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My two most recent columns for
spiked dealt with
cancel culture and
hate-crime hoaxes. Thanks to the internet being what it is, events during the past month have provided me with a perfect real-life combination of these two trends.
On 29 July, Reddit, the self-proclaimed front page of the internet, deleted a popular 'subreddit' (a type of forum specific to the platform) dealing with hate-crime hoaxes. (Those so inclined can check out what is now simply a blank page
here.) That same day, Reddit also deleted a number of other popular subreddits, including the r/GenderCritical and r/TrueLesbians/ - forums known for hosting debates by female feminists about the role of
trans women in the feminist movement - and a subreddit devoted to female reproductive-health issues. It also deleted r/HBD - short for human biodiversity - a page which focuses on questions of
race and human genetic variation. For good measure, the site also kicked off what may have been its most popular right- and left-wing political forums respectively: r/TheDonald/ and r/ChapoTrapHouse.
The explanation Reddit gave for banning all of these communities was that they 'promoted hate'. Having been on Reddit, this is probably not a wholly baseless claim. It is hard not to notice a small but noisy contingent of alt-righters on the HBD forum, alongside biology grad students and Charles Murray fan-boys, who seek an (elusive) wholly genetic explanation for small differences in traits like tested IQ and running speed. r/GenderCritical was attacked fairly often for criticising both straight males and trans women - often for the same reasons. And, certainly, both r/TheDonald and r/ChapoTrapHouse/ were known for crude, if often funny, memes mocking everything under the sun.
Comment: This is just one example of how the Covid panic can affect those who aren't of completely sound mind in the first place. We're sure there many more stories like this, some with undoubtedly more tragic endings.
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