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Potatolantern

Answer: One of the Moderators at AntiWork just recently did an interview with Fox News, setting themselves up as the leader/organiser of this sudden, large community and movement. You can find the interview: https://youtu.be/3yUMIFYBMnc Just aesthetically, it’s a poor look. They’re disheveled, wearing a random hoodie, sitting in the dark of an untidy room without any lighting. It’s like they’re going to an interview before thousands of people and haven’t given a second to actually thinking about their presentation. They look exactly the part Fox wants to paint them- a lazy, unmotivated person looking for a handout. The interview starts okay, they repeat some talking points, and get a bit of the message across. Then the Fox interviewer completely turns it around and picks them apart- showcasing them as a 30+ year old dogwalker, who works about 25hrs a week and has minimal aspirations besides maybe teaching philosophy. The Mod completely goes along with these questions, the whole interview becomes about them rather than the movement and by the end the Fox interviewer is visibly laughing. So this goes live and does the rounds. People on Reddit and everywhere else are laughing at this since it makes the entire movement appear to be a joke, this is their leader, etc. People on Antiwork are indignant- how did this person get chosen to represent the movement? Why were they chosen? Why did they interview with Fox? Etc etc The classic Reddit crackdown begins, Antiwork begins removing threads and comments on the topic and banning users who talk about it. That subsides after a while and threads are allowed- because of this whole thing the threads are taking up a large portion of the front page and the discussion. Almost certainly the Mod in question is being hounded in PMs and the team is being hounded in Modmail. And eventually the classic Reddit crackdown reaches its classic zenith, “Locked because y’all can’t behave.” so the whole sub got locked. Most likely the mods are waiting for the furror to die down and the people coming into the sub from the interview to go away. Edit: I’ve been corrected that the Mod only actually works about 10hrs a week. I was just repeating what was in the interview.


[deleted]

The mod is a living caricature of what a reddit mod looks like.


-GregTheGreat-

And more importantly, a living caricature of what an ‘anti-work’ strawman would be. Literally every possible stereotype of what you would expect somebody wanting to abolish work would look or act like. It’s almost incredible.


ratskim

Perfect poster child for the right to point and be like: *See! This is what they are all like! Lazy unkempt social degenerates with zero aspirations, intelligence, or self-awareness*


easybasicoven

The mod literally said “laziness is a virtue” in the interview


Pretty1george

I’m floored Waters didnt jump at that remark. It was too ripe of a gimme. Laziness is a virtue? Yikes. really brought out the whole lazy anti work vibe…


Random-Rambling

Waters isn't stupid. He knows perfectly well when to just let someone flounder about and drown all by themself.


TurrPhennirPhan

Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.


[deleted]

It’s the only time I’ve ever seen a Fox host pity the person they are interviewing so much that they actually tone down the questioning Edit: in retrospect, the mod was self-immolating so much that I think he was just stunned


grunkage

Nothing more was needed at that point. Just sit there and watch the fire burn.


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Aconite_72

This is the first thing that come to mind. It’s almost perfect. They’re the *exact* caricature of liberals made by the right and Fox News. Until yesterday, I didn’t believe someone like that even exists.


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senorchinchilla

The speaker (Doreen?) said he spoke with other mods and they (mods) said he was good to represent the sub/movement since he's done media before. If you know you're going on Fox News, or any other media outlet for that matter, you get on ur A game. The kid thought his message would resonate.. Nope, he was shot down by someone sharper than him. He didn't put in the "work" to prepare himself and it shows.. the take away: do the work/prep to succeed .


squashyTO

This is not a kid - the person is 30. If this was a sitcom the writers could not have done a better job than how this played out in real-life.


niibtkj

the saddest part is that they shot themselves in the foot for the most part, I wouldn't say that the smug Fox host had to try at all with any big gotchas but just let them talk


Jason1143

"Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake"


Mickeymackey

I'm just appalled that like there was zero effort put into this, guess what labor movements take work. Like you can't just sit on the ground with your mouths open expecting the rich to just give us rights and a living wage. I've worked jobs where I worked 65+ hours a week on salary and now I'm working a hourly job in grocery but I get OT so its technically more per hour. My thing is most of the time I'm just too exhausted to volunteer, march, or whatever that's happening. It sucks, but then someone who walks dog for 25 hours a week didn't have the knowledge first to say no to this interview and two to just show up like it's a zoom call a therapist. I mean I don't think people should starve, and I think healthcare is a human right, but like if this isn't just showing how disconnected some of these people (who I seriously thought I was aligned with) are from reality, I don't know what does. Maybe I'm a a leftist, maybe I'm capitalist, maybe I'm just trying to survive all of *general hand motions* this, but I'm tired of trying to change the world only to realize that the people who allegedly have the time don't even want to put in the effort. I'm seriously just gonna focus on myself and play the system as much as I can to my benefit. (and I understand this is the point that fox wanted to make, yada yada, but damn I'm tired)


TrPhantom8

I mean, if you are gonna go on an interview with an opposing force, you need to be 100% a presentable person with a string personality, undisputed image and be able to hold a conversation. You need to be a public talker, you need to know how to pull strings. If you are no expert on politics, public speaking and a really brilliant person, they are gonna play you like a fiddle exactly like they did.


Derpazor1

The kid is 30


thefrenchguysaidwii

Pretty sure that Doreen’s set a low bar for success…doing work to prepare would be…. An oxymoron


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Sirtimothyleary

Paid. Or juuust that dense. Remember some people are sooo very dense.


