Guys I understand there’s big stuff going on in the world. This community though is really just about finding other communities. For now, on the theory that people kind of forgot where they were, some temp bans were handed out. I have no pretensions of this being c/news or something. But I also have no pretensions of this being c/news. It is absolutely beyond the pale to post your political broadsides here while people are trying to figure out the best place to have their community. The only way politics is acceptable here is if you’re talking about opening or moving a community about politics or because of politics. And it should absolutely remain civil. A simple, “I don’t like your ideology”, is enough here.
Whenever I respond to someone like that, I assume up front that the person I’m responding to will not change their mind. Taking that for granted, I write purely with the intention of providing a well reasoned counterargument for a third party observer of the conversation, I.e. lurkers, hoping that it prevents someone from being deceived by the content I’m responding to, thus giving them a mental handhold to avoid slipping into some deep bullshit.
I say that as someone who was once fully gripped by religion and conspiracy theories, and it was only after I was finally exposed to some irrefutable rational arguments that I could begin my slow crawl out of that dark pit of ignorance.
Yes, this is exactly why it’s so important to not leave things unchallenged! Human brains are so susceptible to absorbing ideas through osmosis by just reading statements while scrolling.
Good point!
I was literally typing a reply about how it still is useful to onlookers and how I have had my mind changed as a third party witness to online arguments before, and then I saw this. Thanks for doing that!