this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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Hello all, it is with a heavy heart that I must admit that I have become the drama that I always sought to avoid for this server. In this case, I could easily let sleeping dogs lie, but I'm somewhat exhausted and I don't really see the point of continuing here if there isn't some semblance of justice or rational thought to be found. More to the point, if Lemmy continues to display outright hostility and toxicity towards Americans at every turn, there is virtually no chance that this platform will ever develop beyond its current fringe status.

Although this server is based in Canada, I think we probably have a good number of Americans, and also despite recent events I think Canadians and Americans are fairly similar and have historically gotten along quite well with one another. I'm curious if a more diverse array of people will find any value in my actions, or if I'm truly just shouting into the wind. Strap in, because this is gonna be a long one.

This all started yesterday when @DankOfAmerica@reddthat.com made a post to AskLemmy. The original post read as follows.

I responded here. I had indeed noticed the constant derisive comments regarding Americans, although I didn't agree with the assumption that such comments were made by Russian/Chinese agents, and stated as much.

In my view, the responses to both OP and myself in that thread constitute clear evidence that at least one of our assumptions was true. In response to being called out on their hateful behavior, a number of users proceeded to double down, attempting to gaslight myself and OP and even suggesting that we were actually the Russian spies πŸ•΅οΈβ€β™‚οΈ

Several hours later, one of our users decided to make a post "exposing" my behavior on !yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com. Despite the fact that I hadn't utilized any moderator powers during this saga, he found my words to be offensive enough to post on said community. The post was eventually removed because it was unsuitable for the community, but not before I had replied in defense of myself. This was unfortunate, although understandable, because I felt that my response was something that Lemmy users could benefit from hearing.

I made this post because I want my fellow sh.itjust.works users to judge whether my actions and thoughts were reasonable, and I also want to expose this individual for what they are. My first option was !fediverselore@lemmy.ca, but it's not allowed to post drama that you're involved in. Also, I'm not really looking for the opinions of people who subscribe to drama communities on Lemmy, but rather the opinions of the average sh.itjust.works user. So here's the screenshot of the removed post.

Here's my reply.

It'll probably be easier reading if you go to my profile and/or his profile. Although the post was deleted, the comments should still appear in our profiles.

To summarize, this user bullied a brand new user into deleting their account, responding to an innocent, highly upvoted meme with this comment

He let’s me freely hang out at his nice place full of amenities so I can’t badmouth him

Lmfao, no, you can, you just like the taste of boot, and the benefits he gives you (that he only has because he exploits people like you) too much to.

Also, those last two points in the meme, as well as this being your only post on a new account strongly suggest that this is a troll, or at the very least, a really sad LARP, rather than observations made by someone who has ever spent any time at all with any actual rich people.

Two days later, he decided to call me out for mod abuse, despite the fact that I hadn't removed a single comment of his. Now he's decided to move over to lemmy.dbzer0.com, thank goodness.

But overall, aside from the specifics of this drama, I also want y'all to render judgment on whether or not Lemmy tends to exhibit a toxic attitude towards Americans. Notice that I said Americans, not America. I don't give a shit if people criticize and blatantly shit on America for the decisions that our government makes. But it's far too often that Lemmy users go beyond that line and decide to hurl personal insults towards Americans, often in completely non-political communities. I've always had thick skin and an open mind, so if I'm getting annoyed by it, my assumption is that most other Americans will find it intolerable. And although we don't need to be a majority American site by any means, the sheer numbers dictate that if Americans find this site intolerable, it will never achieve mainstream success.

And if I hear one more fucking person say that America only joined World War 2 after it was already over, or that we were cowards for not joining sooner, I swear to God I'ma start criticizing the metric system again πŸ˜‚

EDIT:

Thanks for the replies, I'll try to be less of an arrogant prick going forward and in return I'd like people to reflect on my words from time to time. My primary motivation is making Lemmy better and having more diverse viewpoints, I wouldn't have called anyone out if I didn't feel that some of you are creating an environment that is self-destructive towards our goals in that regard. But maybe I'm overreacting, I would just ask you to put yourself in other people's shoes before making comments, and remember that we're all on the same team here, even the North American Scum

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I don't think its Europeans being jealous but instead that Lemmy attracts the kind of Users who are more anti western/capitalistic (and the US is literally the definition of capitalism) and also users being dickheads about it. Just because Americans have to live and participate in a system that's quite shit, that doesn't mean that they are directly responsible for it and I think that this is something a lot of people forget.

[–] awwwyissss@lemm.ee 3 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

I've almost stopped using Lemmy because of the kind of content you're describing. I've never even told anyone I use Lemmy because I don't want them to judge me by association. The politics on here is extremist, hateful, divisive, and non-fucking-stop.

