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‘Blocked and Reported’ vs. transgender people

Blocked and Reported is a “drama” podcast hosted by gender critical activists Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog. It focuses on online controversies and has significant coverage overlap with other anti-transgender drama channels like Libs of TikTok and The Matt Walsh Show.

Background

Blocked and Reported was founded in 2020 under the auspices of Permabanned Media LLC. Their original logo was by a follower:

They later got a less amateurish logo:

In 2022 they engaged the services of two sociopathic trolls from another “drama” site called rdrama.net, a group banned from reddit for trolling who started a rival drama forum. They create hoaxes and memes to ratchet up online drama, which Blocked and Reported can then cover. Singal and Herzog seem unconcerned about the ethics of this practice.

One troll uses the online handles Jackal, TraceWoodgrains, and Tracingwoodgrains. This person’s involvement is explained on their site using a homophobic and antisemitic meme:

blocked and reported homophobic antisemitic
Original homophobic and antisemitic cartoon by “A. Wyatt Mann” (left), repurposed and published by Singal and Herzog (right) on Blocked and Reported (2022) [enlarge]

The other troll uses the handle LexerLux and interacts with commenters.

As another example of how these Blocked and Reported employees reflect the low-empathy personalities of Singal and Herzog, within hours of the incident, LexerLux was posting hoaxes about the murders of six people at a Christian school in Tennessee.

The podcast’s “one of the good ones” branding was perfected by Herzog’s former employer Dan Savage in the 1990s. They like to pretend they are edgy “lefty” iconoclasts who aren’t bothered by slurs and hoaxes, but these kinds of “pickme” people are invariably thin-skinned and histrionic about progressive neologisms as well as how others describe them.

Guests and guest hosts

Episodes have included a number of conservative, ex-trans, and anti-trans guests and guest hosts. Others have not publicly discussed their views on trans issues.

  • Mike Pesca (2)
  • Brad Polumbo
  • Justin Tosi
  • Ethan Watters
  • Dave Weigel
  • Suzy Weiss
  • Dan Williams
  • “PSA Sitch”
  • “Tracing Woodgrains”

reddit

On reddit, the r/BlockedAndReported subreddit is one of the few remaining anti-trans hate subreddits. They feature a tag specifically for Trans Issues and frequently disparage and mock trans people in the news.

Because so many of the members were involved in other anti-trans subreddits that have already been banned, moderators have had to set strict rules about how transphobic users contribute: “Any trans-related threads that are not DIRECTLY related to a topic discussed on the pod will be removed. However, feel free to post any other trans topics in the Weekly Discussion Thread.” This rule was later amended:

Trans Topics

Threads around trans topics are subject to removal at the arbitrary discretion of the mods. This sub is not meant to be a replacement for r/GenderCritical! Because of the overzealous reddit policies around this subject, discussions around this topic can put the sub at risk (even when there is nothing genuinely objectionable) and so any such threads will be monitored carefully, and possibly removed or locked if the mods deem it necessary.

Moderators include:

  • SoftandChewy (subreddit creator)
  • ShaykItOff

Related subreddits

In addition to r/IntellectualDarkWeb, the reddit algorithm for related communities showed that users frequently monitored the three top trans-supportive subreddits:

  • r/transgender
  • r/asktransgender
  • r/trans

The data visualization below shows the ideological overlap with other subreddits:

Alt-right / “intellectual dark web”

  • IntellectualDarkWeb
  • samharris

Anti-liberal

  • ShitLibSafari
  • stupidpol
  • StupidPolEurope
  • redscarepod
  • thefunhouseofideology

“Rationalist” / libertarian

  • CultureWarRoundUp
  • theschism
  • TheMotte
  • slatestarcodex
  • WeTheFifth
  • VeryBadWizards

Culture podcasts

  • gimlet
  • ezraklein
  • replyallpodcast
enlarge

References

workmanswhistle (April 30, 2022). BAR getting some heat for LOTT hoax. reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/BlockedAndReported/comments/ufi6hi/bar_getting_some_heat_for_lott_hoax/ [archive]

blahblahblahblah8 (September 13, 2022). Finally, an accurate and fair-minded assessment of the pod and its sociopathic researcher. reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/BlockedAndReported/comments/xdo0vc/finally_an_accurate_and_fairminded_assessment_of/ [archive] [repost]

Resources

Blocked and Reported (blockedandreported.org)

reddit (reddit.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

  • BARflies [founded 2020, removed in 2022]
  • https://www.facebook.com/groups/335760494204788 [archive]

Open Government in Washington State (opengovwa.com)