The best thing you can do for the fediverse is just be kind
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Great post.
To add to this, not resorting to calling others tankies or Russian bots when you have differing opinions, especially around politics.
Nah fuck tankies, zero tolerance for the intolerant.
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Thank you! đĽ°
Hope you have a good day!
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Itâs not about tolerance imo, itâs about discussion. Youâd be surprised to learn their reasoning if you actually listened to it. You donât have to agree with it.
Both sides have this problem right now. Both only converse with their own. Why are republicans not changing? Well if their friends, family and everyone they talk to is a republican, theyâll never be exposed to different opinions.
Donât forget that both sides can have valid policies depending on how you view the world. Iâm not taking about trump and whatever you people are doing out there in the US, but in general, conservatism is the idea that people will manage their money, rather than the government.
Look at Quebec for example. A very socialist government. 2 years ago they invested a ton on money into one electric bus company. Well that company failed really bad and while they arenât completely bankrupt, they arenât far. Itâs easy then to then see why conservatives would want to vote conservative. If their money had stayed in their pocket instead of going to the government, this wouldnât have happened.
Same thing with health. The public health system is currently clogged up so a lot of people end up having to pay to go to the private sector to actually get cured in time. So conservatives believe this whole system is a huge waste of taxpayer money. Most conservatives I know arenât agaisnt the government helping with that, but theyâd rather the government just pay the invoice after you went to a private clinic, similar to insurance in the states, rather than try to control a system that clearly isnât working.
I'm not interested in the reasoning behind bigotry.
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I arrived at LEMMY after what I think we very optimistically called the Reddit Collapse. We wish. And I had toe in LEMMY and a few others at Reddit.
Recently with their abusively patronizing redesigning and gamification and just ugly bullshit, I canât stomach Reddit at all. So LEMMY grows increasingly important, not just to me but to folks who havenât yet even heard of it.
So, Iâll just say thanks for your post here. I have, I confess, engaged with a couple bullies on LEMMY and I always try to say⌠I donât like to do this on LEMMYâ and I say that precisely for the reasons you mention.
And as you encourage: I will try to be kinder, even in when feeling⌠hmm⌠less than kind.
Thank you for considering my thoughts
ď¸. I think when our anger is justified and we are feeling less than kind is when kindness can have the biggest potential impact, and is most worth being proud of.Undeserved compassion is a powerful thing. But I don't think that means you can't confront bullies and tell them their treatment of other people is unwelcome here. Those things aren't mutually exclusive
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The fediverse is small, and thats both a blessing and a curse - one of its several blessings is that in a smaller space we all individually have a bigger impact on what the culture of this space is like.
On this comm (and on lemmy broadly) there's a lot of discussion about how to grow the fediverse, what to improve, but an easy thing you can do for the fediverse is right in front of us-
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Be kind
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Ask people what they think, and why
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Approach folks you disagree with with curiosity rather than hostility
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Engage sincerely
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Ask yourself if there's something nice you can say
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Make this small space worth being in
A platform lives or dies by what's available on said platform and often we have this conversation in the context of "content" or posts - and we may never have as much content as reddit does. But content and posts aren't the only thing this kind of platform offers- it also offers people. It offers community, and human interaction.
Culture and community is lemmy and the fediverse's biggest differentiator, and we all have a role to play in shaping the culture of this space.
The biggest thing you can do to help the fediverse is make it a place worth being.
The thing that I appreciated most about Lemmy and my transition from Reddit is how cordial everyone has been. Even if my comments are taken out of context people tend not to jump down my throat and assume the worst, or make bad faith arguments full of fallacies. I've had legitimate back and forths with people, something that basically never happens on Reddit.
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I could be wrong but to me it feels odd to think lemmy is big enough to be worth organizing psyops for.
Not to say it couldn't be an issue in the future, but it feels much more likely that people expressing pro Russia sentiment are just people who bought into that particular brand of propaganda.
Which like, to some extent all of our individual world views are shaped by the environment of propaganda we're exposed to. We're all products of our social conditioning, and ultimately that's exactly what propaganda is. Media designed to socially condition people to a certain set of beliefs. All we as individuals can do is be aware of it and be willing to look at our own beliefs critically.
But at the end of the day I think the folks praising Russia on lemmy are just people. People I personally think are misguided, but I don't think theyre generally acting in bad faith any more than the general population here.
Lemmy being splintered and opposed to all forms of authority makes it perfect for radicalizing individuals to commit great harm and violence in their community.
All movement starts at the grassroots.
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The fediverse is small, and thats both a blessing and a curse - one of its several blessings is that in a smaller space we all individually have a bigger impact on what the culture of this space is like.
On this comm (and on lemmy broadly) there's a lot of discussion about how to grow the fediverse, what to improve, but an easy thing you can do for the fediverse is right in front of us-
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Be kind
-
Ask people what they think, and why
-
Approach folks you disagree with with curiosity rather than hostility
-
Engage sincerely
-
Ask yourself if there's something nice you can say
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Make this small space worth being in
A platform lives or dies by what's available on said platform and often we have this conversation in the context of "content" or posts - and we may never have as much content as reddit does. But content and posts aren't the only thing this kind of platform offers- it also offers people. It offers community, and human interaction.
