/r/conspiracylite
/r/hailcorporate has turned into another conspiracy subreddit. Here we showcase some of the craziness that comes out of it.
Please remember that this is simply a place to document ducks that appear in toast, nothing more. Please tell anyone who is misinformed about the purpose of this sub to read the sidebar.
/r/conspiracylite
This is the second version of my original Guide To /r/hailcorporate post because since writing the first one, something a bit hastily done and on a spur of the moment in the first place, I’ve figured out what exactly about /r/hailcorporate bothers me, and possibly others, so much. Like before, I’ll substitute HC for the sub link.
HC in principle is not a bad idea. Anti-consumption. Maybe not for everyone, but avoiding brand loyalty and reducing consumption of corporate products is a good thing. I would have no problem if that’s what it was, a group of people intent on reducing their own reliance and loyalty to products. That, however, is not what it is right now. Instead of making it a personal issue to overcome, they’ve chosen to be selfish and say that everyone has to conform to their ideology because apparently, they know what’s best for others and what they should like. It’s very similar to those who decry reposts, because if you’ve already seen it, who cares if others haven’t? Is it really worth the slight inconvenience to have to see something twice just to make the majority happy? A little hyperbolic, I know, but you get the point.
A lot of the hate for brands and ads (or things that act like ads) stems from the belief that they cannot both simultaneously be a form of art/entertainment and an advertisement. This is just plain false. There are plenty of pieces of art and entertainment that are made for advertising or contain a brand whether intentional or not. Take The Scarecrow video for example, if you haven’t already seen it. Whether you agree with the message or not, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t think of it as an art piece or at least a form of entertainment but then as soon as a Chipotle is mentioned, it’s somehow contorted into being neither. You have to be able to separate the content from its creator when it comes to art.
The last, and maybe least favorite part of HC for me, is their constant shill accusations. Chances are, the “shill” is just a regular user who is interested in a product or didn’t care to hide a brand in their picture. Companies have entire marketing departments just to make products and media entertaining so that they can go viral on their own. So that people actually want to see and share the content. You don’t need to be a shill to find travelling to space, automated cars, and games interesting. Of course, not everyone there thinks that every post is by a shill, but many do and instead of arguing in good faith why, they’ll dance around the topic, tell users to read the sidebar, and quote the part about how just because nobody got paid doesn’t mean it’s not an advertisement. They’re intentionally dancing around the issue and hide behind the text in the sidebar without taking a stance on anything. What’s worse is that they’ve obfuscated the word “shill” so that you can never call them out on it when they use it. In HC, “shill” both has the meaning of someone who gets payed to advertise while pretending to be a regular user and the meaning of someone who unintentionally advertises a product. This only helps them to move the goalposts and says nothing about what they think. Another thing they love quoting in the sidebar is how it’s merely a place to document ads. This is not true at all. If it was just a place to document ads only, then it would be completely unbiased and empty of any discussion. At least get rid of the merely part if you want to be honest. The sidebar of a subreddit doesn’t dictate what a subreddit is. This subreddit for example, is merely a place to document ducks that appear in toast. I have yet to see users follow the all-powerful sidebar and post pictures of ducks in toast though.
Now, why did I call this place /r/conspiracylite? Well, besides the fact that 4 of HC’s mods have extensive post histories in /r/conspiracy and conspiracy subs, and some others being involved in far-right subs, both focus on the big boogeymen shills being everywhere, both have a big far-right influence, and both try to grasp at straws to prove something while ignoring anything that shows the opposite.