Pages

Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Drama in Lebanese Reddit groups

Reddit has at least two Lebanese groups. One is r/lebanon and the other is r/lebanese. 

The Lebanon group is surprisingly sane. It seems to allow Israelis into its discussions and it has plenty of people who, while certainly no fans of Israel, hate Hezbollah and how it has put them all at risk.

The Lebanese group, and similar groups like r/lebanesememes, are essentially pro-Hezbollah mouthpieces and they do not allow a civil conversation with Israelis or even Lebanese who hate Hezbollah.. They believe and repeat whatever conspiracy theories they can find; they are convinced Hezbollah is destroying the IDF and they think Israel staged October 7 for some weird political gain no one can quite describe.

People in the Lebanon group have decent conversations on such topics as 




People in the other group (and other Arab groups) complain about the Lebanon group as having been taken over by hasbara. They even make antisemitic jokes about it:


It is considered bad form on Reddit for non-members of a country to hijack a country subreddit. I don't see Israelis doing that but they do seem to participate respectfully. 

There is one subreddit where Israelis and Lebanese are equally welcome: r/ForbiddenBromance. Discussions about the Palestinian issue are banned to keep things civil. And they give instructions for Lebanese to use the group safely - technically it is a violation of Lebanese law to talk with an Israeli altogether! Reading that group gives one hope for peace one day.

But then going sand reading r/Lebanese makes that optimism dry up very quickly.

\



Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!