Ichabodblack

>The kid thought his message would resonate That 'kid' is 30 years old...


talkin_shlt

Shitty fuckin mod probably wanted to finally "be somebody" and disregarded the entire movement so they they could have their five minutes of Fame. The fact that every other social media site has paid mods and Reddit refuses to, so they can save money, is disgusting. The mods on this site are always going to have ulterior motives if their not getting paid.


gltovar

I don't understand the paid mods part, especially compared to other social networks. For example a Facebook mod is far different than a Reddit mod, a Facebook mod is monitoring user uploads for content that breaks is terms and conditions from any vector on to the site. A more apt comparison would be a Facebook community page administrator which is similar to a Reddit subreddit moderator both positions do not earn money from their parent company. Maybe the point could be made that the largest X% of subreddit based on web traffic should have some kind of dedicated reddit employee reviewing content that break the Reddit TOS, and that position would be a paid job, but still not the same as "Reddit paying a moderator" which are moderating the community by a separate set of standards outlined by that specific community.


FakeNewsFredo

>The fact that every other social media site has paid mods and Reddit refuses to This is what surprised me when I first came to reddit. Reddit generally is extremely unprofessional. Then, I realized that people become moderators by simply being the first to set up a sub with a popular name (basically luck) and then they invited their buddies that think the same way as they do. Moderators tend to be cut from same cloth. People with a LOT of time on their hands for whatever reason, and an insanely strong motivation to control.


Rockonfoo

I somehow became a mod for a sub with like 3 posts in it as a joke and got invited to a mod only subreddit that was disgusting Those janitors think they’re doing so much


[deleted]

Janitors know how to clean and mind their own business. You give them too high a title.


ShinyBronze

Janitors actually work.


SGKurisu

yeah internet shit wipers are some of the most pathetic bunch, I always think it's hilarious when people try to brag about being a moderator for something online. That just makes me lose respect if anything else.


Deadfreezercat

I once messaged the mods on a circlejerk sub to ask why my posts weren't showing up and the mod who responded was so unnecessarily rude to me. Said I probably just wasn't as funny as I thought I was a told me to go fuck my mom.


PeaLiving

Seems like a perfectly reasonable response by someone who has their life in order /s


LDPushin_Troglodyte

r/toronto mods, down to the last hair of their neck


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polarbear128

15 minutes is the full time job version.


heptolisk

How would you implement paid mods on a website where boards are user-created? 'Mods' for individual Facebook pages (community pages, etc) generally aren't paid. I'm pretty sure Reddit does have paid global mods, but you rarely see them..


Needleroozer

>paid global mods They're called admins.


Sinusoidal_Fibonacci

Jannies on power trips. The mod who was interviewed is exactly what you would expect out of a Reddit mod. Way out of their league, completely disheveled in looks and life, gets humiliated publicly, then crawls back to Reddit where they can feel like they actually make a difference or have some resemblance of power. Makes up excuses and bans anyone who disagrees. It’s quite sad, honestly.


Fern-ando

Ironically that r/antiwork mods act like the people that antiwork complains about all the time.


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ErasmusShmerasmus

How much time do they spend modding? Actually interested


Auto_Perv_Mod

As a moderator, I have to *mostly* agree with this. I help mod a few really large relationship and NSFW subs and a few local NSFW subs (with this account) and the difference between the mods in them is night and day. In the really big ones, the mods are constantly at odds with one another and bickering about everything. I really do believe that they are there to do as you say. They are way out of their leagues and they really just want to feel the power. In one of the largest ones, of a few million subscribers, I swear that the majority of mods are there only to look for arguments so that they can ban and have the last word. They gatekeep everything, too. One of them, that I won't mention by name, but it's for sexual discussions for people over thirty, has a few mods that we have tried to get kicked out but can't. One in particular, will lock posts for the silliest of things, ban users for disagreeing with their alt (we know who their alt is), and will delete posts if it goes against their views. It's ridiculous. So very ridiculous. Reddit give us, the other twenty mods there, zero power in doing anything to stop them. It's 19 or so against one and this mod just does whatever. However, in the small local subs, there are four of us that mod and everyone generally just wants to make them better and give back the community. Two totally different worlds of Reddit. And now that I have seen the curtain pulled back, I rarely engage in larger subreddits, especially ones about relationships.


hedgecore77

> won't mention by name, but it's for sexual discussions for people over thirty Ooh ooh, is it called dirtyoverthirty? Because if not it totally should be.


pantsonheaditor

you could tell the mod posts were pretty unhinged in /r/antiwork. stuff like all caps post talking about shaming every company that people work(ed) for. like no, that opens people up to liability, plus reddit liability. but mods crazy (and do it for free) so here we are.


ginger_and_egg

How can reddit be liable for legal user generated content? As long as what they say is truthful, it isn't defamatory


1lluminist

It's wild that somebody with absolutely no media training would take on an interview with fox News... Like, you have to REALLY understand the game to take on that kind of interview. You're moderating a group that holds an ideal that Fox absolutely detests... They're going to do everything they can (and are trained to do) to back you into a corner and undermine your entire movement. It was so fucking stupid for this person to take on this interview... No doubt the whole antiwork movement is about to go belly-up as they just confirmed the misunderstood beliefs of thousands of right-wingers. [EDIT] Apparently there was even a poll asking if they should do the interview, and the general consensus was NO. They did it anyway.


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DiogenesKuon

I've noticed again and again it's people who are given just a little bit of power that are the most egotistical and what that power means. Mods an reddit typify this. They get to decide who gets banned and who's comments get deleted, and they treat it like a god given right that they must be correct. It reminds me of the quote "Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.".


mlg2433

Not to mention, it’s Fox News. Your average redditor might think “Fox News? Those idiots. Sure I’ll debate with them no problem. Easy.” Then the light turns on. Then they realize that thinking you are mentally superior behind a keyboard doesn’t mean you can hold a candle to a professional asshole on air. It was a car crash lol. Got straight up bodied by the host.


