Thank you for sharing this. I think that it is important to note that there were many opportunities to diffuse this whole thing if the community had chosen to. Paranoia is dangerous when unchecked. Fear is dangerous when not tempered by reason, by rational thought and empathy.

On a less abstract level, I think this video is a good example of why we should not be so hasty to throw around accusations of shills or whatnot here. Evaluate behavior, conduct, and remark upon that - separate from the person. Because what may appear as malicious intent might very well be a misunderstanding, or someone who just happens to have different views than your own.

It's this sort of divide-and-conquer strategy which is even more effective for disrupting communities than any amount of covert shilling or disinformation. Assuming good faith and evaluating behaviors for their merit seems to me to be the sensible approach.

It was never presented to us in school (thank my grade 4 teacher for showing it to us) as anti-communist, but more a critique of human nature.

It occurs to me that the same strategy of tension and division translates well to the online community. Reddit was one such Maple Street, possibly Voat can avoid a similar fate.