I came here a few weeks ago after many years of reddit. Altogether I find discussions I enjoy, however, the posts and comments noticeably lean, well, tankie (I didn’t know that term before I came here). It’s not that I am looking for an echo chamber, but I also don’t want to spend my time reading propaganda. I’m really curious about a lot of things outside politics, as well as the opinions and arguments of reasonable people across the political spectrum, but I don’t want to listen to the boring canned lies of fascists and tankies. I realized that people celebrating communist dictators trigger me, and this is something I didn’t have to deal with before I started reading lemmy, I didn’t even know this type existed.
I also notice that accounts created just a few hours in advance come from other instances to brigade political posts. Because of how lemmy works, I can block individual users or communities, but not individual instances. Is there an instance that could be a “safe space” from this kind of brigading and tankie spam? Or a way to use the internet to read interesting things now that blogs died and then Reddit became whatever it became?
Edit: Thanks everyone for the helpful and wholesome comments. Of course, some trolls/wackos showed up as well to say hi.
I largely use Lemmy because it doesn’t tolerate conservatives.
It’s 2026. There is no such thing as a moderate conservative. They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. They don’t deserve yet another platform to argue in bad faith on. They’ve gone too far. Every platform they touch turns into a cesspool of bigotry and garbage opinions they think should be taken seriously or they play victim.
I don’t want them on Lemmy.
The Dems/libs are “moderate” conservatives, and even that’s in question nowadays. They are the compromise.
i was confused at first when i saw moderate/ or reasonable conservatives. almost every conservative ive encountered just make uniformed rants or opinions about trump. my favorite is when they dont know about trumps actual policies and get defensive over being questioned about it,.
There are a lot of “bipartisan” social media websites (at least they self-advertise as such)
There are also social media apps for mainly conservatives.
Surely there can be one form of social media for leftists to talk to each other.
I enjoy reading anarchists and socialists debate their case because I actually agree with points they make. I can see where each side is coming from and even have change my viewpoints at times.
Some edgy highschooler on the side screaming about how “God wants capitalism” would not contribute anything to the conversation. We already established their ideas don’t work, let us actually come up with new ones now.
IDK, I’d think most Democrats in Congress this decade are moderate conservatives (stupid Overton window shift).
Refusing to even talk to people on the opposite end of the political spectrum just makes you another perpetuator of the massive political divide. Do you actually think anyone’s had their vote swayed by someone who refused to even talk to them. You’re not going to bring anyone to the left by demonising the right.
I wouldn’t save a right winger from a burning building, why would I pander to them after all the harm they’ve caused. I don’t even want to be part of the same society as them.
Bro, we don’t want you guys to come over to the left anymore. We want you to stay over there and preferably go back to Russia where you seemed to enjoy the governance and social structure.
Political divide is things like budget, use of public lands, roads & infrastructure. We’re split on morality, ethics, bigotry, and child rape. A good number of us don’t even bother talking to family members anymore, why would I waste my time trying to converse with the dude who lives up the street from me that has a t-shirt of Donnie surrounded by bikini clad girls and “Chillin’ like a felon”?
Trump is the poster child of chauvinism, bigotry, bravado, greed, deceit, swindle, and zero self-control. His ability to get away with it has emboldened his supports to embrace their worst inclinations and treat their neighbors like Trump does. Granted, they are not Trump, so the average thief, wife beater, or kid diddler still gets arrested, but a lot have figured out they can be blatantly racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or a plain old dick in public and love that there’s no consequences anymore.
I have no interest in winning over people who have no shame, no remorse, and no empathy. Some will come crawling over when the suffering trickles down and finally affects them, but without any self-reflection or moral awakening, they’ll go right back to their old ways as soon as the burden is lifted. Fuck ‘em.
Extremely bold of you to assume I haven’t spent the majority of my life talking to them and trying to understand their extremist views.
I finally stopped because, as I said, they’ve lost the benefit of the doubt due to their own words and actions.
How long would you entertain the opinions and actions of Nazis in the name of getting along?
Also, if you think conservatives are going to start voting liberal if we play nice with them, well, you’re either very young or really haven’t been paying attention.
Maybe a loose fit, but not that loose.
Lemmy is open to anyone though. Excluding someone based on what they believe, slides into the very fascism that many on Lemmy proclaim to be against. Intolerance is never a good thing, regardless of what your political outlook is.
You are certainly to welcome block people you don’t want to associate with, but trying to exclude a group of people because you don’t believe them is nothing to brag about.
