Apologies if this is the wrong place for this. A few subs opened up and were discussing the possibility of extending the blackouts. The majority wanted the blackout to end to keep the influx of content. That was to be expected.
There was a disturbing tone in some of the messages though. It was a form of cynicism essentially backing Reddit to do whatever it wanted to the devs, and that it was wrong to protest the rule changes as we should be okay with whatever Reddit wanted. It was almost like learned helplessness. I genuinely found it to be disturbing. Is anyone else noticing this in their communities/subs?
It doesn’t need to be this bad. People are inherently capable of ugly, self-destructive behaviors like this.
But it’s ultimately a reaction to an environment which is profoundly inhumane. Although these people are physically unharmed, they have been mentally disfigured by the mechanical claws of corporations, manipulating their needs and desires in order to extract wealth. They are not themselves. And thus I pity them, because I have also done ugly things as a result of pressures applied to me by our resident corporate overlords. They know not what they do.
Some people are actually just assholes though. But not that many. Most are being led by the mob rn.