You know how left-leaning groups tend to purity test each other and in doing so miss the forest for the trees with regards to the larger mission?
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You know how left-leaning groups tend to purity test each other and in doing so miss the forest for the trees with regards to the larger mission? I'm worried we're seeing that in federated social web circles too. I'd rather see everyone lift each other up in service of the larger cause.
Edited to add: this was not a helpful comment from me. See discussion in the replies.
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@ben Yeah, what is viewed as purity testing by some is seen as basic ethics and values to others, particularly people who aren't the benefactors of systemic privilege and who have a different perspective. When you're building something, flaws in the foundation make the whole structure unsound. It's why White feminism exists (don't change the system, lean in to be the one fucking others over), Vichy Gays are a thing, it's how tokenism functions to undermine real systemic change, etc.
*This is not a pointed or pointing commentary, it's talking about how people in privileged positions, particularly White men who soak in privilege, use "purity testing" as a way to dismiss the less privileged. Also, everyone should be aware the whole "purity test" language comes from right wing antiwoke men who resent other people having a voice and power.
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@fifilamoura Thank you for this - I really appreciate the check. You're absolutely right and I should have considered my comment a little more before posting.
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@ben Thanks for hearing it! It's easy for us all to fall into this. The more privilege we have, the easier it is to fall into sort of running over those with less power to get what we want (and even be somewhat oblivious to what we are doing). Also, I suspect it's very hard to fully divest from the "move fast" mentality of tech and capitalism, and how that intersects with some very pivileged-male-centering libertarian ideas, without a lot of work deconstructing that intersection of individualism and exploitiveness. Dealing with complexity and interconnectedness (in real social and biological terms not the tech layer on top of that) is kind of the challenge of our times and necessary if we're going to resolve racism/toxic nationalism, the climate/environmental crisis and basic issues of fairness and equality.
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Great points @[email protected], and thanks for editing the post @[email protected].
I certainly don't agree with Evan's "the social web = Fediverse, Fediverse = ActivityPub" stance -- I went into detail why in the section on "Why choose a narrow, gatekeeping, ahistorical ActivityPub-only definition of the Fediverse?" in https://privacy.thenexus.today/is-bluesky-part-of-todays-fediverse/ Still, rather than just viewing it (or opposition to it) as a purity test, it's important to look at it in terms of how it benefits the larger cause he and his supporters are working towards.