I can assure you that there plenty of moderate conservatives. Your refusal to admit this, is the exact sort of extremism that OP is trying to stay away from.
Again, you are free to believe that and act accordingly, but excluding someone from a platform, purely based on their beliefs, is what you are supposed to be fighting against.
Many on Lemmy think conservatives exclude people based on their beliefs, and are close-minded. Now look at your words and switch use the words “liberal” instead of “conservative.”
If you read a conservative saying the exact same thing you said, but using “liberal” instead of “conservative,” you’d be pretty angry. You are doing the exact thing that you accuse them of doing.
Paradox of Tolerance my dude
Life and people aren’t nearly as awful as Lemmy constantly paints them to be. Too many users here just doomscroll and get a kick out of pretending the world’s already doomed and deserves it.
I refuse to live like that. My life is about finding joy, helping people, knowing my neighbors, and genuinely loving others. Because of that, the so-called “paradox of tolerance” doesn’t apply to me. I’m not tolerating intolerance; I’m just choosing not to build my world around hate or fear or negativity.
Good for you, must be nice living in a fantasy land like the pyro from TF2.
It’s fucking delusional it’s what it is, and you can’t just choose to ignore the paradox of tolerance, unless you want to turn your favourite bar into a nazi bar
How is it a fantasy world?
Do you realize that the US isn’t a war zone, and that most people just go along their daily lives of dropping kids off at school, hiking, mowing their lawns, going to work, going to the park, going on dates with their significant other, watching netflix, etc?
Most non-Lemmy people don’t make their politics their identity, nor do they talk about politics every single day, nor do they call every single person that disagrees with them a Nazi or a Fascist daily.
Most just don’t care about politics. As we saw in the election.
How is that a fantasy world? Normal society isn’t even close to what the Lemmy-verse is…lol
Lemmy has the worst cases of doomscrolling and negativity that I have ever seen.
A: you assume I’m American. I’m not. That’s an insult where I’m from.
B: it’s not open to everyone, don’t be stupid. It’s a walled and managed garden like every social media, just the walls are guarded by volunteers instead of staff. And instead of single source of moderation, it’s literally hundreds of teams working together (Federation)
C: Right, let’s say that someone says something shitty and bigoted, you saying I should let them stay, in the interest of “balance”? Just answer that
Then you don’t know how America really is and have no room to talk with any authority about it. All you know is what you have read on news and Lemmy. That’s only accurate for extreme stuff. The vast majority of the US is quiet and boring. Which is awesome.
Lemmy has about 1.366 million registered users worldwide (with monthly active users way lower, around 48,000–50,000). That’s less than 0.0004% of the US population of roughly 343 million.
Answer B and C
Cool. I don’t care
I’m saying that not every conservative is shitty and bigoted. Lemmy doesn’t want to admit that though. That’s my point.
Lemmy has about 1.366 million registered users worldwide (with monthly active users way lower, around 48,000–50,000). That’s less than 0.0004% of the US population of roughly 343 million. Not even close to representing how the general US population feels about things.
They’re not all shitty and bigoted, but they are all comfortable with shittiness and bigotry, and that’s functionally the same thing
You can’t be trying to “both sides” everything, when one side have a secret police that kidnap children from their houses and destroy families
I don’t know I had a dude wake me up at 5 AM every morning for 18 months so he could parade his loud truck and his Maga flag down the street. For me, the paradox of tolerance was broken when the police wouldn’t stop him from breaking the law every day.
You guys let your extremist run wild and terrorize society for the last six years. You have no moderate views you have no moderate inclinations. You have no conservative values. It hits pure regressive politics and hate mongering. The only thing you conserve is hierarchy and perverse incentives.
Please explain “you guys.”
I’m not republican. I didn’t “let” anyone run anything. The US voted, and Trump won. And next election people have the option to vote someone else in.
Are you assuming I’m republican just because I said not all republicans are bad?! Dude, come on…think about that. Fucking Lemmy, man… lol
The paradox of tolerance is real, it has been broken. They wanted to genocide me after Charlie Kirk died because I made meme. Millions of people used their voices to call for violence against the left. Like left of hitler basically.
So yes you have chosen a side. You turn a blind eye to the horrors unfolding across your country and pretend like people are innocent actors. Keep ignoring the calls for violence, I suppose if you don’t feel included in them, then they can’t hurt you 🤣
No they didn’t. Also, how about not make a joke of someone being murdered. Never cool. Never funny.
