[deleted by user]

It was really frustrating for members of the sub, because there had been discussions recently and offers of help from people with a background in journalism and PR who completely accurately pointed out that the media would be looking for a peak absolutely stereotypical representation of everything that the bootstrap crowd thinks that workers rights activists are, to say they spoke on behalf of the sub so that they could get them on TV and make the entire movement look bad. They offered assistance with media training, information, links, doing free PR, all to prevent the trainwreck that everyone could see coming. Reportedly, the mods actually agreed that the person that they put on the air was the best one to speak for them.

r/antiwork was always sort of a weird place. It was created years ago, with the true intent to abolish work and replace it with eco-Anarchism, so that's where the mods were coming from. After memes posted there hit /popular and in the absence of another sub more suited to just general advocacy for workers' rights and reforms, that's just kind of where the 1.6 million members settled for lack of a more general-purpose place, with a moderator team that resented their exploded population that increasingly didn't represent the ideals that they wanted to highlight.

Now that the sub has gone private, some people have settled over on r/workreform which has picked up about 10k subscribers in just the last couple of hours, but it remains to be seen what will happen to /antiwork and if /workreform can pick up the slack, getting back to the front page of Reddit levels of popularity.

Comment by dirtyhandscleanlivin at 26/01/2022 at 20:03 UTC

2838 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Jesus lol someone already edited the Wikipedia page for r/antiwork. “…was a former subreddit” 😂

Comment by [deleted] at 26/01/2022 at 20:14 UTC

2394 upvotes, 4 direct replies

[removed]

Comment by Watermelon-Slushie at 26/01/2022 at 19:57 UTC*

6251 upvotes, 5 direct replies

I love old fashion Reddit drama like this. Its been a while

Comment by DeeYouBitch at 26/01/2022 at 20:00 UTC

743 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It was such an amazing meltdown there needs to be an antiwork award for drama.

What a brutal way to nuke your own cause

Comment by lebronto_baby at 26/01/2022 at 20:53 UTC

1721 upvotes, 2 direct replies

That interview right there is why I don't tell anyone I use reddit. That's how the average person sees a Reddit user lmaooo

Comment by Culverts_Flood_Away at 26/01/2022 at 20:12 UTC*

5163 upvotes, 5 direct replies

For the uninitiated:

FOX News approached user abolishwork to do an interview with them regarding the /r/antiwork subreddit and its goals. abolishwork is a top mod of the subreddit, and was given the go-ahead by the other mods to do the interview, because they "have done media interviews before," or something to that effect.

The old-school /r/antiwork mods are more in tune with the idea that people shouldn't have to work at all just to survive, which is sort of at odds with today's more popular take on the subreddit, which is more that workers are fed up with being abused by exploitative systems that keep them from organizing and demanding better standards. That's perhaps relevant to what happened during the interview with FN.

abolishwork, or Dorreen, as they are known in RL appeared on the show with poor lighting, weak camera, a disheveled appearance, and a messy bedroom background. Dorreen explained that they work 25 hours a week as a dog-walker, and that they shouldn't have to do that to live. Basically, they handed FOX News the perfect caricature of a lazy millennial who doesn't want to work. Not only that, but Dorreen is also nonbinary, autistic, and was entirely unable to sit still and make eye contact with the camera. I wonder if the /r/antiwork mods could have chosen a less favorable candidate to represent them and their subreddit. :/

The subreddit members are up in arms about the interview, both because they weren't consulted about it and feel as though they have more skin in this game than the mods do, and also because they feel as though Dorreen didn't represent them or their goals at all. There have been complaint threads and criticisms flying all day in the subreddit as a result, and Dorreen has been banning people left and right for "transphobia" just for criticizing them on their interview. I suppose the mods are now tired of seeing all of the anger and complaint threads, and they're going to do something about it. What that is, I have no idea.

Edit:

/r/WorkReform has now hit the top of /r/all, along with this thread[1], purporting to sound the death knell of the /r/antiwork subreddit.

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/sde4zh/the_post_responsible_for_shutting_down_rantiwork/

Comment by Jasper_Buckleman at 26/01/2022 at 20:41 UTC

1896 upvotes, 6 direct replies

Imagine having your burgeoning labor movement get to the cusp of mainstream media attention only to be effortlessly destroyed by a smirking rutabaga like jesse watters, it’s like dying in the tutorial portion of a video game

Comment by sundown1999 at 26/01/2022 at 19:58 UTC

330 upvotes, 1 direct replies

They managed the worst possible course of action, bravo

Comment by [deleted] at 26/01/2022 at 20:56 UTC

331 upvotes, 2 direct replies

I was wondering which way antiwork was gonna go in the beginning of the year. I figured it was gonna be a bigger push/movement with some steam or just flop.

Didn't expect it to totally chokeslam itself into a table though.

Comment by Bobo3076 at 26/01/2022 at 21:45 UTC

553 upvotes, 2 direct replies

This is one of those moments that are going to appear on an AskReddit thread in a few years time about the most memorable things in Reddit history, alongside "I also choose this guys dead wife".

