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There are more racists in NYC than in Boise Idaho. Because no one lives in Boise.🤷🏿‍♂️

But there's a much bigger Black community in NYC than Boise. Safety comes from the Black community. Not the NYPD. Not Long Islanders. Not Trump voters in Queens.

Stop asking why Black folk are still on Twitter.

@mekkaokereke

I usually agree with everything you write. But I'm going to say it:

Twitter isn't a public space.

Comparing two cities which are both public spaces, to one public space (mastodon) and one private space (twitter) is difficult.

Why people choose the private party is a serious point worth acting on. No problem with that argument.

The research suggests people left twitter too quickly anyway. A more protracted campaign of inviting folks over would have worked better.

@doctormo

🧔🏻‍♂️"Twitter is a Nazi bar."

🧔🏿‍♂️"They are all Nazi bars."

Tom Bellin :picardfacepalm:

@mekkaokereke @doctormo That isn't fair. The tools that trans people used to make a safe social media environment for trans people could be used to make a space for black people.

I think it's more complicated. There's a twisted symbiosis that happens on Twitter and FB (and eventually BlueSky).

On those platforms, people share posts of people they hate more than they share posts of people they like. The algorithm puts "controversial" content in peoples' faces.

@mekkaokereke @doctormo The pitch is: Come to the fediverse. You'll still get harassed just like on Twitter, but you won't have the controversial shit thrown in your face.

But in a way, taking away the controversial stuff is worse than the harassment. Black Twitter thrives on that. Living in that hostile space and contradicting the narratives affirms that community.

Without the nascent hostility, there's no Black Twitter. Perhaps that's too bluntly put, like I said it's more complicated.

@tob @mekkaokereke @doctormo

Nothing about this is "fair" to Black people.

In the long run, maybe #Mastodon and the #Fediverse could become a better haven for Black people. But that will require a lot of work and self-reflection by the people who are currently shaping the discourse around here - starting with reading up on why #BlackTwitter bounced off so hard around here.

And it goes further than that - I mean, by all accounts Mastodon is still overwhelmingly white and European / North American. There is very little representation from, say, Africa or South Asia.

And if people from these communities don't come here because they feel they would be screaming into the void... well, the best we can do is listen to the concerns of those who _are_ sticking around.

@tob @doctormo

"That isn't fair."

It's super fair! 🙂

"The tools that trans people used to make a safe social media environment for trans people could be used to make a space for black people."

Could. But haven't been. For reasons.

"I think it's more complicated."

No, it's not. 🙂

"There's a twisted symbiosis that happens on Twitter and FB (and eventually BlueSky)."

And here too. People really believe Mastodon is some type of utopia, and it's not.

@tob @doctormo

"On those platforms, people share posts of people they hate more than they share posts of people they like. The algorithm puts "controversial" content in peoples' faces."

That's just not true. On TikTok, non-controversial stuff is shared much more. On Pinterest, non-controversial stuff is shared much more. On Instagram, non-controversial stuff is shared much more. Let me know when you see a pattern!🙂

It's a choice to optimize for 4chan-like content. It makes you *less* money.

@tob @doctormo

"But in a way, taking away the controversial stuff is worse than the harassment. Black Twitter thrives on that. Living in that hostile space and contradicting the narratives affirms that community."

Excuse me?

"Without the nascent hostility, there's no Black Twitter. Perhaps that's too bluntly put, like I said it's more complicated."

OK I'm out. ✌🏿

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io @tob@hachyderm.io @doctormo@floss.social

People really believe Mastodon is some type of utopia, and it's not.
sigh extra loudly

People really be like decentralization would magically solve everything huh.
All decentralization
promised to solve is the freedom to choose between instances, anti-capitalism (Anti big tech, actually) and SPOF (and it failed to deliver on the last one rather miserably, with a huge number of instances on a few IDC providers). Why're people hailing Mastodon like they're some magical silver bullet, especially towards social issues?

scratching my hair

Update: spelling fix, development of the anti-capitalism bit, and "social issues" part.

@bitmaker@mastodon.social @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io @tob@hachyderm.io @doctormo@floss.social

It
could, but it can't be solved by technologies alone, other factors MUST weight in. Used correctly, technologies can help activists advance social changes, but it still boils down to the actual people.

For example, I've seen queer communities on the fediverse saying that fedi software helps them build safe place here, but actually what they did still, in its core, is the good ol' "we keep outselves safe" or "community defense". Mastodon and other softwares merely provided the necessary (albeit quite raw) moderation tools for instance owners to keep themselves and others safe.

As a counter-example, also a bit of personal experience, many Internet users in China uses censorship circumvention technologies like Shadowsocks (its protocol is also used by Google in Jigsaw's Outline VPN) and v2ray to access the outside Internet blocked by Chinese government. These technologies are essential for Chinese Internet users to express their opinions without fear of platform censorship, platform sell-out (as in, notifying the police sbout this user) or internet blockade. But there are also people that uses these tools only to view porn, or much worse, doxxing dissidents who express different opinions on platforms and report them to the government. For those people, you cannot say technology is advancing meaningful social changes.

(for the record, I have no problem with people viewing porn, they're just watching what Internet should offer but didn't (that's quite cruel), I just think that they're not really advancing social changes by using these technologies to browse porn)

You see. Technology does help, but it helps
only because people have the will and ability (learning how to operate those moderation tools and so) to do so, not because technology itself have the capability to magically solve social issues. In other words, social issues can be solved with technology, but not solved by technology.

(apologies if there's something I didn't describe clear enough, English is my second language, please help with correcting them if you can, thank you)

Update: Speak of the devil, spelling and grammar correction
:neocat_melt_sob: