We’re not gonna take anymore

I use this as a title because Dee Snider is a huge influence on my opinion on similar topics. So, what is the bad space? Or fediblock? Or olphant? From now on whenever I say badspace assume I’m talking about all of those as a concept.

It’s meant to be a list of instances that are, for one reason or another, bad. The reasons may be from something like poor moderation to things like racism. Obviously racism and any type of *phobia are a bad thing so I can see why at first glance one may think that it’s a good idea to make such a website, after deeper thoughts I must say that I disagree though.

Now comes the part where I talk about Dee Snider, you may not like him, his music or both but I believe that we should judge something a person said for what it is, not for the person who said it, otherwise I wouldn’t enjoy Lovecraft stories, since he was a racist and many other negative things. But I digress. If you haven’t already done so you should check out Snider’s speech from 1985, it’s a great speech even outside of this context. The similarities between that situation and the situation with the fediverse and the bad space are the fact that someone is trying to tell you what should be considered safe.

In Snider’s case a label was slapped on his albums that was there to let parents know that the content was inappropriate for their kids, in our case thebad.space is there to tell us which instances we shouldn’t federate with. Admins, like parents, won’t even take a moment to see who is being added to the blacklist, they will just trust whoever adds them to it. Not a chance will be given. There won’t be time dedicated to know the individuals being blocked. Blind trust. Disregarding potential lies and bias. This also happens simply if you disagree with someone trusted by that majority. People will see you disagree with someone and take it as an attack to the person, not the idea shared.

This page? People will take it as an attack to the individuals, not as me explaining why I disagree with a concept and will add the raccoon.quest to the blacklist. This whole thing is a cult at this point and the cult leader will be defended by anything, even simple disagreement, everything is seen as a dangerous attack.

Another thing people like to do is guilt by association. You federate with that instance I disagree with?

You must be just as bad as they are then.

Why do I, an lgbtq member, federate and interact with homophobes? For the same reason a black man attends kkk rallies.

Ignorance causes fear and hatred. Some people are racist and homophobic not because they truly believe in that, but because they are ignorant, because they don’t understand. But there’s hope for a lot of people, a lot of them can be helped and saved. Sure, some can’t, but I’d rather take a chance and try. Those enemies can become allies tomorrow if you try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Creating connections with people leads to understanding which leads to empathy. Not creating connections leads to echo chambers and echo chambers have no room for growth of any kind.

I think some are creating these lists with good intentions, others maybe are doing this on a power trip. Regardless of the reason I think it only spreads negativity masked by positivity. I have seen people being labeled as racists, homophobic and whatnot that are quite far from any of those ideologies. These lists give no chance of redemption either.

Once a bad guy always a bad guy, they don’t even consider the fact that someone might become a better person with time.

If you are someone who follows those lists I hope you’ll take a moment to consider what I wrote on this page or even better get in touch with me so we can talk and maybe grow together exchanging points of view.

I find it very funny that in their crusade to make the fediverse a better place they go as far as to bully younger people, grown ups taking time of their day to herass young lads and lasses because they are not the carbon copy of the type of individuals they accept, they remind me of fascists. Ironic, right? It seems to me that the light fediverse is shining so bright it blinds people.

An arm with a sleeve labeled thebadspace comes from outside the picture, the hand holds a knife which stabs a book labeled fediverse, under the picture a caption says this is the enemy.