I’m not sure how many of my readers use the social networking site Reddit, but there is some real drama going on over there. Reddit has a large community of about 50,000 atheists. For those of you unfamiliar with the site, you submit links for the community and people vote them up or down. Atheism is one of the largest groups on Reddit, yet we do not appear in the top 10 groups. A member on the site discovered that atheism is being censored just like porn or other 18+ stuff. While actual links submitted under the atheism category will appear, they will not under any circumstances appear on Reddit’s frontpage. That’s censorship in my opinion. Here is what the admin spez had to say in response to all this:
….Given the nature and sometimes polarizing tone of the content on the atheism reddit, it will likely always garner the ire of many other users. Showcasing religious flame-wars only serves to lower the level of discourse on the site as a whole, and unknowingly walking into such a flame-war isn’t the first-time experience we’d like new users to have here, which is why we think it best to leave things the way they are.
There are thousands of communities on reddit covering a wide range of topics. Most are for sharing new and interesting content from around the web, and others are strictly for discussion. We hope there is a place for everyone on reddit, and we also hope you realize not everything found on reddit is appropriate for the front page.
So atheism isn’t appropriate? The thing is, I bet if christianity’s group was large enough to merit them being on the front page there would be no problem. I have been a member for about 6 months, and I had assumed Reddit did not purposefully fuck us. The sad thing is, they did. The creator of the atheism group is also peeved:
A while back, I’m not entirely sure when, though the stats will probably show it, atheism disappeared from the list in the top bar. Knowing reddit’s principles, and what reddit stands for, I did not suspect for a single second that it had actually been censored – I had simply thought other reddits had gotten more popular during that time.
We have now come to find that this is not the case. And I have to say, it’s gut-wrenching.
Many have stated that seeing such a prominent atheist community at reddit prompted them to sign up, and stick around. The same is true of me, even before I had created the subreddit – there’s a great community of atheists here, who engage in lively, and intellectual discussions with fellow atheists, and religious people alike (in their search for the truth).
Of course we get some general bashing, and people being jackasses sometimes – this is people. But I have to say I have read some of the most engaging discussions in this subreddit.
Atheists have enough problems already. We’re censored all over the place (much less so in my country of England). To think that it could happen on reddit, of all places, is almost beyond comprehension.
The shackles of religion will never be broken if atheists are not given a voice; to spread logic and reason. We are pushed back at every turn — we cannot even rely on the educational system to do its job anymore, to teach children the fundamentals of evolution (which is not inherently atheist, but it is inherently logical).
This whole thing makes no sense. If you look around on the politics group or one of many others, you will definitely find topics that would offend some. Yet us atheists are the only ones getting fucked over. One last thing from the atheism subreddit creator:
I’m not going to suggest any kind of action, I think that’s for everyone to decide; but if I may simply suggest that whatever people do, we should remain calm and above all, ethical. I do believe that we’ll get back to the front page, back into the top bar, because it is the voices of reddit that make it what it is.
I’m not sure what action to take either. I submitted a comment in the feedback form on reddit. I ask that any atheists out there who feel this is wrong do the same. Here is a link to the feedback box. The sadest part of this is that I like Reddit. I post almost all my blog posts there for the community. There are great conversations held there, but if those corporate assholes don’t change things I will sadly have to leave the site. Let me know what you think about this. Also if you want more information, here is a great topic(On Reddit) about this problem: http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/9e8x5/so_we_all_know_were_censored_now_and_we_should_be/c0cfl9x
More from GodlessBlogger
- Carmina
- godlessblogger
- Rooker
