Recently over the past couple of months, I’ve seen political discussion on every single social media (yes, that includes Lemmy) become a bear fight full of propaganda. Twitter/X is becoming a racist hellhole with people hating Jews, Black people and Muslims for existing whilst Lemmy is quickly fostering extremism. There is no where on the Internet, except for small chat channels, that is normal. What do I mean by normal?

Every single place is an echo chamber. Those inside it will shout that the other place is one, but we all know it. Lies and propaganda are constantly being cycled on Lemmy and the other Fediverse, but nobody bats an eye because “we’re better” and the other side is full of disgusting people. The same thing is happening in conservative spaces. I don’t want to talk about “race wars” “black fatigue” or “Jew bioweapons” nor do I want to talk about mass murder of billionaires and complete social destruction. I just want all of you to be normal.

Tribalism has influenced all of these spaces. In the information age, we have become the dumbest and most extreme political speakers in history. We no longer value the truth of information, just the optics. We sour the airwaves with filth, bringing it into schools, universities and even political administrations. We have madmen destroying the biggest country on Earth whilst people here defend the indefensible.

There is no more love in politics. No more “agreeing to disagree”, no more facts or intelligence. It’s just pure, unfettered hate.

Lemmy’s just the lesser of two evils. Whilst I post here a lot, let me be clear: this place is a shithole. Sure, you guys aren’t as washed and feral as conservatives, but you guys are still washed and feral. You guys infect everything with misplaced social justice, constantly finding to ruin everything on the basis of your apparent prejudice. You can’t wait to bring people down, and never the other way around.

There is no reason to talk about politics on the Internet anymore. Everyone is lying. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone is being a bad person.

I am so tired

    • doodledup@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Cat pictures are not political. The comet flying by is not political. Company’s newest phone release is not political. But somehow, some people manage to make all of that political anyways.

      • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The domestication and widespread ownership of cats is causing local bird populations to become unstable, if this isn’t changed they will go extinct.

        The comet being viewed was funded by your tax dollars.

        Smartphones are absolutely political. From the shrugged responsibility for how these companies have now permanently altered our global society, to the economic issues of people not being able to afford what is now required for participation in society.

        You being ignorant of the world around you doesn’t enable you to be a smartass.

        • doodledup@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I read two things from your response:

          1. Everything can indeed be made political.
          2. People who do so are a LLM with high probability.
      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        2 months ago

        The only reason you think Cats are not political is they are the ones that rule us and get to decide what is political and what isn’t.

    • nomy@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      Nah man find you some good friends, me and my friends gas each other up sometimes.

      All my homies have big dicks and fat wallets, anybody would be lucky to be on the team. I don’t fuck with bozos if we’re hanging you’re a quality individual, 100% love and respect. The world is fucked enough you gotta find someone to lift up sometime, it feels good.

  • BumbyJohnson@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Hello, other side of the rock here. Did you just become self aware? Everything is inherently political in society and normality is subjective.

  • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    i mean theres a reason for it.

    real life has been made shit for most people and solutions involve politics.

  • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
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    2 months ago

    Not that this is a means of discourse, but there’s a newsletter I’ve gotten a lot of value from: Tangle.

    The whole idea is to give a “facts first” assessment of the news topic of the day, followed by what prominent voices from the left and right are saying about it, followed by an editor’s take (usual guy has his biases, but I’ve always found his take sensible, even when i disagree with it). Its pretty US centric, but when they cover international news, they tend to include a section for international takes too.

    They do a free daily newsletter and podcast Mon - Thurs, then a premium only letter on Fridays and Sundays. The Fri/Sun ones are mostly interviews.

    Link for the lazy

    • doodledup@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Reuters is also pretty good when it comes to neutrality. I just wish there was something like that for European news aswell.

  • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Just block em. Block a couple dozen communities and super-posters and give yourself some space to breathe. There’s some fun stuff on lemmy when every other post isn’t about Trump

  • mke@programming.dev
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    2 months ago

    I think most popular online social spaces—here included—are unconducive to the kind of long-term, active effort conversations between individuals that might change someone’s mind. Instead, we gather as many as we can and just start shouting.

    Shout it loudly into every medium and hope your fiefdom’s propaganda, however meager, pulls in some people over time. It’s all about that noise, because noise means engagement, and engagement is the de facto cost-effective tool in social media. Honest conversations are high-cost, dubious reward. They’re tiring. Jading. Hardly worth it. So, broadcasting ideas it is.

    It’s fundamentally the same method the ruling class has used, and continues effectively using, to influence the world in any scale that actually matters, except they reach hundreds of millions every day while we dozen thousand few shout at each other in a dark alley.

    Regarding online behavior, you might consider that Lemmy has largely failed to fix it. I posit that it barely ever tried, but also that it’s an extremely difficult problem because the root cause is us.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Start using the block feature. Honestly I did that when I was active over in Reddit and I do it here too and it makes for such a better online experience.

    Doing that I’ve found that I can have these reasonable discussions, even with those few of the more far left .ml folks that don’t mind discussing actual ideas and facts.

    I think another key is that unless you’re wanting to vent, which I get sometimes you just want to do it, avoid going back into threads rehashing the same topic, they’re going to be full of the same people that haven’t changed and you’ve said your piece, they’re just actively looking for that fight and echo chamber, downvote, block and move on.