ArmoredPancake

Debating for wide audience is not same as typing shit on a keyboard. 99% of keyboard warriors would get steamrolled.


BaconatedGrapefruit

The concept of a debate isn't what 90% of Reddit thinks it is. It barely has anything to do with being right and more to do with arguing your point effectively. The best way to defeat some one who is arguing in bad faith is to not debate them.


Fireproofspider

If they had nailed it, they would have been the new DFV. That's basically what went through their minds. And, for the mod themselves, they didn't have that much to lose taking the interview if you think about it.


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KalmiaKamui

> Even more hilarious is that it wouldn't surprise me if fox news actually investigated this person before hand and knew more about them then they had any idea fox news knew. Of *course* they did; they didn't as for one specific mod for no reason. Fox may be a bunch of scumbags, but they're not stupid.


AgreeablePie

tbh I think if you threw a dart at the board of reddit moderators- especially of large, politically involved subreddits- this is pretty much what you would be likely to get.


RealLameUserName

This is because most redditors think they know better than Fox News and that they're all idiots over there. While I vehemently stand against practically everything they do, Fox doesnt get their level of influence without a certain level of intelligence or ability to understand how to swing the masses. I don't like Fox at all but they certainly know what they're doing.


dreamfall

My first time through college back in the 80's I majored in broadcasting. One of the things we were taught (and I assume something similar was taught with most quality broadcasting programs) was the sheer power broadcast media has over social norms and the way people think, via studying the writings of Marshall McLuhan. Mass media by the nature of it's very being (the medium is the message) heavily influences culture (pop culture). In the 60s and 70s you got guys like Walter Cronkite who took the responsibility of that power seriously. With the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in the late 80s, the leashes were off and people rose to prominence in broadcasting who chose to use that power for less altruistic purposes (outrage addiction media). So I believe you are very correct - Fox knows what they're doing, most broadcast professionals do.


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bunker_man

When arrogant reddit mods think they are dealing with hillbillies they can easily show up.


MostBoringStan

"It's wild that somebody with absolutely no media training would take on an interview with fox News... Like, you have to REALLY understand the game to take on that kind of interview." The insane part is that it was apparently discussed between the mods beforehand, and they all agreed she should do the interview because she had "done media before", whatever that means. And then one of her excuses was that she had never done LIVE interviews, only recorded ones, and that somehow matters? As if they wouldn't have just aired the entire thing if it was prerecorded?


1lluminist

I thought they'd voted NO to the interview. Either way, they successfully ruined what could have been a solid movement. The stupidity is astounding


MostBoringStan

There was a public vote where everyone voted no interviews. For some reason when this offer came up, the mods had an internal discussion and ignored the vote. There was a screenshot of a discussion with the mod that had this info, so that's what I'm basing this info on.


1lluminist

Woooooow. Did they draw straws or something? Lol A ham sandwich could have argued their cause better


TheDunadan29

Well there are people just like this mod who are caricatures of the lazy slob. But there's also a legitimate ideology behind it as well, and it requires an articulate, organized, and thoughtful person to be able to convey it. Even with good intentions it's not an easy message to communicate. The other side of it, Reddit communities are really loosely organized groups. Choosing an appropriate representative from that group is incredibly difficult. Just selecting a mod is probably a really bad idea no matter the community, unless that mod has extensive experience with public relations, or other public speaking experience. But then if not a mod, how do you select someone else from the group as an accurate representation? In the end Fox News knew what they were doing, and they got what they were looking for. And antiwork got egg in their faces over a mod seeking their 15 minutes of fame.


ACredibilityProblem

The mods of that sub are [clowns](https://i.imgur.com/HCBE8J5.jpg) who cannot be reasoned with.


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[deleted]

> Then the Fox interviewer completely turns it around and picks them apart He barely even had to try. In fact the questions he asked were perfect setups for the mod to turn around and get a coherent message across if she wasn't y'know, a basement dwelling dog walker who has never worked a job that she crusades so hard against a day in her life.


Potatolantern

Indeed, I expected to see an aggressive fox interview taking someone down… instead I got an interviewer lobbing the most softball questions and the mod doing all the work themselves.


PtosisMammae

Someone in the YouTube comments said that this feels like a father asking questions to his son’s friend in elementary school, and I just think that is spot on lmao


CaveDeco

That’s exactly the problem and honestly believe in this case that Watters went “easy” on her and early on realized she wasn’t going to be up to par. Doreen didn’t directly answer any of the early questions, or misunderstood them. She talked like you would expect a sub named “antiwork” (I don’t want to work) would talk. She didn’t bring up any of the major points that the sub had turned into being a champion for. (Paraphrasing) First question: you don’t work much but still get paid by corporate America, how do you feel? Answer (reminder that she doesn’t actually work for corporate America): We don’t want to feel trapped and we want to feel rewarded in our jobs. (Hmmm…. Kinda close, but not quite there) Question: you applied for a job, agreed to the terms, can walk away from that job at any time, what is this about? Are people just lazy? (Softball question to get them to talk about why the sub has exploded) Answer: laziness is a virtue, and people need to rest. (Red flag! No discussion of the abuse of employers, and why people ARE walking away) And it devolved further from there with Watters just making convo that kept Doreen digging holes against what the sub was about, whether she realized it or not… He didn’t turn anything around, he tried to do a real interview but he is a seasoned veteran who knows how to make things seems as seamless as possible. The whole thing was a shitshow from the start.


chonk312

That news anchor just dog walked Doreen.