Culture and community is lemmy and the fediverse's biggest differentiator, and we all have a role to play in shaping the culture of this space.
The biggest thing you can do to help the fediverse is make it a place worth being.
Well I came here to chew bubblegum and talk shit, and Iâm all out of bubblegum.
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I'm not interested in the reasoning behind bigotry.
Thatâs the problem. You see the other side in a way they themselves really arenât. When people say the left is just as bad as the right, they donât mean in opinions and policies, but in behavior, just like youâre doing. They both think themselves as having the moral high ground while the other side is complete and utter evil.
Honestly of all the conservatives I know, I donât think a single one of them is remotely racist in any way. One in particular is agaisnt talking about lgbt stuff in schools but he also has a trans friend and thinks as long as theyâre adults itâs fine. Itâs not being evil, itâs having a difference in opinion.
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At the minimum itâs worth harvesting posts, and hacġing servers to link ip addresses to those posts. Thatâs just one officer being assigned to the newborn Lemmy division with a couple thousand for hardware.
Honestly if anyone is doing that I really feel like it would be the US, not Russia.
Russia's goal is to sew discord and unballance the populace that drives politics, and for that to work you need a MASSIVE scale that we just don't really have. They don't really have much to gain from the IP addresses of a handful of leftists
But Lemmy is exactly the kind of hotspot for people DEEPLY angry about the government of the US to organize that if we're big enough to be on their radar, the US government would have a vested interest in keeping an eye on potential dissidents. Unlike Russia IP addresses and personally identifiable information would be useful to them, in identifying threat actors, tracking their activity and volatility online, and building cases that would allow them to prosecute should said dissidents escalate
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I think given the existing culture of this space and the reasons people are drawn here it would be hard for that specifically to happen, but that's not to say we won't have our own cultural and platform challenges
I think in a worst case scenario we're more at risk of growing toxic and unhealthy in a new and different way than 4chan did
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One my favorite ways to summarize this kind of thinking is with the Bill & Ted quote "Be Excellent To Each Other, and Party On Dudes" (mostly the first half applies to this post though). The part that applies to this post, Keanu Reeves said he interprets as follows:
I think that the sentiment of it is really just be the best person, the best human being you can be, and if you do that, then you can party on and live life to the fullest, but youâre gonna be safe... Youâre going to be supported, youâre going to get the gift of giving, youâre going to get the gift of receiving, youâre going to get to the gift of sharing. Weâre all just some humans on a rock in space, and so itâs kinda nice to kind of promote that idea of âgive a little, get a lotâ, kind of bring it in for a group hug."
Fuck yeah! I wasn't familiar with that quote, that's lovely! Thank you for sharing
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The thing in this post about curiosity isn't just a lemmy/online thing.
The vast majority of people are mainly interested in themselves. Like - if you have trouble on dates, making friends, getting along at work, anything to do with people in general - approaching them with a sense of sincere curiosity will completely change things overnight.
Get people to talk about themselves, be supportive in your discussions with them, and shut the fuck up wherever possible and suddenly you're interesting, a good person, kind, whatever - traits you've done exactly fuck all to demonstrate, but that people will swear are true because you seem interested in them.
It's fucking bonkers but it's true. Curiosity can change your world.
Active listening is a powerful skill!
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The thing that I appreciated most about Lemmy and my transition from Reddit is how cordial everyone has been. Even if my comments are taken out of context people tend not to jump down my throat and assume the worst, or make bad faith arguments full of fallacies. I've had legitimate back and forths with people, something that basically never happens on Reddit.
I fuckin love the hear that, I hope we can foster even more of that. It can be so hard online but I really think it's worth it. This space is only as good and as worthwhile as we make it
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Getting better at communication takes time and practice. Depending on where someone is in that journey, a post like this can make a big difference. And I think we can all use a reminder to be kind every so often. So, thanks for taking the time to write this out
It does! Small changes over time can add up to incredible people skills and the ability to win hearts and minds
ď¸Thank you so much for the kind words my friend, I hope you have a lovely day!
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Love you guys
Love you too man!
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D'aww, thanks. Always lovely to see your username and pfp around
take care!That's so nice of you - likewise
Ooh, looking forward to it!
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I totally agree with your message.
These days everyone who is not ultra-left easily gets labelled as Nazi, similarly everyone who brings up any rather left argument will be called a woke snowflake.
Thus, any dialog is immediately shut down. Listen, understand, exchange arguments.
That is what unites everyone who believes in liberal values.
It's a rough time, not helped by how profoundly important politics is right now. And the more broken the state of things get, the more divided we become, and the harder it gets to look others in the eyes and be okay with what they're supporting
I don't think there's any easy answer. But I do think it helps to confront people who are doing harm, and open sincere dialogue with people you disagree with (when theyre willing to engage in good faith. No point otherwise.) And try to understand how they got where they are, and share why you don't agree with them
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Well I came here to chew bubblegum and talk shit, and Iâm all out of bubblegum.
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I agree that folks should chip in!
Voting specifically doesn't really have meaningful server costs, I think that's really what they were talking about, but your point is very fair
This platform exists only if we decide it's worth existing and give it support
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Right. The Fediverse is the PBS of the social media.
"It's made possible by people like you." Is it worth a few dollars a month? Yes!
I love that connection, it's very much like the PBS of social media
