In 4 things white people can do to start making the fediverse less toxic for Black people (DRAFT!) and its cross-posts, quite a few people said things like “maybe racism is a problem on Mastodon, but I don’t see it on Lemmy.” Of course, plenty of comments in the various threads were in fact examples of racism on Lemmy, so one takeaway is that at lot of people don’t see racism even when they’re looking at it. And helpful commenters pointed out some of the other patterns of racism on Lemmy. … but that wasn’t really the thrust of that discussion.

So I wanted to ask more generally, what are some of the examples you’ve seen of racism on Lemmy? Quotes and links are great, but also feel free just to describe examples or call out more general patterns!

  • hanabatake@lemmy.ml
    151·
    4 months ago

    I did not see any racist comments for quite some time. But xenophobic comments were common on threads about Ukraine’s invasion.

    The anti-French sentiment is also present here like in the whole English speaking web.

    The French aren’t known for their hygiene so I am not surprised their river is filthy

    From a post about an olympic triathlete who got sick: https://lemmy.ml/post/18887659

    In Belgium: Tartare or Mayo. Andalouse for the gal, thanks In the UK: Salt and Vinegar In both cases: I will have to change seat if you plop yourself in front of me with your poor fries inundated by ketchup. Only the French do that, and it is a Casus Belli in my book.

    From a post about dipping fries: https://lemmy.ml/post/18963222

    • Tar_Alcaran
      710·
      4 months ago

      But xenophobic comments were common on threads about Ukraine’s invasion.

      As in “fuck the Russians”? Because I feel that hating Russia is somewhat less based on prejudice than your other examples, and somewhat more on recent real world examples.

      • hanabatake@lemmy.ml
        161·
        4 months ago

        There were xenophobic comments towards Russians, Ukrainians and Americans in these posts.

        Also, I don’t think people should insult the people of a country when they criticize its government.

        • lud@lemm.ee
          31·
          4 months ago

          True, but at one point as has gone so far you are complicit if you do nothing.

          Has it gone so far yet? I don’t know, but it’s worth discussing imo.