Author Archives: BraydenDethridg

Reddit’s Former CEO Is Fed Up With the Site’s Vindictive Trolls, But Not Its Anonymous Gun Dealers

by BraydenDethridg Posted on July 16, 2015

Mother Jones

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As turmoil continues at Reddit, former CEO Yishan Wong has been defending ousted leader Ellen Pao, in part with a schadenfreude-tinged post on Tuesday in which he informed the trolls populating the site’s controversial hate-speech forums that their days are likely numbered. But when I questioned Wong on Tuesday night on Twitter about another controversial corner of Reddit—a de facto national market for assault weapons called r/GunsForSale that we exposed in a Mother Jones investigation last year—he was of a different mindset. As Wong had put it earlier on Tuesday, the new CEO now had “the moral authority to move ahead with the purge” of Reddit’s darkest reaches. I wondered whether that might now also apply to a forum where anonymous gun dealers revel in the prospect of profiting from the mass murder of first graders and boast about selling firearms with zero regulatory scrutiny.

Reddit wasn’t just allowing this gun market to thrive on its platform when we broke the story, it had also put its stamp on it—literally. The company had licensed its official alien logo for use on a bunch of custom AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, produced for and purchased by the site’s users. Turns out Wong, who was CEO at the time, was himself a fan. In his response to me on Tuesday night he wrote in a series of tweets:

Ironically the sensationalist, leading questions you sent us when “researching” this muckraking piece sparked my interest in guns, which later led me to buy an AR-15. Wish I could get one of those reddit-stamped lower receivers though. Seriously, the hi-res pictures you included made those rifles look amazing. It was almost an advertisement for them.

A fresh look at r/GunsForSale this week revealed plenty of Bushmaster AR-15s and Glocks with high-capacity magazines—the weapons of choice for mass shooters in Charleston, Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, and so many other places—continue to be available from unidentifiable sellers eager to do deals in person. As in: Meet me in the parking lot, show me the money, no questions asked.

“I’d prefer to sell this face to face. I am in North Florida.” From a July 14 gun listing on Reddit

There is now hot debate about a regulatory process that let the Charleston killer purchase his Glock from a gun store, despite his disqualifying criminal record. But forget about how licensed retailers should operate: With sites like r/GunsForSale thriving, that whole conversation may really just be moot.

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Reddit’s Former CEO Is Fed Up With the Site’s Vindictive Trolls, But Not Its Anonymous Gun Dealers

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6 Good Reasons a Black Person Might Resist Arrest

by BraydenDethridg Posted on August 15, 2014

Mother Jones

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At least four black men were killed by police in the past month, via chokehold, tasing, and shootings, after being confronted for reasons ranging from selling untaxed cigarettes to picking up a BB gun off a shelf in Wal-Mart.

In at least two of these cases—Dante Parker and Eric Garner—the victims allegedly resisted arrest. Some political leaders, witnesses at the scene, and Internet commenters have placed blame on the victims for this reason, saying their refusal to go quietly with the cops is what ended their lives.

More MoJo coverage of the Michael Brown police shooting


Ferguson Is 60 Percent Black. Virtually All Its Cops Are White.


“Hands Up, Don’t Shoot:” Peaceful Protests Across the Country Last Night


Exactly How Often Do Police Shoot Unarmed Black Men?


4 Unarmed Black Men Have Been Killed By Police in the Last Month


A Few Horrifying Pictures From Ferguson Last Night


Anonymous Posts St. Louis Police Dispatch Tapes From Day of Ferguson Shooting


Incredibly Powerful Photo of Black Students at Howard University


The Ferguson Shooting and the Science of Race and Guns

“For FUCKS SAKE stop struggling and resisting like this and deal with it at the precinct!! Resisting arrest, even if the police have the wrong guy, is a TERRIBLE idea!! God why don’t people get this?” writes one commenter at Gawker. At a press conference on gun control in Harlem yesterday, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said that “once an officer has decided that arrest is necessary, every New Yorker should agree to do what they need to do as a citizen and respect the police officer and follow their guidance. And then there is a thorough due-process system thereafter.”

And how about in the tasing death of Dante Parker? A San Bernadino county newspaper employee and married father of five with no criminal record, Parker was out riding his bike for exercise on Tuesday when he was approached by sheriff’s deputies as a robbery suspect. A witness relayed what he saw:

He was super strong…it took about two or three guys to get his hands behind him. They went to try to get him to stand up, but he wouldn’t do it…He kept kicking and kicking and kicking. He was very uncooperative.”

So why would someone like Dante Parker or Eric Garner resist arrest? Here are six good reasons:

  1. The idea that “if you didn’t do anything wrong, you don’t have anything to fear” does not hold true for black people. Most people who end up being exonerated for crimes they served time for, but didn’t commit, are people of color.
  2. Blacks routinely serve higher sentences than whites—for the same crimes.
  3. Once in custody, black men are rough-handled by police more often than whites.
  4. Racial profiling and bias in police departments across the country is well–documented.
  5. There are many well-known cases of police torture directed at blacks in prison, such as the dozens of black Chicago inmates who were systematically tortured over a span of 20 years.
  6. Scientific studies shed light on how racial bias can influence witness testimony, like this finding that race can make people “see” guns, or a reach for a gun, where no weapon was present.

Asking why a black man with even the slightest bit of awareness of these facts wouldn’t fully cooperate with the cops is a bit like asking why William Wallace didn’t simply extend a warm welcome to the invading English forces. Here’s a better question: What are law enforcement agencies doing to heal their relationships with the black communities they’re supposed to protect and serve?

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6 Good Reasons a Black Person Might Resist Arrest

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