silencing the opposition creates an illusion of consensus. in the deluded minds of the terminally online, it is paramount to maintain that illusion.
in every remotely political discussion here, reddit opinions are allowed to be expressed as non-constructively as you please, but all dissent, no matter how factual and constructive, gets flagged within minutes.
They're not deluded. They're evil. By faking consensus you mint new converts because the false consensus affects the opinions of everyone new to the subject. The platform designers, moderators, etc, etc, know this and that's why they do it.
Apparently it's because the original headline had the unfortunate juxtaposition of "homelessness" & "experimentation"?
I wouldn't be so quick to call delusion/dissent when designers of our spaces have simply made it far too easy to turn private affects into public effects..
(& It might be rude of me to be so concrete.. so.. apologies)
in every remotely political discussion here, reddit opinions are allowed to be expressed as non-constructively as you please, but all dissent, no matter how factual and constructive, gets flagged within minutes.