What other side? Sure there are always a few rational people. However the vast majority choose a side and then blindly oppose anything the other side says/does. When their side happens to have critical thinking on their side they are for that, but that isn’t a factor in why they choose something.
Trying to convince yourself otherwise proves that you are ignoring the issues on your own side. If you really were a rational thinker you would have to choose your side separately for every single issue - nobody has time for that which in turn means you sometimes rely on someone who turns out to be irrational but because they have proved rational in other areas you trust them here too.
There are literally hundreds of complex interconnected issues that affect our daily lives. It is impossible to have a well-informed stance on all of them. No one benefits from strong opinions based on an oversimplified understanding. That’s childish.
The things that directly affect me are all things that one side is against. One side wants to remove my ability to be myself get mental health care etc.
I don’t love the other side but it’s the only one that will allow me time to get to a point where I can be useful in getting my ideas to people.
I’m an independent thinker. In the past republicans and democrats had both good and bad ideas.
In today’s world democrats are more for the people as a country and care more about citizens, example, making sure kids in schools get free lunches, “no child should go hungry” as they understand not everyone is rich and can afford proper meals for dinner later in the day, the cause being maybe medical debt or other unforseen hardships, example. A car accident and need a sudden co-payment of $2000 to fix or replace their car.
While republicans want to stop free lunches to save 12¢ extra in a state/county tax. So I’ve seen Republicans only show greed for themselves which in turn completely halts advancements in a society. Example, private healthcare. You would pay significantly less in a raise in federal tax compared to a monthly premium+ medical bills. The math isn’t that hard to do, but Republicans are so blinded by the thought of "my hard earned money is for me and not for Susan who has 3 kids and her husband has terminal cancer. Now she has to pay $250,000 when he dies.
So in short. Democratic party in my eyes has been for people. Republican party in my eyes has been for themselves and everyone else can live in the streets.
If you have morals and standards, its not hard to take a stance on every issue. If you support education, it doesnt take much looking into anything about education to understand how decisions fit into your worldview. And even if you support some aspects of one side and some from the other, you still have to pick a side because welcome to Americas 2 party system.
My experience with many users on lemmy who support “critical thinking” are not actually advocating critical thinking. Theyre trying to justify their mental gymnastics while simultaneously feeding their self-righteous egos
If you really were a rational thinker you would have to choose your side separately for every single issue
You should already do this for anything you care about? It really, really doesn’t take long for the important stuff. For everything else -
You don’t need to take a side on things you don’t understand. If you haven’t had the time to assess something… don’t share an opinion about it. It’s perfectly functional and rational for humans to specialize and leave problems for other humans to deal with. It is only social media that convinced people they should care about literally everything.
It takes a lot of thought and research to come up with a good opinion on some subjects. Some subjects are easy because of values, but you need a lot of study to understand other subjects.
You need to have an opinion on things you don’t understand. There are people for and against vaccines - this is a very complex subject and both sides have what sounds like science behind them, and both also have real medical doctors. You are affected though so you better get to the bottom of it as both sides will tell you the wrong choice is a disaster.
…this is the crux of it: until we confront the disinformation sphere authoritatively, the problem will persist, and crossing that line is antithetical to the american identity…
…i fear that the american identity must immolate itself, one way or the other…
We simply weren’t ready for the internet. Humans haven’t really been ready for any of the advances we have ever made. Hank Green has an excellent video about the societal vulnerability to new communications technology. I don’t know how we address it, because we never really addressed the others either.
The original printing press enabled Luther to break the Church’s theocracy. More modern printing enabled newspapers to instigate the Spanish American war. The technology is still used in the modern day for propaganda and lies.
The radio enabled the Nazis and the Red Scare to fill people’s homes with hate and fear. The technology is still used in the modern day for propaganda and lies.
The TV enabled the police state and “law and order”-style Republican disinformation. People who were otherwise safe and comfortable at home were suddenly and constantly faced with escalating panic about criminals and terrorists, even while crime consistently decreased over time. The technology is still used in the modern day for propaganda and lies.
All of these new technologies didn’t just change the way we communicated - they changed the way we thought about the world. Or rather, people in the right places at the right times used that technology to change how we thought about the world. We are human, and every new communications technology gives an ever smaller group of humans ever greater influence over the world.
