On Being Reddit Famous For My Transphobic, Racist Insanity

by Travis Mateer

Before I get to the fun mental health assessments I just read about myself on Reddit, let’s take a quick look at this information platform and the quality of thought it promotes, especially after the Chinese investment from Tencent. Here’s a little context from Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

Reddit was founded by University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, as well as Aaron Swartz, in 2005. Condé Nast Publications acquired the site in October 2006. In 2011, Reddit became an independent subsidiary of Condé Nast’s parent company, Advance Publications. In October 2014, Reddit raised $50 million in a funding round led by Sam Altman and including investors Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Ron Conway, Snoop Dogg, and Jared Leto. Their investment valued the company at $500 million at the time. In July 2017, Reddit raised $200 million for a $1.8 billion valuation, with Advance Publications remaining the majority stakeholder. In February 2019, a $300 million funding round led by Tencent brought the company’s valuation to $3 billion. In August 2021, a $700 million funding round led by Fidelity Investments raised that valuation to over $10 billion. The company then reportedly filed for an IPO in December 2021 with a valuation of $15 billion. Reddit debuted on the stock market on the morning of March 21, 2024 with the ticker symbol RDDT.

I am emphasizing the names of Aaron Swartz and Peter Thiel because they are significant when one considers the meta-project of narrative control. Aaron Swartz, who thought information should flow freely, ended up hanging from a rope because of the massive retaliation he experienced for fucking with institutions like MIT. I included a documentary about Swartz in this post I wrote after rewatching the movie Real Genius from the vantage point of 2022.

Peter Thiel, on the other hand, is someone I’m currently writing about because of his deep involvement in the trajectory of JD Vance. Narrative control is something Thiel takes very seriously, which his bankrolling of Hulk Hogan’s takedown of Gawker clearly shows. If you’re not aware that Thiel bankrolled the takedown of Gawker, here’s the opening of the Wired article I linked to:

EVEN TWO YEARS later, it’s still hard to believe it happened. But in March 2016, Hulk Hogan did indeed drive Gawker Media into bankruptcy after it published a video of the wrestler having sex with his best friend’s wife. And he pursued his lawsuit with funding from billionaire investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel.

A decade earlier, in its casually cruel way, Gawker had outed Thiel, so he decided, coldly and deliberately, to drive it out of business, secretly funnelling $10 million into cases against the US publisher.

Even Hogan himself didn’t know Thiel was his backer. The whole affair was, as Ryan Holiday describes in his new book, a conspiracy – one whose consequences reverberate to this day.

Does Hulk’s appearance at the RNC make a little more sense now?

Since being a crazy conspiracy theorist is one of the pejorative labels the Redditors are throwing at me, let’s take a look at what the conspiracy site, Vigilant Citizen, has to say about Reddit, post assassination attempt on Trump. From the link:

Although the FBI gained access to Crooks’ phone, there might be a reason why there is so little information concerning his online activity: He might have been radicalized by some of the elite’s favorite outlets. Indeed, as a 20-year-old white American male with some interest in politics, Crooks is the target audience of a highly popular yet toxic site: Reddit.

Dubbed “the front page of the internet,” the social news site Reddit is currently the 18th most visited website in the world. While Reddit used to be a hotspot of memes and entertaining articles, the site has taken a drastic turn in recent years. To put it bluntly, it is now a den of propaganda and disinformation, curated by sophisticated algorithms, AI bots, and various agents. This switch occurred about five years ago, which coincided with Reddit being partly acquired by Tencent – the Chinese multinational technology conglomerate.

Ok, with this foundation of context firmly established, let’s see how “Lego Guy” is being depicted on this lovely platform.

And the responses? Here are a few:

And here are a few more:

Well, bigdipperexemployee, I also had no idea how transphobic and racist I was. Damn! I sure hope these keyboard warriors find a way to cancel me before I infect people with my hateful conspiracy theories.

Here are the last few comments, as of this writing, assessing my hatefulness.

For those keeping score, I can now be referred to as a transphobic, racist, narcissistic, sociopathic schizophrenic who yells hateful stuff about Thunderdomes and my disdain for the homeless. Oh, and don’t forget about my doll, Vicky, the professional victim who has a secret she keeps hidden under her dress in case she gets called out for her white privilege.

I hope these Redditors don’t find out about what the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office has done to black men in this town, because then they might have to deal with the fact that Sean Stevenson was FUCKING EUTHANIZED, and that Johnny Lee Perry was SHOT IN THE FUCKING BACK.

Racist? That’s hilarious. If any of these faceless fucks on Reddit would like to be useful, I DO still have my dick, and they are free to suck it, if they like.

Now, for some context on my homeless perspective that does NOT feature profanity and suggestions of fellatio, here is an interview I did recently with Monica Perez.

Don’t worry, Missoula, I do have plans to one day leave this town, but right now I’m legally obligated to remain in this scenic land of liberal retardation, so, if you don’t want to be triggered by the reality I report on, do what so many in this town have become experts at: staying ignorant while believing you’re well-informed.

For those who do appreciate what I’ve sacrificed to bring reality to your sad little technology screen, or your earhole (if you’re brave enough to approach the crazy Lego Guy in the box truck), then please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!