Banned from r/Leica for a Photo of John Abernathy being Arrested/Assaulted and tossing his M10 to a Fellow Photographer

[filmtwit]

Looks like r/Leica (Reddit) doesn't like the photo... or maybe the politics of the events around the photo and as such the one moderator has summarily banned more than 100+ Leica users for either posting the photo or commenting on it (including myself).

The photo in question. My understanding is that it's M10 and the photo was shot on M11. John was released later that day, no charges at this time.
From the link, you can also check out his work documenting the Anti ICe protests going on in Minneapolis right now.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Looks like r/Leica (Reddit) doesn't like the photo... or maybe the politics of the events around the photo and as such the one moderator has summarily banned more than 100+ Leica users for either posting the photo or commenting on it (including myself).

The photo in question. My understanding is that it's M11 and the photo was shot on M10. John was released later that day, no charges at this time.
From the link, you can also check out his work documenting the Anti ICe protests going on in Minneapolis right now.

Moderators and politics. Never a good combination.

 

[filmtwit]

Moderators and politics. Never a good combination.

And yet Politics and Good photos are at the center of Leica.

 

[Coldkennels]

The sole moderator of r/Leica has prior on this, unfortunately. Anything that reflects even slightly poorly on the current White House administration gets deleted. That's why a whole bunch of people - including myself - moved over to r/LeicaCameras instead.

On a more positive note (as much as anything from this story can be), John Abernathy posted the last two photos he took on his M10-R before he tossed it to another photographer for safekeeping, and they're pretty amazing:





I'm glad Abernathy is okay - that last photo is chaos, and he took pepper spray directly to the face after ICE slammed him to the ground. Apparently his M10-R's rangefinder no longer works, but he's back out shooting already. Incredible fortitude.

 

[Archiver]

Images like these are why I feel irritated when the anti-Leica crowd says they are all toys for doctors, lawyers and rich dilettantes. There are working professionals in the field who go into conflict zones, protests and extreme conditions with their Leicas.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Reddit photography part is such a dumpster.
Moderators are not exclusion.
Not a first time to hear about them acting authoritarian.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Images like these are why I feel irritated when the anti-Leica crowd says they are all toys for doctors, lawyers and rich dilettantes. There are working professionals in the field who go into conflict zones, protests and extreme conditions with their Leicas.

Just as any other cameras...

Lets be honest not everyone could afford no dust reduction camera with 7K+ price tag.

 

[davidswiss]

They are worrying pictures and messages from our friends in the US. I do hope it gets sorted out.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Thanks for the warning about r/Leica. I'll make it a point never to go there.

In looking at these photos (and Abernathy's original photo), I'm reminded of this quote from 1984. I'm just gonna leave this here with no further comment.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”

—George Orwell

 

[fub]

i used to like reddit 10-12 years ago. that hole site turned more and more into a dumbster fire. not much using it anymore unless i might have some technical questions and know there is a fitting sub for that.
towards end of last year i started looking for independent forums for the topics i would be interested in. Thats when i registered here for example.

what was really a turning point for me was when i realised how many bots there are on reddit. it is like most of the 'users' there are actually bots. when they gave to option to semi-disable the posting history (one can still use the search bar to find posts from an account) i felt more and more that they did that to cover the tracks of the bots/ai.
upvotes and downvotes have long been manipulated to fit whatever the admins want.

also do not forget that u/maxwellhill is one of the - for a long time has been THE - most 'successfull' reddit account. that account is run by Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epsteins girlfriend and accomplice. That account has been silent from the day she got arrested until recently, when trump put her into a low security prison where she got access to internet.
Those are the people of reddit.

i might sound like a conspiracy nut but i think reddit is set up for our techno-feudalistic overlords to controll the masses, make them passive and distract them. Really sad to see how that site killed so many great forums that were on the web before 2010.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

i used to like reddit 10-12 years ago. that hole site turned more and more into a dumbster fire. not much using it anymore unless i might have some technical questions and know there is a fitting sub for that.
towards end of last year i started looking for independent forums for the topics i would be interested in. Thats when i registered here for example.

what was really a turning point for me was when i realised how many bots there are on reddit. it is like most of the 'users' there are actually bots. when they gave to option to semi-disable the posting history (one can still use the search bar to find posts from an account) i felt more and more that they did that to cover the tracks of the bots/ai.
upvotes and downvotes have long been manipulated to fit whatever the admins want.

also do not forget that u/maxwellhill is one of the - for a long time has been THE - most 'successfull' reddit account. that account is run by Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epsteins girlfriend and accomplice. That account has been silent from the day she got arrested until recently, when trump put her into a low security prison where she got access to internet.
Those are the people of reddit.

i might sound like a conspiracy nut but i think reddit is set up for our techno-feudalistic overlords to controll the masses, make them passive and distract them. Really sad to see how that site killed so many great forums that were on the web before 2010.

I'm only finding it useful for my questions about Belgium specifics. But it is sniffing my cookies 🙂 and dumping photography and cycling. And this is total masses without brains. They can't even Google and do their own research, education. It is behind of RFF by decades. It pointed me this episode with Leica and it started to point at Leica chat where. This was new low to me.
Around 2016 one person in Moscow was able to do DIY CLA of Contax IIa just by reading old Yahoo chats. With Reddit they don't know even basics. Must be "grown"-ups from Tik-Tok.