And finally, the internet. We thought it would be different. We thought it would give voices to the many. But instead it gave the wealthy access to the soundboards where they can silence and amplify voices, and it opened up town squares for even the most hateful and ignorant ideas to gather and fester and grow to become legitimate political forces.
The internet enabled all of the massive changes we see today.
It is sad to me that Lemmy has been taken over by people calling others fascist. I think from a moderation perspective any highly political content should be removed immediately unless it is in the proper community. I’m tied of see comment after comment talking about how everyone and there dog is a fascist and other related rhetoric. It is ultimately easier to name call than it is to actually show empathy to someone you absolutely disagree with. I like to read other peoples options but the problem is that many here have turned a option into fact. Asking why they feel some way just pisses people off and makes them defensive instead of generating good discussions. Words like “fascism” ultimately serve the interests of those in power not individuals. It is used as a tool to get people emotionally engaged instead of mentally engaged. Emotional people are much easier to control and influence.
In short, I’m saddened to see Lemmy be taken over by useless political circle jerking. None of it does anything useful other than scare off new Lemmy users.
Words like “fascism” ultimately serve the interests of those in power not individuals. It is used as a tool to get people emotionally engaged instead of mentally engaged.
This is nonsense, sorry. I get it. Think for yourself. Assess your sources. Think rationally. Challenge your own beliefs.
But the people in power are openly breaking the law, abusing authority that they don’t have, stripping away rights, dismantling the social safety net, shipping people off to die, and ignoring any of the constitutional and legal safeguards meant to prevent any of this. It’s fascism.
Any logical, rational, thoughtful approach to the situation will provide the same exact answer as the emotional response to seeing Trump and Bukele laugh and lie about Kilmar Abrego being a terrorist. Call a spade a spade.
This is it, possiblylinux. That’s the SS. We have the gestapo. There is no more “fiscal conservative.” There is no more “classical libertarian.” We are nazis now.
You can either be a classical american war hero and strongly oppose this, or you can be a nazi. Those are your options. I’m not saying this euphemistically. I’m not saying it as a metaphor. I’m not exaggerating for dramatic effect.
If you do not live in the US currently, and you do not want to be relocated to Guantanamo Bay or El Salvador, then you should not come here.
What other side? Sure there are always a few rational people. However the vast majority choose a side and then blindly oppose anything the other side says/does. When their side happens to have critical thinking on their side they are for that, but that isn’t a factor in why they choose something.
Trying to convince yourself otherwise proves that you are ignoring the issues on your own side. If you really were a rational thinker you would have to choose your side separately for every single issue - nobody has time for that which in turn means you sometimes rely on someone who turns out to be irrational but because they have proved rational in other areas you trust them here too.
This really is not that difficult nor time consuming.
It is absolutely difficult and very time consuming
For some.
There are literally hundreds of complex interconnected issues that affect our daily lives. It is impossible to have a well-informed stance on all of them. No one benefits from strong opinions based on an oversimplified understanding. That’s childish.
The things that directly affect me are all things that one side is against. One side wants to remove my ability to be myself get mental health care etc.
I don’t love the other side but it’s the only one that will allow me time to get to a point where I can be useful in getting my ideas to people.
Completely agree.
I’m an independent thinker. In the past republicans and democrats had both good and bad ideas.
In today’s world democrats are more for the people as a country and care more about citizens, example, making sure kids in schools get free lunches, “no child should go hungry” as they understand not everyone is rich and can afford proper meals for dinner later in the day, the cause being maybe medical debt or other unforseen hardships, example. A car accident and need a sudden co-payment of $2000 to fix or replace their car. While republicans want to stop free lunches to save 12¢ extra in a state/county tax. So I’ve seen Republicans only show greed for themselves which in turn completely halts advancements in a society. Example, private healthcare. You would pay significantly less in a raise in federal tax compared to a monthly premium+ medical bills. The math isn’t that hard to do, but Republicans are so blinded by the thought of "my hard earned money is for me and not for Susan who has 3 kids and her husband has terminal cancer. Now she has to pay $250,000 when he dies.
So in short. Democratic party in my eyes has been for people. Republican party in my eyes has been for themselves and everyone else can live in the streets.
