If so, was it polled somewhere?

  • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    Seems like most of them either don’t like that we have an anti-lemmygrad community (which, honestly, TIL), or they don’t like that we have a noncredibledefense community.

    Basically we have a couple anti-communist communities.

    That’s the only reasons I saw in that thread that were actually related to our instance.

    • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      My reservation was specifically that the MeanwhileOnGrad comm has a charicature of Xi Jinping where his skin is colorized to be yellow. I think that turning an Asian person’s skin yellow as a charicature is racist, and I felt that allowing that on a comm reflected poorly on the instance. I don’t mind that people hold different views from us (as many on lemm.ee and lemmy.ml do), but we don’t tolerate racism or bigotry. Despite that, I did vote to federate, in part because it’s such a small comm.

      • can@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        While not a subscriber to that community, I’m 99% certain that’s merely to enhance the Winnie the Pooh comparisons he notoriously hates.

        Yes, upon reflection, them depicting an Asian person as yellow isn’t great, but I think the majority will see it just as Pooh.

        • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          21
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          While the comparison to Pooh originates from a meme in China, many of us would argue that the comparison in general has racist connotations especially when used in the West, and that that image is a perfect illustration of why we think that.

          We’d also say that the Pooh story has been exaggerated pretty wildly, along with many redditor memes about China. Rumors can get out of control sometimes, especially when people get dismissed for fact-checking and accused of being bots or paid agents, and so on. Winnie the Pooh isn’t banned in China, as some might believe, and it’s pretty easy to verify that by looking at the website for Shanghai Disneyland or searching “Pooh” on any Chinese platform such as baidu.com or weibo.cn.

        • brain_in_a_box [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          Winnie the Pooh comparisons he notoriously hates.

          This is such a reddit urban myth, in reality I’d be surprised if he’s even aware of the comparison.

          Also “it’s not racist to depict him as yellow, because it’s referencing another instance of us depicting him as yellow” doesn’t make it better.

    • can@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Thank you, those communities aren’t very serious so I didn’t even think of that. Users on the lemmygrad screenshot community do seem to be spending too much energy on something they dislike but that’s up to them. Better they have a place to contain it. As for the other, I’m still not sure I really understand it, but it doesn’t seem like anything worth hating an entire instance over.

      ETA: those are communities hosted here though, that’s nothing to do with our federation policies. I guess their silence speaks volumes here.

      • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Non-credible defense is pretty much just NATO- aligned defense/military memes. I could absolutely see some finding it offensive if the Russian/Chinese/Non-NATO military being competent and having good hardware is important to them.

        But yeah, your edit was my point- I didn’t see anyone talking about who we’re federated with. Most of the people that voted no just didn’t want to federate with anyone.