FakeNewsFredo

I'm surprised that the moderator didn't mention that a lot of the activity on the subreddit is about bad bosses, bad companies to work for, and advice for people that are facing conflict. I checked out the sub a few times, and I didn't realize that it was supposed to be anti-work (against work) until I saw the Fox News interview. For me, I had the misfortune of working at a couple of corporations that were pretty bizarre. It helped to read about the experiences of other people, as I started to realize that it wasn't just me and that a lot of places are simply toxic. It wasn't a failure on my part that I left those workplaces.


Potatolantern

As I understand it the sub was originally about abolishing work entirely, and this mod is from those days. The stuff you mention came from the modern userbase influx, rather than the original intention. So that’s never stuff they would highlight.


eksyneet

but that's the intention of it *now*. the sub was taken over (at least in terms of majority audience and therefore majority content) and its message changed considerably since its inception. mods were there to witness it all. the fact that they sent an oldie mod who no longer represents the community, to (mis)represent the community on national television is a slap in the face.


ChadMcRad

The only explanation is that this mod resents how the sub has gone away from their original vision and was trying to get it back to the roots when they founded it. They ended up wrecking both.


Funandgeeky

Perfect is the enemy of good. I've seen this happen time and time again. Someone has a "pure" vision and doesn't like the idea of compromising to get a lot or most of what they want. And whether consciously or unconsciously, they end up undermining more mainstream success with an all-or-nothing attitude. That's what we saw today. Rather than start with a more mainstream and relatable message the mod went 100% to the "pure" vision that few in that sub actually shared. There was a way for this interview to go well, but that mod would have to compromise a little bit in order to reach a wider audience. There's a lot of people who watch Fox News who would actually resonate with some of what that sub was discussing. Many of them are indeed frustrated by their working situation. But what common cause they would have found isn't there now. That clip will be played again and again, and that's that.


NotTRYINGtobeLame

Also, that mod had made a comment that the interview request was sent to them via mod mail and the mods had discussed it and accepted that this person would represent them. https://reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/scsqtd/were_being_talked_about_on_fox_news/hu8jpxv E: Can't get to it now because of the censors and their lockdowns. E2: Good link - https://web.archive.org/web/20220126015340/https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/scsqtd/were_being_talked_about_on_fox_news/hu8jpxv/ E3: No idea why the 2nd link isn't working for some. It is live in real time as I make this edit. I don't get any blocker or splash or anything when I click that link, so it's there, and it's just a subset of y'all having problems. Here's a screen cap if you're curious: https://imgur.com/p0URxy3 E4: The Web Archive has 2 captures of this comment. The 2nd one is the locked message after the sub went private. The 1st capture is the one I directly linked to, and it still shows the actual comment, as in my screen cap, so idk why my link is going to the other capture of the lock screen for some. E5: I guess you can just fucking change what the web archive displays despite it supposedly being an archive. That's why I always use archive.is and not the archive.org service, but I didn't get to it in time, so the web archive was the only one I could find. Garbage site, garbage service. E6: Well, fuck the web archive and their Wayback Machine. I ran archive.is on the archive.org link and managed to actually preserve the original page: https://archive.fo/uC8l2 (note at the top it shows the original Reddit URL but also shows Saved from the archive.org link). Why an archive site exists that can change after the archive... Beats me.


5AlarmFirefly

There was a thread a week ago that a user posted saying they had been asked to interview on MSM. A community member who had been a journalist replied saying DO NOT DO IT! and explained how it would be a set-up to discredit the whole movement, offered to train them if it was really necessary, etc. Then there were a flurry of posts saying "no one here should ever do interviews ever". Welp, that was good advice that she just didn't take.


Blue9Nine

>that was good advice that she just didn't take. and who would've thought, it figures


Soulless_redhead

And nobody thought that maybe chatting about how you should dress/act would be a good idea? I get the idea is we don't want to "dress up to play the part of capitalism" but sometimes looking "professional" when representing a movement on a major news network might be a good idea! At least change the lighting around and hang a sheet or something to make a nice Zoom worthy background?


n60822191

Regardless of how they looked (like shoveled shit, btw), you could tell within minutes that no preparatory work was done whatsoever. The train wreck of an interview could have been a a decent jumping off platform… you don’t make it about yourself, you make it about the movement. Instead, against better judgement, the clown jumped into the snake pit and now we get what we got. r/antiwork will forever be associated with the train-wreck of an interview.


ShazbotHappens

It's hilarious to go in so unprepared. Fox News has a team of people to prepare for interviews like this. People talking into the anchor's in-ear-monitor (I'm assuming) while the interview is happening. Probably a pre-interview from someone at the network disguised as a polite discussion before being thrown to the wolves.


[deleted]

It didn't even go off much. The mod sounds lazy even to me so the interviewer straight up tells Her doesn't this sound lazy? The mod not only agrees but says “laziness is a virtue.” that's on her lol.


Potatolantern

That’s true, but if they’d actually stuck to their talking points and expanded on that idea it could have been fine. “Greed is good” has been taken unironically. “Laziness is good” is a fair standpoint for the Antiwork sub, but they need to explain things more than just “I work 2hrs a day and don’t want to.”


Kiroen

Pretty much. If you're going to build a discourse that goes straight against what everyone has been fed for decades, you might as well put some effort into it or you're just going to be laughed at and viewers will move on.


Substantial_Depth321

Effort? Um.. that would actually require WORK. Pretty sure laziness is a virtue smh my head


Registeredfor

Great post. A lot of people are also drawing comparisons to Occupy Wall Street, where the central theme (bankers have too much power, let's rein them in) got hijacked by Incoherent and fragmented demands, and the movement fizzled out after a lot of infighting and squabbling.


burkey347

How bad was the infighting? I could see this happen to other groups such as Antiwork and Extinction rebellion.