If you have morals and standards, its not hard to take a stance on every issue. If you support education, it doesnt take much looking into anything about education to understand how decisions fit into your worldview. And even if you support some aspects of one side and some from the other, you still have to pick a side because welcome to Americas 2 party system.
My experience with many users on lemmy who support “critical thinking” are not actually advocating critical thinking. Theyre trying to justify their mental gymnastics while simultaneously feeding their self-righteous egos
It takes a lot of thought and research to come up with a good opinion on some subjects. Some subjects are easy because of values, but you need a lot of study to understand other subjects.
You need to have an opinion on things you don’t understand. There are people for and against vaccines - this is a very complex subject and both sides have what sounds like science behind them, and both also have real medical doctors. You are affected though so you better get to the bottom of it as both sides will tell you the wrong choice is a disaster.
I also think it hasn’t helped that the news as become more of a propaganda outlet. They probably live in a bubble.
…this is the crux of it: until we confront the disinformation sphere authoritatively, the problem will persist, and crossing that line is antithetical to the american identity…
…i fear that the american identity must immolate itself, one way or the other…
We simply weren’t ready for the internet. Humans haven’t really been ready for any of the advances we have ever made. Hank Green has an excellent video about the societal vulnerability to new communications technology. I don’t know how we address it, because we never really addressed the others either.
The original printing press enabled Luther to break the Church’s theocracy. More modern printing enabled newspapers to instigate the Spanish American war. The technology is still used in the modern day for propaganda and lies.
The radio enabled the Nazis and the Red Scare to fill people’s homes with hate and fear. The technology is still used in the modern day for propaganda and lies.
The TV enabled the police state and “law and order”-style Republican disinformation. People who were otherwise safe and comfortable at home were suddenly and constantly faced with escalating panic about criminals and terrorists, even while crime consistently decreased over time. The technology is still used in the modern day for propaganda and lies.
All of these new technologies didn’t just change the way we communicated - they changed the way we thought about the world. Or rather, people in the right places at the right times used that technology to change how we thought about the world. We are human, and every new communications technology gives an ever smaller group of humans ever greater influence over the world.
And finally, the internet. We thought it would be different. We thought it would give voices to the many. But instead it gave the wealthy access to the soundboards where they can silence and amplify voices, and it opened up town squares for even the most hateful and ignorant ideas to gather and fester and grow to become legitimate political forces.
The internet enabled all of the massive changes we see today.
Welcome to the internet.
It is sad to me that Lemmy has been taken over by people calling others fascist. I think from a moderation perspective any highly political content should be removed immediately unless it is in the proper community. I’m tied of see comment after comment talking about how everyone and there dog is a fascist and other related rhetoric. It is ultimately easier to name call than it is to actually show empathy to someone you absolutely disagree with. I like to read other peoples options but the problem is that many here have turned a option into fact. Asking why they feel some way just pisses people off and makes them defensive instead of generating good discussions. Words like “fascism” ultimately serve the interests of those in power not individuals. It is used as a tool to get people emotionally engaged instead of mentally engaged. Emotional people are much easier to control and influence.
In short, I’m saddened to see Lemmy be taken over by useless political circle jerking. None of it does anything useful other than scare off new Lemmy users.
This is nonsense, sorry. I get it. Think for yourself. Assess your sources. Think rationally. Challenge your own beliefs.
But the people in power are openly breaking the law, abusing authority that they don’t have, stripping away rights, dismantling the social safety net, shipping people off to die, and ignoring any of the constitutional and legal safeguards meant to prevent any of this. It’s fascism.
Any logical, rational, thoughtful approach to the situation will provide the same exact answer as the emotional response to seeing Trump and Bukele laugh and lie about Kilmar Abrego being a terrorist. Call a spade a spade.
ICE agents under the republican-elected Donald Trump’s republican administration arrested the wrong brown person, and after realizing this, said “take him anyway.”
This is it, possiblylinux. That’s the SS. We have the gestapo. There is no more “fiscal conservative.” There is no more “classical libertarian.” We are nazis now.
You can either be a classical american war hero and strongly oppose this, or you can be a nazi. Those are your options. I’m not saying this euphemistically. I’m not saying it as a metaphor. I’m not exaggerating for dramatic effect.
If you do not live in the US currently, and you do not want to be relocated to Guantanamo Bay or El Salvador, then you should not come here.