Thread by @reddit_lies

🧵The Rittenhouse Effect🧵
How intentional selective censorship deceived millions of Redditors about Kyle Rittenhouse.

August 2020, just months before the election, an opportunity presented itself for Reddit leftists.

They realized they could turn the shooter in Kenosha, WI into the ultimate symbol of "American Fascism" as long as they steered the narrative.

And so that's what they did.

From the moment the event happened, Reddit's mods were on the case.

"Boogaloo boy shot 3 BLM protesters"

r/SocialistRA was already suppressing "fascist/alt-right" comments, most of which were likely arguing that he defended himself.

Contrast that post with this one from r/progun (that was posted just 5 hours later)

"review all footage before making your conclusions"

While providing readers with an incredible wealth of data.

A stark contrast from r/SocialistRA.

Immediately, news stories blew up with headlines attempting to craft a new identity for Rittenhouse. Those stories hit Reddit *hard* and it's clear what the goal was:

Turn Rittenhouse into the posterboy of "American Fascism"

And there was no better place to do that than Reddit.

Ideologically motivated moderators used their ability to control the narrative, warning users who defended him of being "murder apologists" who would be banned on sight.

This is the mechanism that entrenched the lies about Kyle, many of which still persist on Reddit to this day.

Dozens of mods began a mass censorship campaign against "Rittenhouse defenders" ensuring that no one dare interrupt the useful idiots who were crafting the narrative.

Ultimately, the mass censorship worked. Discussions about Kyle Rittenhouse on large subreddits were almost always filled with complete lies.

Here's 3 of the 4 most upvoted comments mentioning "Kyle Rittenhouse"

(Notice how the person defending Kyle was sent death threats.)

With everyone who dared to defend Rittenhouse out of the picture, misinformation took hold and spread like wildfire.

Users were rewarded by coming up with the most outlandish claims to demonize the new posterboy of "american fascism"

Useful Idiots and Biased Moderators worked hand-in-glove to control the narrative.

Some labeled him a "white supremacist" others claimed he "murdered black men in cold blood" while others still claimed he indiscriminately "fired into a crowd"

The smug hubris of uninformed leftists was a common sight on Reddit as they "debunked the fascist brownshirts" (people who said Kyle didn't shoot into a crowd)

Sometimes their takes would be met with resistance, but this primarily only happened on subreddits that were not ideologically captured by the mods.

Even the quietest voices of truth were instantly snuffed out.

To this day, Redditors still do not understand why he wasn't thrown in prison.

"He just wanted to kill black folks"
"That wasn't self defense"
"He shot an AK into a crowd of protestors"

(These comments are from within the last 3 months and all have heavily upvoted.)

I don't expect these lies to ever be truly flushed out of Reddit. The misinformation has become systemic.

The moderators enforce it
The userbase believes it

Reddit itself is the Ministry of Truth.