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