I see much more calls for violence on Lemmy than anywhere else. I refuse to give in to the negativity and extremism of Lemmy. I choose to fill my life with love, laughter, friends, and understanding.
Do you think that they left any room for interpretation in those Internet posts there? Or does that pretty much read like we should kill leftists as a violent reaction to our golden calf milking blood
We all got receipts bro. You and got no understanding. Your friends are fake and convenience based, idk what you got to laugh about besides this comically childish worldview. I hope your momma loves you cause I doubt that emotion extends very far in your life. You clearly got a lot of time to chitchat with me about nonsense.
If January 6th wasn’t enough to rethink your party members, then you chose a side, and you’re with the traitors and oath breakers.
I’m not republican or conservative tho. So that has nothing to do with me.
No you’re just an ostrich with his head in the sand and a couple of nazis in your immediate social group 🤣
I said it before:
I do not want conservatives prohibited from joining Lemmy, but I do want conservatives to feel unwelcome joining Lemmy.
Not dominance through authority, but through culture.
And what if so many came on, that they started to work on making liberals feel unwelcome here? And they would post in threads laughing about it much they wand liberal people to feel unwelcome. How would you feel then? Because look at what you guys are doing here…
How about different opinions can co-exist as long as there is no hate involved? You are an example of the very extremist divider that OP and some others are talking about.
I’m sure that’s what will happen because that’s what always happens. The left makes a cool space and conservatives slime their way in and ruin it. I don’t give a fuck if you call me an extremist, I want you and yours to feel unwelcome.
But your ok if it happens for your side, right? Because that’s what people are trying to do. Same ole hypocritical Lemmy as always I guess…
What?! I’m not republican or conservative. Because I say that not every conservative is a bad person, you think I’m conservative?! Say wat mate?! Feel free to go thru my posts and comments and feel free to point out anything you think is republican.
I refuse to give in to the negativity and extremism of Lemmy. I choose to fill my life with love, laughter, friends, and understanding. But hey, you do you. Nothing you do or say affects my real life in any way whatsoever.
Sure is. Doesn’t mean I want bigots/fascists here, fucking up yet another platform.
How long would you be willing to entertain Nazis? Would you say the same thing about them? That we should just listen to them and give them a chance? That we should tolerate them? Now, American conservatives aren’t Nazis, because Naziism was a specific fascist movement in Germany a century ago. But American conservatives are fascists because they match the definition.
Now, I’m not sure if you possess eyes or ears, but fascism is now here, in America, due to conservatives. I’m done giving them the benefit of the doubt. They do not deserve it. They do not care to argue in good faith.
Words placed into my mouth. I’m not making some concerted effort to exclude conservatives from Lemmy. Never said I was. I said I don’t want them here. That’s my personal opinion. You seem to really care about people, even fascists, getting to have their opinions, so let me have mine.
Ah. I see. You are a “bOtH sIdEz” advocate. One of those that believe everything is equal. Well, I’m here to promise you that is false. Both sides do no want the same thing and do not go about getting what they want in the same manner. Not even close. Your entire argument is based on all things being equal. That simply isn’t true, so your argument is weak.
The right side of the aisle uses violence and intimidation to get what they want FAR, FAR more often than the left side does. And that is a fact supported by a shit ton of data. So why should we give a side that uses those tactics regularly the same benefit of the doubt that we’d give a side that doesn’t? That’s nonsense.
NOT. THE. SAME.
You’ll still be singing Kumbaya while you’re being gassed.
Yep. Both sides have their share of idiots and extremists.
You clarified and said that conservatives should in theory be allowed here, and that’s exactly the point I was making. So we’re good.
They should be allowed, even when we disagree with them. I don’t buy the line that all conservatives are fascists, the way so many on Lemmy love to claim.
I’m really glad the real US isn’t anything like the nightmare version most of Lemmy seems convinced it is. lol
Fuck all of that. Conservatism is a cancer. Every one of them can go to hell.
Cool. You are the exact extremism that OP is talking about trying to avoid. Congrats.
I’m not interested. You don’t compromise on this. You don’t tolerate it. It’s a cancer. If his preference is to help it metastasize, he is the one to be avoided.
Ok, well good luck and hope ya do better in the next election than you did in the last one.
Wait, I thought you weren’t a conservative? Who’d you vote for then?
I’m not conservative. I support third party voting. Democrats suck as much as the Republicans.
So a chickenshit conservative