Banned from r/Anthropology for explaining Kennewick Man

34    11 Feb 2024 07:00 by u/exodusofficer

I was permanently banned from r/Anthropology for explaining a bit of the context around the ~8,500 year old remains of the Kennewick Man and NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, to someone who asked. It wasn't against the rules, but there was a mod comment threatening that "Blanket statements about how repatriation is anti-science will be removed, and possibly get you banned." I argued that it was presumptuous to assume what burial traditions would have been preferred by people who died almost ten thousand years ago. That's about it. I don't see how that is a blanket statement about repatriation being anti-science. Also, my comment is still up, so the mod didn't even follow through on removing it, just me. I sent a message asking for reconsideration but was ignored. I love anthropology. I have published in anthropology, and have anthropologist colleagues. I *despise* the anthropology subreddit and what it has become.

15 comments

14 u/PorQueNoTuMama 11 Feb 2024 09:38
Yeah, mods are openly abusing their tiny bit of power to push their bullshit beliefs. I got temp banned from /r/soccer/ for telling people that, no, koreans aren't terrified of fans and no, they don't believe that you'll die from them. But apparently koreans aren't allowed to talk about what koreans believe in LOL.
8 u/Carlos9944 11 Feb 2024 13:29
Have some pity on the mods. This is the one and only time in their little lives where they've felt important. Find some real scientists like yourself to talk to.
3 u/ctrocks * 11 Feb 2024 15:26
I got banned from RoastMe for posting an insane comment from a power mod on ShitPoliticsSays. The comment was something like 9 months old and the crime, posting a roast.... This was my comment to a bald person. "Did the sun reflect off of your forehead and blind them when driving, which then caused them to crash and die?"
1 u/Not-a-babygoat 11 Feb 2024 19:44
I can understand why you got banned.
1 u/IHaveAProbIem 11 Feb 2024 21:10
Yeah you def deserved that ban
1 u/ctrocks 11 Feb 2024 21:16
That was far from the meanest comment. It was RoastMe after all. And, why after so long?
1 u/AH_5ek5hun8 12 Feb 2024 19:10
Ha, thats fucking hilarious.
3 u/Rtfmlife 12 Feb 2024 00:03
Every sub is going to be like this before you know it. I post on the Dallas subreddit and the mods there are about 50 feet underwater in the liberal side of the pool like they are everywhere. Apparently one of them is a pitbull apologist so when a story was posted about a lady getting attacked by a pitbull he was going through deleting comments about pitbulls. Bunch of comments got posted about the mods etc etc… I was like, first time? How does that feel, fuckers? Reddit will be useless on any topic within a couple of years as all dissent is squashed.
1 u/haktirfaktir 12 Feb 2024 11:15
It's pretty much there, it's a real shame. Reading the back and forth and getting to know a new point of view was interesting while it lasted
1 u/TheInfidelGuy 12 Feb 2024 15:51
There needs to be some way for communities to hold mods accountable. I have no faith in Reddit to fix it but if someone were to create another site similar I would jump to it. Even the best intentioned mods can so easily become dictators with power that cannot be questioned. Allowing random people to have absolute power towards others just isn’t a good system. Especially when so much of everything is politicized and polarized. One wrong word and lifetime ban. I used to pay Reddit so I could skip all the ads, but fuck this site, never getting a dime from me again.
1 u/Rtfmlife 12 Feb 2024 21:02
The reddit admins are installing the mods to subs they deem "problematic" - so not only is there no recourse, for subs that used to be controlled by reasonable mods, if they don't mod in accordance with reddits policies (i.e. anything vaguely republican is "hate speech") they will be replaced. Has happened in every popular sub.
1 u/TheInfidelGuy 12 Feb 2024 21:58
So sad. I swear Elon should have bought Reddit before he bought Twitter.
1 u/revddit 11 Feb 2024 07:01
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1 u/Gary7sHotCatHelper 11 Feb 2024 22:36
Before I look it up isn't he also called the "Rude Man?" If so, I saw an Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World episode about it.
1 u/exodusofficer [OP] 11 Feb 2024 22:39
Nah, the Rude Man is a hilarious looking hillside carving of a man. Though, maybe some people use it differently?