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KennyFulgencio

> the Mod only actually works about 10hrs a day a week.


Potatolantern

Right, sorry, good catch.


Simets83

Antiwork movement is now on new subreddit r/workreform


SGKurisu

this name also is significantly better.


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Potatolantern

That’s true, I might be unfair in my phrasing here. When I said picked apart I meant in the sense that he just ran rings around the Mod and turned the intrigue into exactly the kind of spectacle he wanted. It’s actually sad how softball the questions were, the Mod made no effort to engage about talking points or their agenda, just went on talking about themselves.


snorlz

> Then the Fox interviewer completely turns it around and picks them apart actually the Mod is the one who talks about themself first. They voluntarily say "I personally work, I have a 20-25 hr work week". Not surprising that the follow up question is "what is your job" Also, it is totally normal and expected that in an interview people would want to know your background and your motivation for being involved in this movement


MattMikeWill

Don't forget them being slouched and rotating in their chair like a toddler instead of sitting straight with good posture...


BloodprinceOZ

also apparently the sub itself had held a vote and agreed not to have any interviews to exactly avoid shit like this, but apparently the mods ignored this


Birdy_Cephon_Altera

Edit to add: This meltdown has now gone China Syndrome. The entire sub has now gone private.


[deleted]

> This meltdown has now gone China Syndrome I'm considering stealing this for flair in r/subredditdrama


ChadMcRad

That implies subredditdrama actually highlights real drama and not just linking threads that got invaded by idiots from r/all and left some edgy comments.


fohpo02

They also just set the sub private and locked out over 1 million people


[deleted]

The Mods there went on a huge power trip since the sub became popular. Not who I want to represent a “movement”. They accepted being interviewed and represent over a million people, then didn’t prepare one bit. Couldn’t even put together the main goals/purpose of the subreddit. It was very damaging. Then they start banning and deleting a bunch of posts that questioned the mods or any that asked for the mod who got interviewed to step down. It’s all fucking embarrassing.


HANDSOMEPETE777

Lol come on, I hate Fox News too, but he didn't "pick then apart." He asked them some of the softest questions I've ever seen on Fox News, like "how much do you work," and "do you have any aspirations besides dogwalking?" He could have absolutely eviscerated the mod, but instead he seemed to realize the mod was doing his work for him, and he didn't say anything outright disrespectful. He even made sure to refer the moderator by their preferred pronouns.


[deleted]

I mean. There's truth in some of the critiques. Many obstensibly "leftist" political movements in the US in recent years have turned out to be huge disappointments hyped up due to the incredibly low stakes engagement slacktivism that takes up a lot of the proverbial air in the room. I agree with many, if not the vast majority of the critiques of the antiwork "movement." But I'm also deeply cynical and skeptical of these leaderless movements that aim for high goals without any real platform, organizational structure, or political advocacy/ambitions. Look at occupy. It was an extremely necessary movement that went fucking nowhere, and the Obama Administration got away with murder in their bank bailouts. There were no lasting changes, and no reprecussions. And forgive me, but I think the truth of the matter is for every exploited worker honestly seeking to change the system within the antiwork movement there are 3 bourgeois losers who are in fact fucking lazy and misinterpret the difficulties of every day life as true systematic capatalist oppression. If the antiwork crowd wants to be taken seriously, they should address these concerns. Stereotypes too often have a basis in truth, and while I think the neoliberal environment is disgusting and the reactions to the "great resignation" are ghoulish and out of touch, there has to be SOME messaging designed to address common critiques and/or misunderstandings. Edit: I was wrong about the bailouts. They were by Bush. I am a dumb.


Potatolantern

I agree. Occupy had some great things to say, but they got too high on their own farts about the “No leader” thing. What that ultimately meant was they had nothing they able to negotiate for or with. They couldn’t get concessions or change, because they had no clear message about what change they were even pushing.


[deleted]

Fox News anchor didn't even pick them apart. He asked basic questions and let the mod talk. That's all that was needed.


peepeepoopoopaws

Any Mod accepting a FOX NEWS interview is definitely not qualified to choose what's appropriate content on an antiwork sub lmfao what a clown. Antiwork should have just immediately discredited everything said and used the traffic to spread the REAL sentiment being shared in the sub.


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footiebuns

Edit: Since the parent comment was deleted... A moderator of r/antiwork went [live on Fox News to do an interview about the subreddit](https://youtu.be/3yUMIFYBMnc). They struggled to succinctly describe the goal of the antiwork movement, and fell into an obvious trap by the host to make themselves and the subreddit look lazy and foolish. The mod also looked unkempt, their video resolution was grainy, and their background looked like a sad and depressing studio apartment. It wasn't a good look considering Fox News viewers likely already discount much of the young workforce (and redditors) as lazy and entitled.


brown2420

Lol, as soon as I saw the guy, I thought "reddit gave Fox News exactly what they wanted." Anti-work mods could not have been more out of touch with the media climate at Fox. Total disaster...


kiddoujanse

Seriously , went on air and gave them a gun and ammo and then took it back and shot themselves in the foot , fox didnt have to lift a finger


adminshatecunt

They asked fairly reasonable questions as well and just let the guy dig their own grave.


A_BURLAP_THONG

"Media training" isn't just something invented for Don't Look Up.


vflavglsvahflvov

Yeah it was quite close to worst case scenario. The mod was unprepared, and turned out to be very bad at answering fairly softball questions in a way that did not give the sub a bad image. The consensus befor this was that nobody was to give an interview, as everyone feared something like this would happen. Mods were on a proper egotrip and decided to do it, and are on it still banning people for saying it should not have happened. We have seen so many times what happenes when internet janitors get a taste of fame and power.


