Unpopular Opinion

Because the community on Lemmy is so much smaller it's a lot easier for small groups of dedicated posters to dominate discussions on certain topics.

I've noticed a lot of the same behaviour as you have on certain topics. Unfortunately it's difficult because like you say engaging on those topics is frustrating because the people with an agenda have more time and energy than you to dedicate to pushing their narrative, and aren't open to more nuanced discussion.

There's an interesting blog I think about regularly about online communities that I think you might find interesting: https://eev.ee/blog/2016/07/22/on-a-technicality/

Now that article calls for banning of assholes. I don't think that'll work on lemmy, so instead I propose this: If you just accept that those people are going to continue to do their thing and instead engage in the more positive parts of Lemmy then overall we might be able to build a bigger community of people who add positively to Lemmy. If you or others who are being pushed away leave then the asshole : positive people ratio will only get worse.

Lemmy is getting bad FAST with virtue signaling in particular. It's like the worst of the worst when it comes to things like that left Reddit and came here. So much tiny little bullshit gets twisted in to what a horrible a disgusting person you are and blah blah blah.

I really do like this alternative but... It's turning pretty fucking toxic fast. I'm scared what road it's going down.

Sometimes it does feel like Reddit circa 2005 when beatwomen subs were casually accepted

At least your comment won't be hidden because it has many downvotes.

I just got banned from blahaj for suggesting we should show understanding to rightwing people, because they view the left in the same way as we view them. It creates more division for no reason other than being unwilling to communicate.

Reason: Bigot

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think something one might learn over time from different sites styled like reddit and lemmy is that they are not monoliths,

There is a comment above that says the same thing, but in practice, think about it like, any give post attracts both people that agree, and disagree with it, generally strongly. The vast majority don't engage with it.

Because of this the opinions seem both stronger, and more common. But realize that any given comment thread is a microscopic percent of even the highly active users, and always a biased sample.

With regards to echo chambers, this is why I personally oppose blocklists or how on reddit you can make something 'private'. Pretending something that is problematic doesn't exist does nothing to deal with the problem. I see this as fundamentally how r/TheDonald came to be, and reedit was fundamental in building the modern white nationalist movement. Through blocking and going private, r/TheDonald shielded itself from outside criticism, so that users didn't see alternative view points, and specifically, were protected from open mockery. Originally the sub started as a troll/ joke but quickly became the defacto headquarters of the largest funnel for white nationalism the internet has ever seen. It might seem a bit over the top, but I argue that Trumps 2016 success would not have happened with out specifically r/TheDonald. Its why all of the 'truth social' and extended media took on a reddit style interactivity. It was the birthplace of the MAGA movement online. They morphed it into a self referential echo chamber, and used purity testing to filter out potential critics. Eventually it was banned entirely, but not until long after the damage was done.

So I don't agree that ideas should be shielded from criticism. The problem with that is without criticisms, they can take hold, and grow legs of their own. But at the same time, you shouldn't make too much of things when you see a strong binary online, because almost any internet discussion will be inherently polar (because only those who agree disagree with a principal or idea will be drawn to discuss it; 95% of everyone else just doesnt care).

You're going to find that true almost anywhere online nowadays. I got sick on my birthday last year, and i posted on facebook that I hated being sick on my birthday. So facebook banned me for posting "hate speech." (I'm not even kidding).

And I got banned from Reddit for suggesting that younger generations are more progressive in their views. THAT was apparently the wrong thing to say. I'm not sure why it was so controversial - but it sure pressed someone's button.