Most of the protestors don't hate fat people, of course. But they saw Reddit's crackdown on harassment as a fundamental shift in the foundation of the site, a move to take away their "free speech."
Gotta love those quotation marks around free speech, as if what's going on Reddit isn't about that. Fatpeoplehate was a shitty sub, but according to it's mods they were following the rules set down by reddit. Supporting free speech, in my opinion, has the most meaning and importance when you vehemently disagree with the speaker, or even find their opinion distasteful, but believe in their right to speak.
Furthermore, from what I've read r/Fatpeoplehate was more about poking at the excessive lengths the Fat Acceptance movement has taken, with some going beyond the initial goals of preventing bullying and moving on to say, without much medical proof, that being grossly overweight is a healthy lifestyle.
Gotta love those quotation marks around free speech, as if what's going on Reddit isn't about that. Fatpeoplehate was a shitty sub, but according to it's mods they were following the rules set down by reddit. Supporting free speech, in my opinion, has the most meaning and importance when you vehemently disagree with the speaker, or even find their opinion distasteful, but believe in their right to speak.
Furthermore, from what I've read r/Fatpeoplehate was more about poking at the excessive lengths the Fat Acceptance movement has taken, with some going beyond the initial goals of preventing bullying and moving on to say, without much medical proof, that being grossly overweight is a healthy lifestyle.