 

[splitimageview]

Moderators and politics. Never a good combination.

For reference, RFF terms and rules here.

 

[aw614]

I feel like I missed out a bunch of great yahoo group communities as those died down. Was part of a few car ones back in the day, but there seems to be a lot of lost information from those groups.

 

[chuckroast]

Moderators and politics. Never a good combination.

Well, more specifically if you don't have the "correct" politics you are kicked off these sites, where "correct" is defined by whomever is curating things.

I long for the days when people could politely discuss highly contentious photojournalism, for instance, without it turning into monkeys flinging poo at each other. That is to say, there was a time when I routinely was engaged in a debate of ideas, not character assassinations because I didn't hold a particular set of political, aesthetic, or journalistic sensibilities.

The lowest common denominator took over social media. This pretty much ruined honest exchanges of ideas. Too many anonymous internet edgelords trolled everyone and turned the internet into a partisan sewer in which everyone goes into their corner and tosses darts from behind a wall of anonymity.

I long ago left Reddit and won't participate in X or Facebook for this reason. Better to stay on photo specific sites, knowing that an full debate about photojournalism isn't likely possible (and we don't want RFF turning in Reddit) but good exchanges about photography still abound.

 

[css9450]

I feel like I missed out a bunch of great yahoo group communities as those died down. Was part of a few car ones back in the day, but there seems to be a lot of lost information from those groups.

You make an important point. Yahoo Groups (and Clubs) gave way to forums, but forums are dying fast and in their place is social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, "X" and Reddit. And NONE of the latter have the search and archiving capabilities of the former. A generation of information is likely to be lost.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Well, more specifically if you don't have the "correct" politics you are kicked off these sites, where "correct" is defined by whomever is curating things.

I long for the days when people could politely discuss highly contentious photojournalism, for instance, without it turning into monkeys flinging poo at each other. That is to say, there was a time when I routinely was engaged in a debate of ideas, not character assassinations because I didn't hold a particular set of political, aesthetic, or journalistic sensibilities.

The lowest common denominator took over social media. This pretty much ruined honest exchanges of ideas. Too many anonymous internet edgelords trolled everyone and turned the internet into a partisan sewer in which everyone goes into their corner and tosses darts from behind a wall of anonymity.

I long ago left Reddit and won't participate in X or Facebook for this reason. Better to stay on photo specific sites, knowing that an full debate about photojournalism isn't likely possible (and we don't want RFF turning in Reddit) but good exchanges about photography still abound.

Yes, I think regardless of where you are politically, this is a pretty accurate description of what has happened.

 

[luuca]

i used to like reddit 10-12 years ago. that hole site turned more and more into a dumbster fire. not much using it anymore unless i might have some technical questions and know there is a fitting sub for that.
towards end of last year i started looking for independent forums for the topics i would be interested in. Thats when i registered here for example.

what was really a turning point for me was when i realised how many bots there are on reddit. it is like most of the 'users' there are actually bots. when they gave to option to semi-disable the posting history (one can still use the search bar to find posts from an account) i felt more and more that they did that to cover the tracks of the bots/ai.
upvotes and downvotes have long been manipulated to fit whatever the admins want.

also do not forget that u/maxwellhill is one of the - for a long time has been THE - most 'successfull' reddit account. that account is run by Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epsteins girlfriend and accomplice. That account has been silent from the day she got arrested until recently, when trump put her into a low security prison where she got access to internet.
Those are the people of reddit.

i might sound like a conspiracy nut but i think reddit is set up for our techno-feudalistic overlords to controll the masses, make them passive and distract them. Really sad to see how that site killed so many great forums that were on the web before 2010.

And that's why in Reddit I only look for small subreddits for my passions. I stay far away from the big ones.

 

[Mos6502]

The photos say what needs to be said. So of course certain people won't want them shown or shared.

 

[BillBingham2]

Yeah, the Mod over there is on a war path. I didn't take any pictures, my Leica is in at YYE, and I've been put into the penalty box for seven days. No access to any /sub. I made the mistake of replying to a comment that someone else left after deleted the /Leica sub from my accounts. To be fair I was put on timeout from the /Leica sub, warning me to not enter anything in the sub. I would have thought that if that was the case the mod would have the ability to turn off that function for that sub.

Once I get back in I'll put a post to send people this way. Odds are will be banned for life at that point.

More time for having fun here.

 

[chuckroast]

The photos say what needs to be said. So of course certain people won't want them shown or shared.

Sorry, but they do not. That's exactly why photojournalism is a debate. The POV of the journalist - any journalist - is biased. What they show you is one thing. What they do not show is just as important. Moreover, capturing just a moment completely erases the context of how and why that moment was reached.

Journalistic output of any kind has to be scrutinized with the same vigor one examines politicians talking ... and for the exact same reason. Both are editing reality for effect.

Unfortunately, like I said, that kind of analysis pretty much always involves some discussion of the politics of the photographer, the subjects, the culture at large and thus is a third rail that cannot be discussed with civility these days.

In the famous words of Richard Avedon, "All photographs are accurate. None of them is truth."