cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/40188039
Left-wing extremists have been showing “substantial activity on Lemmygrad.ml” with an accompanying increase in toxicity, a new joint study published by Binghamton University and Cyprus University of Technology on Arxiv says.
The researchers also identified posts that support authoritarian regimes, endorse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and feature anti-Zionist and antisemitic content.
“Overall, our findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of political extremism within decentralized social networks and emphasize the necessity of analyzing both ends of the political spectrum in research,” the researchers conclude.
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Users on Lemmygrad.ml frequently discuss […] China and North Korea, with many posts expressing support for them.
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Discussions [on Lemmygrad.ml] on the Israel-Palestine conflict primarily criticize Israel. While many posts condemn antisemitism, [the authors] also encounter numerous posts that extend beyond criticizing Israel, displaying anti-Zionism and even antisemitism.
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[The study] results show that users of Lemmygrad.ml frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, we observe anti-Zionist and antisemitic behaviors, which show similarities to right-wing extremism.
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Our analysis suggests a concerning endorsement of authoritarian actions and extremist rhetoric on Lemmygrad.ml, further indicating that left-wing extremist communities on decentralized platforms should receive more attention from the academic community.
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So this study’s definition of “extreme left” is “extreme right?” There is no such thing as “authoritarian left” as they are opposites by definition. Distributed authority is leftist, consolidated authority is rightist. There’s a reason we have a pejorative for left-cosplaying rightists.
There was a post on one of the science or science memes communities recently with a (badly done) study about how the world can support billions more people if only [long list of impossible things here].
Many of the commenters there were talking about how if we could just organise into far left anarchist militias, and violently overthrow all the governments to impose authoritarian rules on everyone like banning cars and animal agriculture, we could really have 10 billion people living in a perfect communist utopia on earth.
It was very amusing reading. /s
(For the record, I’m not opposing veganism or cars being bad. It was all the defending of bad science and talk of anarchist authoritarian regimes, which was so darkly funny to me.)
There is/was definitely an authoritarian left.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_socialism#Development
If you read your own link you find that what is being described is still rightist. A nationalized economic policy does not make an authoritarian government leftist. If a ruling class, be it dictator or oligarchy, controls the economy then it does not belong to the people and is not leftist. It is feudalism wearing different pants.
You can believe what you like. But you know what other people mean when they refer to “authoritarian left” and to pretend otherwise is just counterproductive. Good day, sir.
The term “authoritarian left” is dangerous cold war era misinformation and capitalist propaganda. It’s important to correct this doublespeak every time it happens.
Distributed authority would be anarchist or more broadly libertarian. You can have nominally left leaning authoritarians. The problem is, for all authoritarians left or right. Their authority is their priority. Economic leanings to them are a matter of convenience.
Whereas with more libertarian structures. The more libertarian you go, the more economically left leaning you tend to be out of necessity.
Depending on the definitions you use, anarchism and leftism are synonyms. Libertarianism, also depending on definition, is a subset of leftism.
Authoritarianism is always rightist, regardless of how “benevolent” it paints itself. Benevolent rightism isn’t leftist, it’s still rightist.