this morning. Someone calls me pig shit and I’m supposed to just be like “Hey. I’m here to learn”. No. Sorry. Not how I operate
But I will say our arguments must have went well because you aren’t on my ban list lol. So I’ll keep up with the theme of talking to you respectfully
Edit: And I’m not angry at all. It started out as a legitimate question of if I’m the problem on HB, and then are started reading experiences from other people, but I blocked the instance so neither of us have to worry about it. If you choose not to respond, I hope you have a good weekend
I don’t block people permanently, only for a couple days and then only if they won’t stop barkin. We didn’t have any discussions per se but i have to admit to you it was i who reported one of your comments as “debate pervert”. I stand behind that decision too, in that particular case.
I hope you have a good weekend too. I hope you come back around one day, as a lurker, with curiosity. Even if it seems unlikely in the face of the other things I’ve said, i really mean that.
Those aren’t good responses. The narrative of “poor Putin just had to invade Ukraine, don’t you see?” is bollocks.
Their weird insistence that anyone that doesn’t agree with them is a “lib” that needs “dunking on” is tiring. If you don’t show full-throated support for authoritarian regimes that they happen to like, then you clearly support Israel and genocide. They need to mature a bit, and realize that the world isn’t black and white, and it doesn’t neatly fall into convenient categories that can be nicely labelled.
This is my exact same experience. I ask for someone to elaborate on their stance, get told (not accused, told) I’m trolling. Ask for explanation/definition of a concept, get called an idiot shitlib and told to read some theory. Ask for civility, get told I deserve abuse for “endorsing genocide”. (By the way, I absolutely oppose the genocide in Gaza. But I’m a genocide supporter I guess because I won’t flush my vote third party this November.)
Hexbear is a community that expects you to conform. Every time there is a post like this, someone comes out of the woodwork and says “They’re nice people if you talk like them and agree with them on everything.” It’s cool that you’re not getting abused, but abuse is coming from that space, whether or not it is happening to you.
It’s a shame because I would like to hear the nuances of their viewpoints, but I can never get them to tell me what they are. Always complaining that nobody tries to understand, but dogpiling on anyone that asks questions. Then they pull up your report history and tell you “It’s just a little dunking bro, stop being a snowflake” for not putting up with it.
Users of Hexbear, if you’re reading these words, do better. Nobody is going to sympathize with your cause if you antagonize outsiders that want to learn more.
Well put. To be fair, there’s people that disagree with them that would ridicule them too. Everyone just expects people to be shitty. My opinion is we need to change the atmosphere altogether, but I can only control my own actions.
With that being said, I am guilty of a “gotcha” move to test the waters. I didn’t necessarily see it as disrespectful in the moment because the whole post was “Libs bad! Get the torches”.
I want to keep saying though that OP of the post was absolutely respectful, but our discussion just degraded because he kept refusing the sources I presented and it just went to shit after that. I even explained my comment to OP and apologized to them if I offended them with my comment.
But everyone else just proved that they’re garbage people that just want to treat everyone like shit and not try to educate or learn.
And now I guess people who often posts like that on HB are losing their mind because I’m criticizing them in a way lesser way they were criticizing me. I don’t get it lol
Your mistake was posting in the dunk tank. That is literally a “vent” sub where they vent their frustrations against stupid US empire propaganda takes.
It’s the dunk tank.
This is where you come to post big-brained hot takes by chuds, libs, or even fellow leftists, and tear them to itty-bitty pieces with precision dunkstrikes.
If you go there expecting reasonable treatment for your opinions, you misunderstood the assignment. That is a shitpost sub where only one side is right.
How do I know this? Because I went there once and got dunked on too! But that does not represent the entirety of hexbear. I think.
Tbf, they’d probably get the same responses from people who disagree with them. We as internet forum users need to change the environment so everyone can be included. However that would mean we as a whole have to agree what all-inclusive is
No, I find socialism and markets to be a capitalist compromise that still breeds wasteful middlemen. More regulated middlemen, but still. Communism is an economic framework, not a governmental one.
For sure socialism is a step up from cpaitalism, but I don’t think it’s enough.
Thats… kind of the opposite of socialism. Socialism, at least the ideal form, is when the ‘workers hold the means of production’, with no figure heads. This is closer to authoritarianism, with a charismatic leader commanding people to do things.
See this just reads as a complete misunderstanding of what communism is. The word Communism is derived from the word Commune, in which there is traditionally no standard power structure. Too much red scare propaganda. To me of the most prevalent feelings of authoritarianism in my life has been the boss/underling dynamic in the workplace under capitalism.
I’m pro communist economics and pro democratic governance. There is a reason the movement here in the US is towards “democratic socialism”, because they are two separate facets of a country. The governance (democratic) and the economic (socialism).
I’m not sure if you are saying what i said (that someone in charge sending his minions to harass someone is closer to authoritarianism), or him is a misunderstanding of communism.
I definitely should have used the word “communism” in my sentence, but since he used socialism, I didn’t want to change the subject from socialism to communism.
Being from Canada, and a huge proponent of social services and crown corporations, I’m definitely a socialist myself.
Nothing you’ve said seems objectionable, I can’t imagine what set them off.
Do you consider the party apparatus of say, Cuba, where every position is elected and has instant recall, and their last constitutional referendum passed with 90%+ approval, to be democratic?
I would definitely want more parties in Cuba on the governance side. One party is ripe for abuse. Generally the more the marrier.
Right now I think thier government is too large. Large isn’t necessarily bad, but a government should only IMO be as large as it needs to be to help its population. Of course on a political compass, I’m more on the libertarian end in terms of governance.
I think the economics of Cuba would be better if the US would stop senseless embargo.
Again, ideally we want strong communist economic and social fabric AND a thriving democracy to pick leadership. I think they are struggling on the latter.
Of course my perspective is the strict embargos are in place solely because the US really doesn’t want communism to work. If it worked somewhere, then it makes US capitalism look quite bad.
Obviously you can’t lump them all into one category, but the majority of them seem to be willing to cause chaos on other instances for a laugh. Doesn’t sit right with me, so i blocked them
It’s not just you. Like many people that get sucked into cults, you don’t want to directly engage with them. Just nicely encourage them to deprogram themselves, and focus on maturing and becoming an adult. They really don’t like get called out like that, based on my interactions with them.