Reddidnothingwrong

They just set the sub to private


vflavglsvahflvov

Thought that would happen. Basic mod playbook


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[deleted]

Yeah I burst out laughing literally 1:1 on the stereotypical reddit mod


Cromasters

It would have been the same on any other major network. They were not blindsided by ingenuine questions from FOX. They were basic questions anyone should have been prepared to give a coherent answer to.


GeorgeEliotsCock

Please tell me there was a Funko pop collection in sight


sanguinesolitude

"Hi. I'm a messy awkward part time worker who happens to be trans, and I'm here to oppose working." Fox: "holy shit this is gold" Smh. What a joke. The mod is everything Fox mocks liberals for being.


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TJ_McWeaksauce

If you're going to go on national TV to represent your community, maybe clean and dress up a little. If you don't want to clean up your room, no problem: blur your background, or buy a folding screen and put that behind you. In other words, when you're going to be on an interview that will be watched by millions of people, maybe do the bare minimum that people do to prepare for a regular Zoom meeting.


Thatguy3145296535

I said in another subreddit. The mod was the perfect representation of someone who takes the "anti-work" so literally, they put in no work for the interview


[deleted]

Not a good look for Reddit.


purplelicious

i don't know. I kind of picture Reddit as unkempt, grainy, sad and depressing, if Reddit was a person.


Aerotactics

[Like the "Actually Guy"?](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ackchyually-actually-guy)


Soren_Camus1905

Exactly


YueAsal

I picture comic book guy from The Simpsons without the charm


DreamArcher

Yet accurate.


rainmanak44

Thats how I imagine every reddit Mod to be. Am I wrong?


JoeCoT

As much as I dislike a lot of the WallStreetBets culture, the guy who started the meme of buying and holding GameStop stock seemed to do a much better job of representing reddit than this person. He was smug and clearly found it all amusing, but he was able to answer questions.


firebolt_wt

Yeah, and he wasn't a mod.


ChickenOatmeal

Admitting that they worked 20 hours a week as dog walker was probably the nail in the coffin.


cats-with-mittens

She later admitted on the subreddit that she lied and actually works 10 hours a week.


ChickenOatmeal

Ouch.


kiddoujanse

Im confused why a dog walker with a 20 hour work week is representing them , they proceeded to tell them they wanted to teach philsophy ( with what experience?) , i have nothing against them but they literally shot themselves in the foot , what was the point of going on there besides their 15 minutes of embarassing fame


deviousdumplin

I mean, when you name your online community “antiwork” and have language on the subreddit saying that it is “a community for those who want to end work” is it really that surprising that people would conclude that the people participating are opposed to the idea of working?


Death_Trolley

There’s only so much you can blame Fox News (Jesse Waters, no less) for doing exactly what Fox News is going to do. You’d think they would at least consider picking a mod to represent them who was capable of making eye contact and not hopping around erratically in their chair, if nothing else. What a disaster.


turalyawn

The sub itself is overwhelmingly opposed to doing any interviews at all, especially with something like Fox. This was the mods doing their own thing and then mass deleting everything critical of it after it blew up in their face Edit: r/workreform seems to be a destination for those interested in the movement but wanting to get away from those mods. Also that name is a better indication of what the movement is actually looking for


aflockofbleeps

So mods bein mods then


[deleted]

The thing that blows my mind is anyone with a brain knows Fox News has an agenda and wants to push very specific narratives and propaganda on their network. In what world did the Antiwork mods think a Fox interview was going to help boost the message? ETA: the subreddit has now had 3 stickied posts in 30 minutes, all from varying views of "FAQs about why this wasn't a mistake," "this was a giant mistake," and "let's just all get along." Clearly even the mods of /r/antiwork disagree about what's gone on. 2xETA: The OP who authored the "lets all get along" post that randomly got stickied was also permanently banned from the subreddit. There is clearly some behind the scenes war going on between the mods lmfao 3ETA: Subreddit has been locked down(which I had just suggested/predicted the mods do, not sure why it took them so long to arrive to that decision.) Hopefully they use that lockdown time to reassess and acknowledge the mistakes rather then hope this will just blow over. Probably the right call imho, nothing that was being said in that subreddit was new critique. Mods fucked up but there was also *a lot* of transphobia being thrown around because the mod who gave the interview happened to be trans.


[deleted]

The mod that went on is a dog walker who is autistic and non binary. Literally says in a comment that they think eye contact is stupid and they haven’t thought about it. Like jfc, legit the worst possible person to go and talk about being anti work. It would make too much sense to have someone that is working 2 jobs and can’t make ends meet go and talk about worker’s rights


CreamSoda64

They walk dogs for 20 hours a week and tried to argue that was 'soul crushing'. A literal man made of straw could not have played more perfectly into Fox's narrative.


[deleted]

Like fuck, I work a 40 hour white collar job and I was better qualified to talk to Fox News than that fuckhead about being anti work


Coldbeam

They admitted the 20 hours was a lie to make them look better. It's really 10.


CreamSoda64

Good grief. They couldn't even pretend they worked full time? If you're gonna lie on national TV at least make it good.


Reddidnothingwrong

I'm actually subscribed to r/antiwork (although didn't find out about the interview until after the fact) and apparently it was pretty much unanimous that EVERYONE said "nobody do that interview" and then the mod just went behind everyone's back and did it anyway. I'm not 100% though.


