So I decided to make a post in the subreddit for my nearest city. It was about development corruption by the University, and the fact that they have used money, power and influence to skip due process and corrupt both local and state government.
The first hour or so? Pleasant enough. Highly upvoted. Tolerant discussion. And then the fucking shills and trolls came. And they attacked. They attacked hard. Full on slanging match.
Guess what? Turns out they all, all work for the Uni, or at least claim to. We "outed" one of them as a fucking Zoom lecturer (surprise surprise that she referred to the fucking vice chancellor on a first name basis), after she had attempted to personally attack me, and even went for the full doxx.
It's crazy, there, now. Wild. Everything pointing out the obvious corruption, or widespread community disagreement (literally no one in the community, and off Reddit, wants this. Not a single person in any other forum, except for the manufactured consent on Facebook, has been positive. Not one) has been heavily downvoted, and every comment "supporting" the University, and saying how anyone in disagreeement is "dumb, ignorant hicks", have been highly upvoted.
It's frankly... Bizarre. Totally inorganic. Almost like they must have... People whose job it is is to to literally search out posts like mine, and run damage control. Like a very local version of hasbara, or Russian trolls...
Absolutely wild. I reckon they'll ban me, soon, for "being aggressive", or some bullshit.
Oh, and guess who one of the main "defenders" of the Uni, and the council, has been, all over social media? My old philosophy prof, at school, who was literally sacked for being an alcoholic ebebophile (you know, paedo for teen girls) and drug dealer, and has fled the country, but who feels the need to still comment on all local socials, because he is "a distinguished academic", and also happens to be "a philosopher", just like the completely corrupt VC of the Uni.
Former VC, who started all this shit, happens to have also been outed as a paedo, and sexual predator. Funny that. Almost like there's a pattern, innit?
Why are these places, and people, always like this? Lol...
Final point: I know Reddit isn't representative of "real life". At all. That was partly what I was arguing with these people about - that the community at large fundamentally disagrees with them. That's what made them so angry, too.
But... I do think that this sort of stuff is representative of wider issues, here, as I pointed out below. You know when a place has a dark, insular sort of vibe, and severe... What we call in Aus "tall poppy syndrome", where those who "stand out from the (in this case, "progressive") norm" are shot down, and eventually driven out of town..?
This is a real, genuine problem, here, and I don't want to sound like some sort of... Whining leftist, but I really do think that... There are better places than this. To live. At least for me.
Living here also contributed to giving me a chronic illness (MS). Like, with 100% certainty, it did (highest rates in the southern hemisphere, baybe! lol...), so...
Fuck it. I'm pretty done with trying to make this place work for me. I'm done with the "community" here. So... Maybe that's a good thing.
If you live in the US, imagine, I dunno, fucking Pennsylvania is what it comes closest to (including Quakers, very prominently, down here), probably. But with like, 1/20th of the population. Rhode Island, maybe?
Rust belt shithole with decent environment and fucking hipsters. Odd combination.
In Canada, I guess it's very much like any of the Maritimes. "Labrador of the South", let's say. or PEI.
For the UK, yeah, it's the North. Or fucking Wales. You get the idea, anyway...
Fuck this absolute fucking dump.