Hi! In thinking about how to help the fediverse grow, I wonder if there are more mainstream Lemmy instances?
I’ve pointed a couple folks to Lemmy.world and it’s uhhh, pretty hard Left for them (as one girl, who volunteered for the Democrats said “I just got yelled at because I can’t be Left wing unless I want to destroy capitalism? Which feels weird.”) We’re much farther Left than reddit which itself was definitely Left of centre…
I don’t know if decentralized open source social media actually attracts many mainstreamers but assuming we want to grow the fediverse, I’d like to have somewhere I can point people to without feeling very nervous for them.
Thanks!
I seriously doubt most normies would enjoy Lemmy. But sh.itjust.works seems pretty middle of the road.
Your friend is confused. Leftism is inherently anti-capitalist so she can’t be a leftist unless she wants to ditch capitalism.
Most people in say America define Left Right on the current political spectrum, with Democrats on the left and Republicans on the Right.
It’s like when people talk about work, we know they’re not actually talking about Force times Distance as defined by Newtonian physics, we understand they are talking about their job.
Americans do not get their own definition for philosophies.
It’s the same in most countries. In Canada, we put the NDP on the Left, Liberals generally centre Left, Conservatives on the Right and the Bloc… well, they do Bloc things.
Similar set up in most places. In common conversation, Left Right mean a standard political spectrum.
If I said I went to work, have I redefined Newtonian physics?
Honestly liberals probably fit into lemmy fine. I’ve seen my fair share.
But your view of “normie” is heavily american centric. Your normies are probably far right in much of the world.
Lemmy world is basically still Reddit. so that one
My impression is that Lemmy and the fediverse are a manifestation of the dissatisfaction with the current “normal” and “mainstream” social media platforms which are in decline due to hyper-capitalism. Is it no wonder the majority of its users’ ideology doesn’t align with what is “normal” and “mainstream”?
That being said, this system is designed so that communities can exist independently from one-another. You’re always welcome to create your own. Otherwise, lemmy.world is just about as “normal” as you’re going to get out of Lemmy.
Yes, I agree. Most people in the US are definitely not Marxist-Leninist, yet that’s a vibe i get here frequently.
A more mainstream instance for normal people would be nice. Maybe there should be a non-profit organization behind it to back it up, pay the server bills, and such.
I’m like your friend. F— leftists and f— conservatives. I’m a hard core liberal and y’all can suck my d—.
I find lemm.ee is better than most but yeah as others have said, since everything is federated and the majority mass of users are hardcore leftists there’s no way to really avoid them. Just get used to the downvotes and easily offended snowflakes and instabans and hope that as more people leave the mainstream social medias for federated socials that these people will be watered down.
There are tens of us already!
Lol @ “who volunteered for the Democrats”. Ain’t that a microcosm of every American politico (especially Democrats) ignorant of actual political theory.
Imagine getting upset that someone accurately described “leftism” to you. I can only imagine it’s major cognitive dissonance after a lifetime of consuming mainstream political media calling liberalism “leftist” and pushing the overton window right.
Lemmy.world already is the “normie” instance catering to liberalism. Your friend either ran into the more progressive parts of that instance or an actual leftist from a federated one. Either way, they got told an accurate take.
Anyway, can we please stop all the attempts to make this place comfortable for conservative and right wing views in the name of “growth”? Have y’all actually been on a default subreddit in the last 15 years? Would that be worth it here?
Your last point is what really resonates with me. I’ll take Marxist-Lenninists all day over stupid right wingers who created this whole fucking mess. At the very least, the former read books. The latter only know how to kiss ass.
Im not sure all the Marxist read books but theor heart tends to be in a better place
Hey you’re doing the thing
Good
In other words you’re looking for a conservative instance? Fuck off, we ban them.
The worst enemy of a leftie are other slightly different lefties lol
The good think of federation is that you can mute/block morons. And because there’s no “algorithm” you are not shown content that the server thinks you are interested. So you have to be proactive and follow what you want to see, and mute the ones you dislike.
Also, you can have multiple accounts for multiple purposes. It’s sane not to discuss politics with other people from other cultures all day, so you can have a dedicated account for that. And other account to have fun in a sane way, which includes muting politics.
In the case of this girl, she was american like the majority of lemmings I believe. But for people from the other hemisphere, the cultural shock may be even worse. My advice for those is always: Just mute. Don’t argue and don’t feed trolls. Nobody is gonna change opinions anyways.
I feel like she wasn’t told to use the block feature freely and deliberately. The block feature is your friend.
Lemmy.world is considered the “normie” instance. Even if you manage to find another instance, it won’t matter that much anyway since most interactions are from federated users. The only way to avoid leftist views on Lemmy is to avoid politics completely (which isn’t viable).
Many people block all political communities and keywords. It’s definitely viable.
If you block political words and Linux this place is a ghost town…
… Except for LotR memes of course.
So if you can’t handle that there are other opinions, you either need to find the communities which support your opinions or go back to corporate internet, which filters out uncomfortable stuff for you.
Corporate internet doesn’t even filter out “uncomfortable” shit for people. They have a vested interest in keeping people engaged whether it’s through love or hate.