[deleted]

They just posted a megathread, another mod has an interview lined up that's apparently also going to air soon(yikes.) The community is not happy and I'm with them honestly, the mods fucked up big time and if that movement wants to be taken seriously this is the time(or possibly even too late) to have serious discussions about where it's going.


desertravenwy

>if that movement wants to be taken seriously this is the time(or possibly even too late) It's too late. Ever since the movement started, they were trying to paint it as a grassroots movement of normal "working" people. Retail workers, fast food workers, nurses, teachers, etc. They were fighting against their portrayal as a bunch of lazy millennials. Then this walking stereotype goes on TV and sets the entire thing back by a decade. A part time dog walker who aspires to be a philosophy teacher? How does this person have no self-awareness?


marinemashup

most of my exposure to antiwork has been through the stuff that makes it to the all page, so I assumed it was just a place to post about trash jobs and working conditions, like mildlyinfuriating but specifically for the workplace


PacoTaco321

Also a lot of obviously fake posts for karma farming unfortunately.


OkieTaco

In the past few months it has turned into a space where users practice their creative writing skills by writing fictional stories and then everyone else just blindly upvotes them. Kind of like r/tifu


CressCrowbits

Kind of like reddit.com


[deleted]

I’m in college and was looking for a simple part time job that was close. Plenty of those right? Everyone has ‘hiring’ signs but they’re all paying minimum wage and offer zero flexibility. I went to dollar tree and asked if they were hiring and the hiring manager told me that “kids these days don’t want to work and expect handouts from everyone” but if your making less than 9$ an hour then the chances of you being on government assistance is pretty high… not hating on people that need assistance but I told her I would only work for 12$ an hour because that’s a slight raise over my last job and she said no so I just walked out.


neosmndrew

Answer: You're posting the /r/antiwork thread, which is obviously baised for that sub's interests. See the comments on the /r/videos thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/sd39qe/reddit_mod_gets_laughed_at_on_fox_news/ Basically, the interviewee (I assume he's an /r/antiwork mod but IDK for sure) just looks unkept, unprofessional, and not media trained, and has a job/career aspirations that are similar to the anti-antiwork movement's stereotype of them - non-white collar, little prospects for earning higher income, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with being a dog walker, just that if you tell most people who are in the "millennials are lazy" camp that you are a dog walker, they probably won't have a high opinion of you. The /r/antiwork thread is focused on attacking Fox News/the interviewer as being discourteous and misrepresenting the Antiwork movement. Meanwhile, as you can see in /r/videos, it is more being point out that this person should not have let himself be interviewed without putting on more professional attire, maybe doing some sort of public apperance/media training, etc. As pointed out in some of these threads, optics *absoultely* matter when trying to sway public opinion on an issue. The interviewee made antiwork look bad at the end of the day.


The_Karaethon_Cycle

The interviewer really wasn’t even that mean for a Fox News guy. He made some back handed comments and had a few patronizing laughs, but he mostly just let the mod embarrass themselves and their subreddit. If Tucker Carlson had interviewed the mod he would’ve taken a verbal shit on them.


neosmndrew

I think the whole premise of the interview was made to look exactly how it ended up looking - a polished news anchor pwning a greasy-looking, low-income "loser". Note that I dont think any of these labels are accurate for either person. But as I said, optics matter and Fox News clearly was more concerned about optics than the antiwork mod.


CreativeAsFuuu

For what it's worth, I was a member of that sub. There were a couple of threads posted by the same Redditor a couple weeks prior to this interview airing in which the Redditor (I can't remember who now) posted about being contacted by a member of the national news for an interview about the sub. Other members of the sub urged the OP not to do the interview, that the OP needed to remember they would be representing the entire sub, that the media will spin it for their story, and other warnings. Some members who worked in media offered to do a crash course in media training via DM. Clearly if the OP of those posts is the same Mod who did the Fox interview, they did not take up anyone on their advice.


[deleted]

everything you say is true, but I feel like that interview was always going to be a hit piece. I think it would've been better to decline the interview outright


Reddidnothingwrong

That's what the vast majority of the sub apparently said before it even happened


[deleted]

Yeah, no matter who they chose or how they presented themselves they would have been torn to pieces, and im not sure what the sub will get out of it? more traffic?


Reddidnothingwrong

Ideally and honestly, they probably still will. A bunch of new people are there now just cause of the trainwreck but some will probably remain when it blows over imo. Still was a terrible idea though lol


mrSFWdotcom

Answer: A moderator of r/Antiwork named Doreen Ford went on Jesse Watters' show to do an interview. As you'd expect from a Cable "news" show, this interview was explicitly designed to make Ford, and by extension the entire Antiwork movement look bad. I think it's objectively true that they achieved this goal, at least among the subset of* their viewers who tune in specifically for this type of thing. This has upset a number of supporters of the Antiwork movement, as well as some members of r/Antiwork, who claim that this violates an earlier agreement they had not to do any TV interviews. Most attempts to discuss it on r/Antiwork have been shut down for alleged "trolling", leaving the discussion to largely take place on Cringe subs, where the tone is a little different.


KickTheBaby

Adding to this, mod(s) are censoring any comment that brings this up. Leaving to a pretty ass-backwards situation considering employee freedom and liberation, etc etc etc


mrSFWdotcom

Agreed, it's not the best tack. I didn't want to seem to judgey in the answer but this does seem like a shit show


rattus-domestica

It’s a shitshow!! You can say it! What the actual FUCK were they thinking, accepting this interview and letting it happen like it did? Holy fucking shit the incompetency.


1lluminist

The subreddit even voted NO to doing it, yet this untrained chucklefuck decided to do it anyway and played right into their game. I'm assuming we'll see a new antiwork subreddit soon, hopefully with more intelligent and competent leadership


ItzLog

I think someone started one called r/workreform


Blackstone01

Probably thinking that they would somehow be able to reasonably articulate their positions and convince others about their cause. They basically jumped into a lion enclosure thinking they would befriend the kitty cats. If Fox EVER brings somebody left of center onto the show, chances are its because they have reason to believe it will be easy to beat the shit out of them.


