@nazgul
One issue is that what constitutes a “safe space” to white people often excludes being exposed to the experience & realities of marginalised people because it makes them uncomfortable.

Lots of well-meaning tweets have claimed how welcoming Mastodon has been and how much better they like it.

Newcomer hopefuls arrive, then get content policed or don’t feel welcomed. It then again becomes the burden of BIPOC and other marginalized folks to educate, call out injustices, and make space for themselves.

Even with the best intention, telling folks that there are plenty of Mastodon instances that might suit them better if they don’t like the one they’re on is like saying “you’re not welcome in this space.”

While Mastodon is free of algorithmically induced echo chambers that other (monetized) social platforms have, it‘s not devoid of self-made and unwitting echo chambers with “norms” which are created with implicit biases baked in. This is difficult to address as a whole because there’s no unified space, no unified policy, etc. And because many of the existing instances are interest-based, their purpose was never to be a town square, so they feel valid in shielding their community from topics which don’t fit the vibe.

@nazgul some replies to your question are well-meaning but exemplify the very thing you’re asking about. “I don’t see that happening at all” and “not in my experience” is great for them but doesn’t mean it‘s not happening to others. Acknowledging that, and that one might have to feel uncomfortable sometimes for the sake of others, is one step in the right direction.

At the very least, if reading about a certain thing makes me uncomfortable, I can still control the sanctity of my feed by keyword blocking and muting to my heart’s content, without preventing others from speaking.