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British person in America here. She does have a silly British name. Her references suck shit too.

The most important "British context" is that for self-important intellectual masturbators in Britain, transphobia is regarded as "brave truth telling that should be rewarded" and on BlueSky that same transphobia will get you yelled at and socially ostracized. That's what she's complaining about.

Above all, Jemima's politics aren't easy to categorise. She's probably left of some of her critics on many issues, thought not on others. If you're trying to infer a British person's beliefs from a photo from a reporting trip to Mar-a-Lago you're doing it wrong. (10/11)

Why do you want me to listen to people I don't want to hear? I am happy for the people who see my posts have consented. If anyone doesn't like my opinion, feel free to mute or block as you wish.

Nah, man. I don't owe anyone my time or attention.

I don't block people for what they believe. I block people for being annoying or threatening. I am not required to sift through annoying or threatening posts. There is no way my life is improved by annoyance & threats. Also: nobody has the right to be annoying or threatening in my general direction.

I disagree with just about everything here, but I'll agree that the labeling feature does have some scary potential if someone gets mislabeled. I would absolutely hate to be stuck with a label I feel doesn't apply to me, leading to rejection from broad swathes of the community.

My dude, I will block people for whatever stupid (or valid) reason I so desire, and I neither need nor want anyone's approval. Its my social media experience, not a round table panel discussion on CBS or whatever.

literally stop whining not everyone has to love you

I'd argue both parties benefit from getting blocked by people who are quick to block off lists. A) the quick blockers get the type of social media they want B) the block listed person doesn't have to deal with the type of people who block off lists Less strife all around.

suck my dick I'll block whoever I want whenever I want and you can fucking cry about it

I honestly don't mind being blocked by people who don't know me and don't care to learn. People can block me for any reason or no reason. It's no skin off my nose. Why should I give a single fuck?

It is actually great, though! (9/11)

This. I’ve seen eminent voices on UK Equality law [offering objective commentary] placed on generic ‘anti-trans’ blocklists simply for stating the law as it stands in respect to definition of protected characteristics etc. Blocking simply hinders understanding of the legal complexities involved.

Why would that matter?

Actually, it is great! I think I will block whomever I want to block for any reason I want to block, without even checking with any given cunt at the Financial Times.

What if I blocked her just because I found her annoying? Is that a mistake? Or do I have to do research to verify she holds certain views, and then it’s OK to block her?

rob smith did 9/11

What if I blocked her for publishing an asinine article based on unsupported premises and then whining loudly about people not agreeing with her instead of engaging with legitimate criticism?

It is great, actually. They don't need to have you in their business yelling at them about what you think they believe, and you don't have to be reminded of them ever again & can go on about your life. Not everyone at a party has to become besties, we can ignore one another and it's for the best

Do you really want to interact with people who can't figure out what plain text means? Perhaps best they sort themselves away.

The assumption that people even need to block at this irrelevant. Most "Nazi's", "extremism", "intolerance", etc tends to be reported and Bluesky Moderation Service applies a label to the users account, that if any other user sets to hide, they NEVER have to see. This is why I'm a fan of labellers.

Have you considered that some of us simply don't want to see propaganda disguised as opinion? Having an opt-in model for trusted sources is what I'm here for. Short of exclusively relying on scientific journals, this is a good way to hear what else is going on without a firehouse of falsehoods.

Bigger accounts gace out advice that for Bluesky - one should follow more accounts and then block more freely to get a better experience because of lack of algorithm. Maybe that advice needs to be revisited and people should be less trigger happy with block button.

I don't know who you are or what you believe, but I'm probably going to block you because you're whiny. It's perfectly fine to block people because you're just not interested in the things they say.

I will block whoever the fuck I want for whatever the fuck reason I want. Today might be "I Think You're A Nazi" Day. Tomorrow might be "I Think You're A Transphobe" Day. The next day might be "You Posted A Selfie Wearing A Yellow Shirt" Day. I'll do what the fuck I want.

I'll block whomever I wish to block, thank you very much. You have a right to free speech, not a right to force others to listen! I mean, what more do you want??? Y'all ran us off twitter, and now you want to takeover blusky, too?

it is great. if I was sitting at a cafe and overheard somebody loudly saying some dumb stuff I didn't like, I might just pop my headphones in and drown 'em out. and perhaps if I saw them next time I came in, I might get my coffee to go or sit outside. ideal feature to be able to do that online too

You can be a booster of things where the community doesn't like you. It's not disqualifying.

Oh no did they call your Nazi-symp columnist bad words? I guess the system is rigged! The whinging for subs here is pathetic.

So you're arguing not for a right to speak, but for a right to force people to listen. Bluesky is as much of an echo chamber as you make it. There are plenty of conservative voices here. What there aren't many of are trolls, and that's because Bluesky recognizes no right to force people to listen.

Here to engage with you!

A lot of British people on the left like me moved here over a year ago when it became clear how deeply Musk was going to impose his ideological position. We live in very different worlds in the same country.

I do not feel obliged to engage with anyone I don't want to engage with, and in the same way that I will put on my noise cancelling headphones for some lairy man at a bus stop, I will do the digital equivalent here. I already live in a world full of sexist right-wingers, thanks.

Anyhow, nobody is going to subscribe to your website for posh cunts by shaming us into, IDK, letting the Nazis back in our lives and conversations. We will just never take the Financial Times seriously. Not that I did before.

We're literally just going back to ignoring dickheads like you before Leon took over the other site you seem to think isn't fulla Nazis nobody wants to advertise to. Just talk like this in person and try not to get shouted at. It's not an echo chamber, you've just normalized being a fascist online.

You don’t have to say ‘British’ every time you can just say ‘bad’

I mostly agree with your defense of the piece and criticisms of Bluesky's reaction, but if you can deny the unintended hilarity of "Stokes Newington Drinks Party" I'm not sure the internet is the place for you. It's amazing. Making fun of something like that should binds all of humanity

Nobody should have to know 😭

Don't you think tons of people not getting her snooty British references suggests this place isn't exactly the echo chamber she assumed?

Her references about posh dinner parties aren't British references, they're well off London journo ones.

oh, we are all too aware that the recent influx brings along quite a few of knife crime island's lowest-density éminences blanc; that's the thing, ennit, we don't much care for TERFs or the hard-of-thinking

Surely Jemima is a well-known name in the US (not one without controversy though)?

And look, I know TERFism is mainstream in the UK, but it is considered vile in pretty much everywhere else.

I reckon some people are coming here like scout ants, and like scout ants, you have to make the place unwelcoming to them, or they bring the entire nest with them and they eat through the foundations of the whole house!

To be fair, that’s the only point I agree with him on. Americans do use insular American references to worldwide audiences all the time, but we just can’t be arsed to mock you for it.

Well that would be a great shame, as I think we provide a great perspective on US news from a more international standpoint. But some of our columns from British columnist understandably use British frames of reference. Americans do this all the time too, we just tend to be used to googling them! 🤪

"We should have a town square, not a walled garden" "This is just for me mates" Ok, Chief.

STFU you Nazi tosser. We're here too and we get it. She's another TERF witch with a lady boner for 70-year-olds that shit themselves. You're a dishonest prick.