this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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This only makes sense if you assume that new people would be funneled into extremist Lemmy instances from other Lemmy instances, but it's far more likely that new people will be pointed toward such communities through other paths, and then they won't be exposed to competing ideas.
Don't misunderstand me - I'm not saying that hate speech, racism and sexism should be ignored or allowed to exist alongside other content on Lemmy. I am saying that trying to ignore that, separate ourselves from it, and pretend like it doesn't exist and doesn't affect us, is ultimately counterproductive.
They wouldn't be exposed to competing ideas if nobody defederates. They would subscribe to their own communities, where normal people would not participate, leaving only toxic ineffectual discussion.
Defederating is not ignoring the problem. It's an active choice. It's scooping the floaters out of the pool. It's a clear message that bigotry is not tolerated. When they get bored of their hateful shit they can come and have manners and enjoy cat pictures with the rest of us.
I will decline being the counterpoint for this bullshit. It's not a normal person's responsibility to educate bigots.
One nice benefit of this method is that people who spend too much time in echo chambers eventually start sounding like raving lunatics, which hurts their credibility in the real world.