Yep, I completely believe it.
I’m fairly political myself, and it takes pretty hefty amounts of effort to remind myself to let things go and try to just keep a respectable level of discourse. And I still fuck it up all the time.
A lot of it is mechanical. I have far fewer tools here than I do with irl political activism, I can’t use facial expression or tone or anything. So it almost feels like negative sarcasm replaces all that or something, I don’t really know, I’ll have to think about it awhile.
It’s also fucked. Like, what are we supposed to do? This is the only form of protest that some of us have. I don’t have the ability to get out and protest. I don’t have the ability to be an activist, I have a family that I need to take care of.
I know that change comes from political discourse, and we’ve VERY CLEARLY seen that has worked towards the Republicans benefit (reg. redpilling, QAnon, etc.). It’s the only way I know that I can fight back against that insanity.
Cultural change is slow, but it ultimately wins the war, and the best thing that I can do is be on the right slide of it. I understand that you win over more people by being nice, but my comments arent to “win” over the person I’m talking to…they are the “example”, and my argument is primarily for the hundreds of people that will ultimately read the post.
the religulous have a pretty sweet deal for themselves at this point. They don’t have to pay attention to anything except their favorite liars because anything else makes them uncomfortable, and if you try to talk to them legitimately, they go all special snowflake the second you let slip a profane word representing how strongly you feel and just totally stop listening. It’s worse than talking to children, at least children are trying to understand you some of the time. These people start from a place of dishonesty and never leave it.
The “True Believers” simply discard rationality. Logic no longer matters. They know with full conviction and absolutely zero doubt that they are right, regardless of any and all evidence to the contrary. There is unfortunately very little negotiation one can do with that mentality once a person in the grasp of it decides you’re an “agent of evil” - and that’s a comically easy line to cross.
Source: I’ve got a Christian Fundamentalist uncle, which is always… shall we say, interesting at family gatherings, especially considering that I was raised broadly similarly to him but am now staunchly atheist and he knows it.
Makes more sense if you reverse it: Toxic Redditors tend to be politically engaged. It’s not the politics that makes them toxic it’s because they are toxic that they engage with politics so much. Most people who are informed with politics don’t necessarily engage. Of course there are people who do who aren’t toxic but the loudest voices usually are abrasive people.
Exactly. It’s like a sport to them, though they take it even more seriously than sportsfan, replying to everything with a sense of urgency, like it’s just one step away from total anarchy.
I’ve been surprised by the political discussions here. Far more civil and not as vitriolic as Reddit’s political subs. Even with disagreements.
What universe are you in? Lemmy is far more caustic when it comes to politics. Is a bit embarrassing to tell the truth.
Go through my post history. I’ve had nothng but relaxed convos. No vitriol or outright hate. Then again, I’m on Kbin so maybe that kind of stuff doesnt reach here. I know of Hexbear’s insanity but ive only seen them a handful of times.
