echoes of Nazi ideology in many of Trump’s incoming policies.
Resisting the government on a large scale doesn’t feel possible, but everyday social media s over on D.O.G.E., but they can stop using his precious social media platform, X.com, and stop spreading links online.
The ADL might claim that sieg heil-like gesture could have been anything, but everyday Americans and international folks paying attention to our political clown show are pretty sure they know what it was supposed to mean. After years of bashing Elon Musk, Redditors are using the Nazi connection to rally against his multibillion-dollar company and ban any links to X.com in their internet communities.
The eXodus kicked off just over 24 hours after Musk’s salute, starting in some very unusual places. Though it’s almost impossible to track who started the trend, the first few posts this reporter saw came from subreddits like r/Gunners and r/LiverpoolIFC, sports communities with international bases.
Respecting the democratic process, s brought forth the suggestion to ban links from X.com. They debated the pros and cons of a sub-wide ban and added amendments allowing for screenshots and other workarounds before sub s — unpaid workers who keep things running smoothly — decided whether or not to enact the ban. Some subs like r/NFL and r/nba are still mulling the ban over, but many polls have shown that s are beyond enthusiastic to be rid of Musk’s links.
The call was relatively slow at first. Slowly, bigger subs representing cities like r/Ontario ed the conversation. It was quiet democracy in action until one unlikely sub carried the movement into a sitewide conversation by forgoing debate and unilaterally stating, “F*** this guy. X links are now banned from r/Newjersey.”
That right. The New Jersey sub had the courage to up and ban a Nazi right out.
The declaration lit a fire under other city subs like r/Seattle and multiple subreddits from lovers of the game Animal Crossing to fans of Dungeons and Dragons and even PC gaming enthusiast all propositioning s to enact a full ban of links to X.com. While many still maintained the Democratic lean, Jersey’s courage ignited an influx of other U.S. cities and states to rage against the machine.
Even r/Christianity ed the ban, announcing the ban by showing a gif of a Neo-Nazi saluting alongside Elon Musk. “As a Christian conservative Republican I absolutely despise Musk, this didn’t help his case,” one commented in the sub. Their comments were inundated with similar replies as disgusted s wanted nothing more than to be rid of X.com links. More than one was in favor of the ban just because s need s to view posts.
The r/BlackPeopleTwitter sub even put forth a motion to close the sub for good. Instead, s plan to mass migrate to BlueSky Social. “Say what you will about Elon. At least he did one good thing; he killed Twitter,” one joked.
It would do Americans’ mental health nothing but good to never have to see an X.com link again. Limiting engagement on other social media sites and deleting s might be a slow death for the platform, but it can encourage BlueSky Social drawing in celebrities as well, there’s no reason for those of us who find him intolerable to stick around.
Published: Jan 22, 2025 06:11 pm