this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
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I'd say less so. There wasn't much by way of disinformation campaigns and bots back when Reddit first started so the posts and comments felt more genuine and organic. Even with Kbin/Lemmy being much smaller, there's still a ton of weird shit that gets posted here or comments that feel really suspicious. It would be nice for that kind of environment to make its way back, but it seems those days are over. Still better than what you get from Reddit though.
Yeah 100% When I joined I saw so much weird pro China and Russia comments, veiled but there. And no one would disagree! To me it felt like trying to influence newcomers and it was more insidious the way it was presented. Nothing like the dumb trolls I was used to seeing on reddit.
This is especially bad due to certain instances. It wasn’t so bad on Reddit where they usually limited themselves to a few subreddits, but it’s really off putting to see the nonstop propaganda they spew. So glad LW defederated with that instance.
Dude when I joined it was everywhere. I don't know if they were other instances or what because I was still learning the system and app I'm using (and app may not have even specified at the time everything was new) but I was HEAVILY considering leaving the site based on what I was seeing. And that .ml was run by ccp supporters. I saw completely unrelated subs (still don't know what to call them) even tho they were LW have in their rules no negative comments about CCP. They weren't even political subs. That's when I was like fuck it, I'm speaking up when I see it. I have people I care about directly impacted by this shit. I'm not tolerating it. Thankfully it is much better now at least on LW. idk about elsewhere
Yeah it's such a weird vibe here, and honestly, if it doesn't change, I think it's going to be what dooms the platform. This version of it, at least.
It's this super far left melting pot of western progressive talking points that are also somehow pro Russia and China.
Not saying that these are necessarily mutually exclusive views, but to most Western audiences, you're holding views that are (again within a Western frame of reference) simultaneously far right and far left...which is most likely to be polarizing enough to just annoy or piss off most casual users.
That's what was so fucking confusing to me. How can you go so far left that you are now praising current existing authoritarian governments that are hurting their own citizens and spreading it farther? Ukraine, Hong Kong, those are very fucking recent but even more shit happened in a lot of living memory with these countries.
Then I realized. They just chose the name far left. It sure as shit has nothing in common with what I believe a lot of us consider being left as; putting the well being of a citizen and social/environmental/etc progress above profit.
I had someone go off on me recently because I talked about how I never see the term "tankie" anywhere but on Lemmy.
I blocked them because they just became so fucking unhinged it wasn't worth responding to anymore.
I actually tried to find it in your history because I wanted to see how unhinged they got.
I am just going to gently say this, tankie rhetoric isn't really "politics" in the same way things can be in the west. They are praising, defending, and supporting governments that are hurting their own people to this day with authoritarian control and having citizens report their neighbors for any anti government speech or behavior.
I understand this is not a subject that everyone is aware of, especially with any nuance, so no judgement or anything I just wanted to elaborate in a kinder way than what you had. It isn't weird at all you have only seen tankie on here so far, and of course you're free to still be annoyed by it but please understand the context of why people are passionate about it! That's all. I am sorry you weren't treated with more tolerance though.
To some, it would sort of be like saying I don't care what isis is doing or that girls in the middle east can't go to school and honor killings are a thing in some places, cuz that's politics.
And the ddos' n child porn aren't too nice either