This blog describes my experience with moderators of a Reddit community message board. It is incidental that the events involved myself. It is useful to see how prevailing political bias regarding genocide of people of Gaza is present everywhere with similar dishonest and dehumanising arguments.
–
Reddit community UKPolitics states clearly in its rules for participation that “political views from a wide spectrum are tolerated here.” Like any online community or social media platform, Reddit is not necessarily expected to uphold high standards of integrity, honesty and professionalism, but UKPolitics community has over 470,000 members and it hosts Q&As with well-known people including politicians and so it is reasonable to expect UKPolitics to operate within realms of respectable and fair behaviour; in particular, it is reasonable to expect it to not operate with political bias.
–
On 12th January (2024) in a thread entitled Sunak authorises British airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Red Sea, in which the lead post was just a link to an article on The Times website (Britain and US launch airstrikes on Houthi targets), I posted the following comment.
“Everybody who supports the people of Gaza and who is opposed to the genocide should be fully supportive of the actions of Yemen and fully opposed to the military attacks conducted by UK and USA. No caveats, no conditions, no murmuring about Iran. Support Yemen. If you are, as any person with any concept of humanity would be, on the side of the Palestinian people in Gaza then it is entirely consistent to support Yemen without any criticism of its tactics. Support Yemen.”
–
On the same day I was notified by the moderator team of UKPolitics that I was banned permanently from posting in the community. (The ban applies to UKPolitics only and not other Reddit communities.) Initially, no reason was given for the ban. I checked the rules for participation in the community. Only one rule includes an immediate and permanent ban for a single post. That rule (listed as number 14 but described as Rule 21) is headed “Inciting violence or threatening behaviour” and states
“Comments or submissions which call for/incite violence or threaten direct-action against political figures, journalists, commentators and media personalities in a way that constitutes illegal harassment or intimidation may result in a permanent ban and may be reported to the authorities.”
–
I replied to the moderator team and referred to the rule mentioned above because it is the only one that allows an immediate permanent ban.
“I checked your rules for participation in UKPolitics and I cannot see any reason why you think my post violates any of them. The only rule that states an immediate ban is imposed if violated is rule 14 ‘Inciting violence or threatening behaviour.’ The post in question has no threatening behaviour and did not incite violence. It was a clear POLITICAL opinion and among your rules is the assertion that ‘Political views from a wide spectrum are tolerated here.’ I hope my ban was an error rather than political censorship. Please state exactly which rule my post caused a ban and why you think the post violates the rule.”
–
The moderator team responded:
“The Houthi movement is a political and military group which controls a large part of Yemen and says it is supporting Hamas by targeting ships heading to Israel.
Membership and expressing support for Hamas is an illegal act in the UK, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom and United States, as well as the European Union, have designated it a terrorist group.”
–
Yemen’s actions in Red Sea are in support of the people of Gaza. Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli military action and millions are without shelter, food, water and medical care. Most of Gaza is destroyed: Homes, municipal buildings, hospitals, schools, universities, water supply facilities, bakeries, farms. Aid convoys, ambulances, journalists and medical staff are targetted by drones and by snipers.
–
Yemen is not “supporting Hamas by targeting ships heading to Israel,” it is supporting the people of Gaza. UKPolitics moderator team chose to equate the people of Gaza with Hamas. Israel government’s single reason it gives for its genocide is that it equates the people of Gaza with Hamas. The moderator team said support for Yemen’s actions is “expressing support for Hamas.” That was an entirely politically biased comment. The “dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom and United States, as well as the European Union” are the counties that are actively involved in assisting Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza.
–
The key points about the behaviour of the moderator team are
- They included Yemen within its categorisation of Hamas
- They equated the population of Gaza with Hamas
The first point is political bias that aligns precisely with the political standpoint of the UK government.
The second point is exactly Israel government’s justification for its genocide of the people of Gaza.
–
As noted earlier, it is irrelevant if I am banned from a Reddit community. I give the above as an example of insidious support for Israel’s genocide.
ducksoap 