I disagree that it's not CCP/Kremlin bots and shills. I think a LOT of it is. Without ongoing support from those malicious authoritarian governments, Lemmy.ml, lemmygrad, and Hexbear would have half the content and engagement.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago

Have you tried blocking political and news communities? That helps to reduce this kind of content

You got a point, it is difficult to sort out the bots from the tankies when it comes to international political content here or on lemmy.world. I don't want to yell at tankies any more, they are real humans who are literally earning their bread.

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago

Yeah it's bad, so bad that even trying to call it out gets you attacked. I definitely agree that there could be shills, but surely there have to be more real users than shills? In which case we just have to make sure that the real users don't fall victim to the divisive tactics of the shills. I haven't given up yet, I'm a stubborn bastard.

[–] archomrade@midwest.social 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I can't think of anything more american than complaining about anti-american bias while accusing everyone else of just being jealous

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago

Thank God, they bought it - Russian agent imaqtpie

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 17 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

That's a shame, OP, you always seem like a pretty collected and calm voice, it's disappointing to hear you're a dang dirty fed/commie/fascist/Russian/Chinese/Soros/Thiel agent.

[–] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Neighbor: "He seemed so normal..." Background is full of barbie dolls hanging from the porch, the azaleas....

[–] MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Nooo, not the Barbies πŸ₯Ί

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 5 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, look who's back! I thought you had left for good, that might have been part of why I've been so depressive lately πŸ˜…

[–] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Ha, I just retired from modding NCD, you'll never be rid of me. In the immortal words of Baby Cookie, "I live inna walls, u gonna hafta get me out with a priest!"

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Well this is awkward, I was actually talking to Margot... πŸ˜…. But I would be equally depressed if you were to leave, verity. Obligatory shout out to @Cracks_InTheWalls, another one of my favorites.

It's nice to have funny and kind people on Lemmy. The battle for levity is never-ending, and more brave soldiers fall to misery with each passing day. But a well placed shitpost can usually revive our fallen comrades.

Word. Powerful message I'd like to see pinned everywhere at this time of year. Might help a user to put off doing something drastic for another day. Of course, I'd give such a message a Christian spin and ruin it. XD

[–] spinne@sh.itjust.works 14 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I'm an American. I'm not one of the "good" Americans, though, since I'm disabled, not Christian, not capitalist, and not white. I've spent my whole life getting shit on as a third-class citizen by Americans steeped in American culture and public school education that has, at every turn, preached American exceptionalism and pulling oneself up by their bootstraps while totally ignoring every benefit offered to them and withheld from people like me.

I think that you've been lucky so far, but now that you're being asked to sit the fuck down and listen while other people talk, you're taking it badly. After a lifetime of privilege, it's really easy to mistake being brought into line with everybody else's equality for oppression; please don't do that. It's a bad look and sets you up to feel bad unnecessarily.

There are like 8 billion people on this planet and you're one of about 330 million Americans. It's pretty reasonable that your perspective isn't the majority opinion, and that other people from other countries may also think their home is the best possible place to live and everyone else is an unlucky chump. Instead of dismissing all the critical comments as the kvetching of the jealous, unwashed masses outside your borders, it may help to look at them as nothing more than other people sharing their own viewpoints. Also, reading about events like Juneteenth, the MOVE bombing, the Kent State massacre, the Jackson State killings, and the Tulsa massacre may help you better understand why people from other places side eye Americans.

And seriously, the metric system is based on the physical properties of Earth and base 10 counting, not dead oppressors.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 points 5 hours ago

the metric system is based on the physical properties of Earth

Not really. Official units are defined in that kind of way (a metre used to be a certain fraction of the circumference of the Earth, though it's now a certain amount of time travelled at light speed), but the definitions are arbitrary and used to justify defining the base unit how we want it. Metric's superiority has nothing to do with metres being better than yards or kilogrammes being better than pounds. It's this part:

and base 10 counting

As well as the fact that derived units all fit together nicely.

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[–] SoftTeeth@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

I'm American, we are rapidly turning into this century's Nazi Germany.

This is not a drill, pay attention to reality

[–] stormdelay@sh.itjust.works 83 points 1 day ago (23 children)

While you are probably correct that criticism of the USA (and of its citizens) pops up too often in unrelated topics, I think that you are basically just discovering what it is to not be the ultra dominant demographics on a platform. It doesn't mean it's right or anything, everyone should strive to make Lemmy a welcoming place, but it's certainly going to take work on both sides. That said, I would like you to re-read some of what you wrote:

and their obvious jealousy and insecurity regarding Americans

For one thing, my command of the English language rules that out, which isn't something I can say about many of you.

America controls the world, and Europeans are salty about it. I didn’t even realize how salty until I started using Lemmy

I swear to God I'ma start criticizing the metric system again

The amount of condescension dripping from your comments is frankly off the chart, and you should maybe take a minute to ponder whether you are actually behaving as you preach, rather than just being in your own American circlejerk, as you might have called it had the shoe been on the other foot.

In any way, being an admin/mod is a thankless task, so I for one appreciate you for doing that, and maybe everyone can learn a bit from sharing a community.

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