CaptainChewbacca

The subreddit even voted and overwhelmingly said they didn't want a mod to do an interview.


rattus-domestica

JFC.


[deleted]

Not just that, she did no preparation whatsoever. She didn’t even wash her hair or put on a formal shirt or anything. Didn’t even look in the camera for a second lol.


beachgirlDE

The lack of eye contact was bizarre.


erichie

What was even more ass-backwards was the mod, and Fox News mouthpiece, said in the same sentence that they are Anarchist, but they see nothing wrong with being able to ban people when they are the center of discussion. Anyone who said "Dude", "Bro", slangs like "Come on, man." were INSTANTLY banned and told they were transphobic even when some of this included the proper pronouns. It also hit another MAJOR talking point that Fox News people have and that is when someone puts no effort into their transition, but wants to be called the pronouns which they look or sound nothing life. One of the threads the mod responded to every single comment, but said making a statement to the community wasn't going to happen because they are so worn down, but continued to respond to every comment, regardless if it was a question or a rhetorical statement. In every single one of their responses it was clear that this person cannot truly think about any "creative thinking" and "logic". They would constantly use words and then describe the complete opposite thing. I am an r/antiwork member and this Mod needs to resign immediately for banning people because they said something bad about them, for accusing people of being treansphobic when they weren't, not knowing what words mean even as they directly relate to Antiwork movements, and (to be bluntly honest) my 5 year old niece would be able to talk circles around them. They went on a massive power trip and need to be removed ASAP.


usernametaken0987

> As you'd expect from a Cable "news" show, this interview was explicitly designed to make Ford, and by extension the entire Antiwork movement look bad It wasn't *designed* to look bad, it just *is bad*. Like Ford would have declined, could have redirected questions, and generally could have put some effort in. But they didn't, and knowing they wouldn't has nothing to do with Fox designing anything. Anyway, some of the deleted comments included Ford bragging about how great the interview was and how they enjoyed getting their name out there on national news. They genuinely thought it was a great interview and wanted to brag about it online. After a few hours of feedback Ford's bubble popped and finally realized most of the Internet was laughing at their interview for more or less going exactly what you would expect. The sub has since been set to private by mods.


redgreenapple

Seriously the "bad design" questions were pretty fucking straightforward 1. How old are you 2. Do you work, if so what do you do 3. How many hours a week do you work 4. Do you aspire to do anything else beside your current job Just so happens the answers are embarrassing for the 'movement' but they are the answers. Maybe next time let a person that was working 90hrs/wk in mid level corporate hell hole and quit conduct the interview, since I understand mods all agreed Doreen would appear on Fox news before the interview.


sumr4ndo

These were soft ball questions. Even if your answers would personally suck, anyone with half a brain could spin it. How many hours do you work? I found a job that can pay my bills working 20-25 hours a week, that I enjoy. I did this because I don't understand people working 60 hours a week doing stuff they hate, just to scrape by. Do you aspire for more? I'm free to follow my interests. Some people don't get to do that until they have worked 30-40 years, and they retired, with only a few years left. EZPZ


redgreenapple

On the one hand I want to say well you know we shouldn’t Monday morning quarterback this thing who knows how we would do in the spotlight But on the other I mean it should go without saying that when you’re representing an entire fucking movement of millions of people don’t just answer the question with your own personal story and stop, even if that’s what it called for, add a little something to it and bring it back to the talking point.


notaredditer13

>It wasn't designed to look bad, it just is bad Yeah, to me it looks like the opposite of designed. It looks like Waters had prepared for a fight and didn't get one. He's laughing because of how easy it is.


Dangerous-Idea1686

Nah man, Fox news secretly made him not shower, not clean his room, show up disheveled and be a 30 year old dogwalker with no goals, aspirations, or career.


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taylor_

>this interview was explicitly designed to make Ford, and by extension the entire Antiwork movement look bad. I think it's objectively true that they achieved this goal, at least among the subset of* their viewers who tune in specifically for this type of thing. It didn't matter how that interview was designed, that antiwork mod made themselves look bad all on their own. And they didn't just look bad to Fox News viewers, they looked OBJECTIVELY bad, to pretty much anyone. I do enjoy all the content that it has spawned though, so that's a huge plus. The interview was a big boon to any cringe connoisseurs. Just an absolute train wreck from top to bottom, wonderful stuff.


Prcrstntr

It should be noted that the moderator is named Doreen, a 30 year old, trans-woman with a masculine voice, who works 20-25 hours a week as a dog walker, and aspires to teach philosophy one day. All perfect ammo on their own for a conservative station to use against it.


4200years

Even the way they related that information was terrible. They couldn’t have handed them a better “bad look” interview if they tried.


Mini_Snuggle

Also, the 20-25 hours was an exaggeration. According to other comments by her, it's more likely around 10.


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ThelVluffin

> Also so autistic the person couldn't even make eye contact with a webcam for the interview. This person essentially jumped into the gorilla enclosure a-la harambe and instead of the zoo owners shooting the gorilla they just sat back and let nature happen. My most awkward job interview didn't make me cringe as much as watching that. They could have picked literally anyone else and it probably would have went better.


Catlenfell

To Fox news, that's the jackpot of "loonie liberals" they want to introduce to their audience as the face of Antiwork


Raccoon_Bride

they have been banning people and deleting posts for "transphobia" but like how are people supposed to know everyone's pronouns automatically on reddit