Comment by Finito-1994 at 26/01/2022 at 20:18 UTC*

2439 upvotes, 5 direct replies

Honestly. This was kinda hilarious. This person decided to speak for the movement because if they didn’t then the segment would still be aired but no one would try to contradict it. So, they decided to just do it. “At least I did something”

Shitting the bed isn’t the same as not shitting the bed.

So, this spokesperson (yes. You’re speaking for the movement. That’s literally what you are.) went on Fox News disheveled, hair messy and said that working 20 hours is too much. A dog walker who barely worked was representing a movement. They decided that they’d fight off the stereotype that r/antiwork is full of entitled, lazy millennials who just want money for no work by literally proving every point right.

And their comment about learning to make eye contact is hilarious. “I hate eye contact and societies insistence on it so I won’t work on it.”

You know what? Fair play.

But if you struggle with basic stuff, don’t do the interview. Fox News requested them. They picked them perfectly. They didn’t even have to try. The mod Took out the movement out back and shot it themselves. Bold move.

This was the most obvious trap since the Greeks gave the Trojans a big wooden horse. Except the Trojans, in this scenario, burned down Troy themselves. Greeks didn’t even come out of the horse.

Comment by ItsDominare at 26/01/2022 at 21:40 UTC

493 upvotes, 3 direct replies

"We're not here to talk about me."

All she needed to say.

Comment by Keytarfriend at 26/01/2022 at 20:11 UTC

1156 upvotes, 3 direct replies

This is the video in question[1] but the interview's crapulence isn't why the subreddit's on fire.

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUMIFYBMnc

The real drama is the moderator stance is that anyone mocking the interview is a brigading troll and transphobe, and they just keep doubling down. I mean, please, don't be transphobic, but the interview was still terrible in many ways and they should accept that and apologize.

Comment by CrispierCupid at 26/01/2022 at 20:00 UTC

325 upvotes, 2 direct replies

How’s that IPO coming?

Comment by Hold_onto_yer_butts at 26/01/2022 at 19:58 UTC*

717 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Snagged some screengrabs

Text of one post:

Moderation team are not content creators, are not developers of a video game we’re on, or not authors of some book that we’re all reading

You have no power here.

You can modify comments you can delete comments you can delete threads and that is the extent of the power that you hold as a moderator

That is not said to attack you but that is said to remind you that you should have no influence over this sub - and if you are having influence over the sub then there is something immensely wrong

I can’t believe how painfully ironic it is that you have some authority and you exerted it incorrectly and then immediately refused to acknowledge it or correct it on this sub which is literally dedicated to holding those who do exactly what you did accountable

How can you possibly be that blind to this painful irony?

Text of another:

First off, the mod that did the interview goes by she/her pronouns I believe, so we should use the correct ones. Regardless of how you feel about the interview it's no reason to be a jerk. This isn't a post for people to be transphobic jerks.

All this being said, the fact that all these posts are being removed is such an incredibly bad look. This post didn't break any rules the first time, and doesn't break any rules this time. So I would love to know why it was removed.

Getting on to the actual purpose and content of the post: I agree, that appearance was incredibly foolish. Regardless of how the mod performed, this was always going to be a damaging hit piece. That should have been realized by the mod team, but also, the mod team should have listened to the subreddit when we collectively said it was a bad idea. You are moderators, this does not make you the leaders of this sub, just curators. Going 180 degrees against the wishes of the sub is a bad look and very damaging. The damage control that is happening right now is the wrong kind. All posts upset about the interview are being removed. This shouldn't happen. What should happen is the mods should note the outrage of the community and act in the future in the interests of the community (ie. Don't do interviews with media). Make a statement about it, calm tempers, acknowledge the problem.

The damage of doing interviews with malicious media lesson was showcased from the stonk subreddit drama that went on this past year. Be better. This sub has the ability to be a powerful forum for change but stuff like this just hurts.

DELETING ANYTHING CRITISIZING THE MOD TEAM IS ONLY GOING TO DRIVE PEOPLE AWAY, SHOW A LITTLE ACCOUNTABILITY!

Edit: I'd like to reiterate that anyone being transphobic does not have an ally here on this post. Get lost, you aren't wanted here or on this sub. To the mod that did the interview, I am truly sorry for the hatred you are undoubtedly facing currently. Regardless about how I feel about the actions of the mod team, prejudice and hatred like this has no place anywhere. GTFO WITH YOUR ANTIQUATED, BIGOTED VIEWS

I additionally would like to clarify, the interview happened and that can't be changed. The real problem is that the mod team went against the communities wishes to do this, and are not addressing it in a helpful or positive way. Its a bad idea to talk to mainstream media when your whole movement is opposed by what interests they represent. We should always let any hit pieces on us be completely unfueled by our actions, because as this movement grows, places like Fox news are going to notice and attack it regardless of what happens here.

Edit 2: I have been unbanned.

Edit 3: Immediately after being unbanned I was messaged that I would be permabanned if I didn't take this down because it breaks rule 7b, which appears to be about politicians/politics. I'm very confused and have requested clarification.

Also, since there may be some who have not seen the video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUMIFYBMnc