Rule 4: Do not promote or put drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants in a positive light.

Some comrades mentioned in private channels that weed is not addictive, I’m not going to argue on this point because this is a fundamental divide between China and some western countries.

My view is that whether you’re addicted to them or not, you shouldn’t promote these substances or put them in a positive light. It’s fine if you don’t agree with me, but anyone who leaves a comment here arguing the opposite will be banned from the community (30 days for now).

If a lot of people oppose this rule, either by downvotes and/or number of comments, I will willingly step down as moderator of this community.

  • qwenameOP
    75·
    2 months ago

    It’s almost 24 hours since I posted this, and the overall feeling I get is that this rule is “ok” only because of China’s history, and not because it makes sense.

    Let’s imagine a scenario where the new rule only mentions “Do not promote or put alcohol in a positive light.” What would be the reactions then? Keep in mind that in China, alcohol is legal for adults and can be advertised on national TV, but has the following restrictions: (from the 广告法 Advertising Law)

    第二十三条　酒类广告不得含有下列内容：

    （一）诱导、怂恿饮酒或者宣传无节制饮酒；

    （二）出现饮酒的动作；

    （三）表现驾驶车、船、飞机等活动；

    （四）明示或者暗示饮酒有消除紧张和焦虑、增加体力等功效。

    (DeepL translate) Article 23 Liquor advertisements shall not contain the following:

    (1) Inducing or encouraging the consumption of alcohol or publicizing the uncontrolled consumption of alcohol;

    (2) Showing actions of drinking;

    (3) Exhibiting activities such as driving a car, boat, or airplane;

    (4) Explicitly or implicitly suggesting that drinking alcohol has the effect of eliminating tension and anxiety, increasing physical strength, and so forth.

    Is it unfair to lump all these substances together as though they have similar levels of influence on a person? Maybe it is, because why didn’t I include games that are designed to be addicting, or mention porn, or other forms of escapism?

    Speaking of porn, why can there be a Lemmygrad instance-wide rule 4 of “No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW)”, but I have to be met with a possible majority resistance (hexbear users can’t downvote this post due to how their instance works) for anti-promotion (not a ban on mentioning them) of the listed substances in this community?

    Anyway, this discussion post will be pinned for some time until enough consensus has been made on this new rule, and I will suspend the enforcement of this rule 4 in the meantime (not that there has been any violation yet).