(no subject)

I feel like everyone moving to twitter has been really good for the trans community - I'm not sure why, but the level of conversation there is really strong and I feel smarter for being near it.

But gosh, occultists, man. I really want to make some occult friends there - and it does Not feel like the place. I'm on a constant unfollowing cycle where I'll find someone who seems reasonable and interesting, but all they put on my dash is witch discourse. & I'm sure that isn't who they are as a person, but twitter is just shaped to bring the worst out of people. I really hate that.

(no subject)

So pagan/occult scenes as a whole have a tendency to attract right-wing extremists, & without getting paranoid, it is important to be constantly low-key aware of this - esp if you're in any kind of organising role.

I really like this iconic tweet thread as a model for how to deal with it; its straightforward and rooted in clear moral strength.

There's definitely a time and place to be emotionally open for extremists (extremism grows in social isolation - both in terms of loneliness, and being excluded from social structures). But in practice, deradicalisation only works interpersonally (people who know & respect you), & with the remission of other factors radicalising them.

If you're in a position of community responsibility, this kind of deradicalisation work has to take a back-seat to creating places that are safe for the marginalised, and that means being both proactive and intentional about it. It means...keeping an eye out for extremist talking points and paraphabalia, and reaching for the metaphorical baseball bat.

(in practice, this means: blocking people; not promoting their content, be it books/videos/podcasts/tweets; telling them to leave events and not inviting them back)

I'm now entering my 30s, and my feelings on this have hardened, because I've seen well-intentioned "listen-to-all-sides" for years - it never seems to deradicalise or undermine extremist behaviours, reveal them to be foolish; and it frequently normalises such views, creating opportunities to organise and recruit, and excluding people who are most vulnerable to hate groups. It's not a strategy I have any more time for testing out.

More importantly - because ideas spread through networks - there's some pretty good evidence that banning and excluding extremists also stems the tide of their ideas. For example, election misinformation fell by 73% after Trump's twitter ban. That's a really dramatic example; but the same tactic works well at every level. & it starts with spotting that one chap in a nazi vest coming into your bar, and saying nope.