Reddit isn't but the internet is. The internet has been getting shittier the past year and people feel it. How many times do you append reddit at the end of your google searches? How many times does google send you reddit search results?

Reddit is a remnant of the internet before it got centralized and capitalism fucked it up. Yes, we are federated but a majority won't be switching for a long time. I think there is validity in defacing /r/place as it brings awareness and documents the shitty things the admins are doing. That is very powerful and easy to point and show others what is happening.