  • TimmyDeanSausage @lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    What you’re complaining about are symptoms of the flaws in our societal systems. Neo-liberalism is primarily about unfettered individualism. A system that prioritizes individualism and competition will tend to breed tribalism, dogma, and contempt. What do you gain by complaining about the symptoms?

    Imo, we all hate the current political paradigm. We can’t fix rage and frustration by raging at the rage. Until we all move onto something better, the only thing we can do (as individuals) is educate ourselves enough to better engage in these conversations - with thoughtful arguments, patience, kindness, and verifiable information. Be the change you wish to see.

  • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The only thing special about Is Lemmy is it hasn’t attracted the masses yet. People love to complain there is not enough people here, but coming from Reddit, Dig, Facebook, Myspace, etc I can say more people will just make this place worse.

    There is plenty of love but also plenty of hate. There is a reason politics and religion discussion are banned in bars.

    As always your take is garbage, but that is the result of GIGO. You are a product of what you see and interact with. You can’t rise above the quagmire of shit we are all in, and that is the point. You are a product of what you are around and putting on the blinders does not help.

    We are all stuck in this together, we can’t exist without each other. People much greater than me have already laid all this out. Take a break, step back, and make some room to breathe. We are only here for a short time and the only thing that you can truly moderate is your life for brief moments.

    The world is going to take you for a ride whether you like it or not. You will be influenced whether you like it or not. Your life will come crashing down through no fault of your own. Take what little control you have and run with it. Here is wishing a little bit of peace and happiness in your life, good luck and goodbye.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      There is plenty of love but also plenty of hate. There is a reason politics and religion discussion are banned in bars.

      Do you live in a place where the bars ban politics and religion discussion?

    • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      As overused as I think the saying has become, I def agree its important to occasionally go out and touch grass some times.

      • peregrin5@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Fair enough. This is a reminder to everyone though that the internet is not real life and being here for too long without breaks is bad for your mental health.

  • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    I couldn’t agree more. On average, the people commenting on these threads are out of their minds. They’re constantly on the hunt for “the other,” and the moment you start making noises that don’t perfectly align with the accepted beliefs of the hivemind, you’re viciously attacked and practically forced to defend yourself against completely baseless, bad-faith ad hominem accusations.

    EDIT: See the replies from FelixCress below to my other comment for a perfect example.

    I even made a post about this around a week ago, asking whether a heavily moderated community exists where bad actors would be immediately shown the door. Unsurprisingly, I got attacked for that too - and was implicitly accused of being a fascist and a rapist, because of course only such people would want to have serious conversations with others capable of civil discourse, while everyone with a functioning moral compass apparently wouldn’t be able to participate - as if pushing back in a reasonable, polite manner isn’t even an option.

    • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      Mostly as a heads up, looks like FelixCress’s messages were removed by mod. Can you share more context in what those were about?

      • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk
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        2 months ago

        They should be mostly visible in the modlog.

        He was asking for examples of extremism on Lemmy, and when I provided examples of another user’s removed messages, he dismissed them one by one. Then he started digging through my comment history to find something to get angry about - which he did - and decided to dedicate the rest of his evening to a smear campaign against me.

      • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk
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        2 months ago

        You conveniently left out the other half of that comment in your screenshot.

        You asked for examples, and I gave them in good faith. You then dismissed them one by one, not with curiosity or open disagreement, but with the kind of selective scrutiny that only ever points in one direction. And when that wasn’t enough, you started digging through my comment history for dirt and then throwing out accusations just to paint me as whatever villain fits the narrative you’ve already decided on.

        This isn’t just exhausting - it’s disheartening. This kind of behavior has nothing to do with actual discussion. It’s about scoring points, framing people in the worst possible light, and calling it justice. I’m not even sure you believe half the things you’re accusing me of - it just seems like an excuse to treat someone like garbage because they said something you didn’t like.

    • Krudler@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I think I was in that thread defending you.

      People just went absolutely ape-shit at the notion that good faith dialogue should be encouraged.

  • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    You can either be ‘political’ or you can have politics done to you.

    It’s no accident that political discussion is everywhere. The world is in crisis and a lot of us are not willing to go along to get along. So be tired and check out, but don’t complain when the jackbooted thugs knock on YOUR door.

    You get an upvote but I hope you realize you’re in ‘politics’ whether you like it or not. The apathy of the masses is why the authoritarians are alllowed to take over.

    • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk
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      2 months ago

      I don’t think they’re complaining about the fact that political discussion happens, but rather the quality of it. It’s not far off to say that it usually ends up as either a circlejerk within people’s own bubbles or a complete free-for-all mudslinging match - which, in the entire history of the internet, has never produced anything other than deepening the divide between opposing sides.

      • Admiral Patrick@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yep, this. Thanks for that. I had started to say almost the same thing but had to get back to my yardwork before I could wordsmith it.

    • TimmyDeanSausage @lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      This is what I keep telling my family. They’re all right wingers and the political conversations tend to end with “well I just don’t like how much you let it affect you…” (because they can’t refute any of my arguments with informed arguments of their own).

      Like, no, I won’t dig my head in the sand “for my own sanity”. To check out, when politics affects every aspect of our lives, is insanity. Especially if you’re a minority living in a pre-authoritarian oligarchy like the US.

      • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Right? “Why are you letting all the oppression, rights violations, illegal government action, corruption, and ecological destruction bother you?”