This is a misconception I see all the time. Reddit et al try their hardest to make browsing feel like a roller coaster to keep up engagement.
… or clone the software and host it yourself.
Fediverse is anticapitalism at its core, it’s a way to escape ads and money influencing algorithims and what can be said. If you don’t like power to the people, join truth.social or some other unfederated instance.
I can’t be Left wing unless I want to destroy capitalism?
Yes. Yes indeed you can’t. How to go about that is up for grabs but if you think that leftism is all about preserving the system that allows oligarchs to accumulate more capital and power, to allow a minority to exploit the majority, I don’t know what to tell you.
…besides that you’re probably American because only y’all are so damn confused about the whole topic.
Left “wing” in normie US is a broad neighborhood.
Left “ism” in normie US is a study of progressive politics with deviation from center exponentially growing as you go “more left”.
Lots of “left wing” folks in the US are low on the leftism deviation curve, but due to the way things work in the US they are definitely “left wing”.
So you absolutely get fiscal centrists with much “lefter” social opinions. And other “left-lite” view combos.
I think to grow Lemmy non combative, but non compromising spaces should exist. Much how some are warped right by spending too much time in the “manosphere” content, folks can be convinced of increasingly progressive politics by being welcomed here. Mind, I’m not saying anyone should cater to anything they don’t agree with, but God damn Lemmy could be less combative. Purity testing mild left folks drives them right. You don’t have to compromise your morals or positions to accomplish this.
So I’d close by saying Americans aren’t “confused” about anything, they’re just less exposed with further left policy / theory, due to being exposed most to milder progressive concepts.
On the right, maga is remarkable because it’s drawing many conservatives quickly up the exponential deviation ladder at a quantity not really seen before.
IDGAF about what the US is cooking up when it comes to political definitions, much less so when they disagree with the rest of the world. Anti-capitalism is necessary to be on the left, it’s not negotiable.
Just like you wouldn’t call someone who denies god a Christian. There’s no “but they deny god a bit less than Richard Dawkins, so they’re more Christian”: No, they’re still denying god, they can’t be Christian. If they consider themselves Christian despite denying god, then it stands to reason that they’re quite confused about what being a Christian entails, don’t you think?
You’re ina thread authored by an canadian about “normies”. North American concepts matter.
Edit even wherever you’re from “left wing” (the scope of center to far left) exists, just the starting point of center is unique.
Further, your purity test determination leaves no room for the varied mins of people all over the world. For example fiscal centrists who are socially progressive. You may call that a false leftist, but I’d just say they’re a mild left wing voter. I bet if they weren’t purity tested they’d eventually shift their perspective on fiscal matters leftward.
Point being people hold varied political opinions, sometimes in complete contrast to themselves. I bet there’s some completely theory pure fiscal leftists who don’t believe in abortion rights, or some other bizarre combo
For example fiscal centrists who are socially progressive. You may call that a false leftist, but I’d just say they’re a mild left wing voter.
So you would call Peter Thiel a leftist? A literal billionaire? A literal neo-feudalist? Because he happens to be gay and proud of it?
You are taking a word that has been, since its literal inception (seating arrangements in the French national assembly, as seen from the lectern), been connected to the struggle of the masses vs. nobility/oligarchy, and you’re attaching orthogonal meanings to it. You cannot be leftist if you’re on the side of the oligarchy, if you’re a capitalist.
“Socially progressive”. You already have a term for it. Good. Use it. Don’t dilute other terms, or even allow them to be turned into their opposite.
centrists
There’s no centre point between “believe in god” and “deny god”: Either you do or you don’t, and anything agnostic is not in the centre, it’s not a compromise, but off the axis altogether.
When did I suggest that would be a leftist? Maybe reread. Specifically the end.
He may hold left opinions on LGBTQ+ issues but hold completely contracting, non left wing opinions elsewhere. We can be sure that’s true. He’s certainly not a leftist, and likely not a left wing voter either.
Ultimately I’d highlight that you are doing the.thing: you are purity testing very broad language in a completely useless way
To be hyper clear for you:
Left WING is not leftIST
LeftIST is left WING
To be hyper clear for you:
Left WING is not leftIST
LeftIST is left WING
Whether -ist or -wing doesn’t matter both still contain the word “left”, don’t they? Therefore, they are either anti-capitalist, or they’re confused. And, yes, much of US politics is terribly confused. The moderate left, in the US, begins with AOC and Bernie, both solid socdems, radical is far a ways off. The Democrat establishment, by and large, supports the oligarchy, they don’t even begin to be on the left.
Don’t expect lefties from elsewhere to play into that confusion.
Why not just join non-political communities and focus on the content that they enjoy. If people are nervous about meeting assholes on the internet perhaps they should stick to cable tv or netflix.
I think one of the issues is “normies” do not want to learn the lore like:
“don’t bother with anyone with lemmygrad after their name”
“Block these communities on day one”
“Be sure to pick an instance that you researched aligns with your moderation tolerances”
If you have to do setup stuff, many folks are already out. Someone may see that as a feature, but I don’t see Lemmy growing much more with that “feature”.
So if you’re happy with the size of things, mission accomplished. If you want to discuss “how to grow Lemmy” well, the above topics need to be addressed.
