Smiley

lvxferre, 5 months ago

I usually complain about the usage of the word “toxic” but at least here it’s well-defined by the article. Still unnecessary though.

Their finding is interesting though - that “online political discourse tends to be uncivil because the people who opt into such discourse are generally uncivil”.

And that begs the question why. My hypothesis is that it has to do with stupidity: political discussion offers a safe space for the stupid, and uncivil interactions usually have at least one side being stupid.* Doubly true in Reddit because stupidity there is seen like a badge of honour.

*NOTE: when I say “the stupid” I am not talking about a well-defined group of people. I’m talking about a set of behaviours (assumptiveness, context illiteracy, a tendency to oversimplify things, wishful thinking, lack of logical “parsing” etc.). Everyone is “the stupid” once in a while, but some way more often than others.

banneryear1868, 6 months ago

E. V. Debs’ Statement to the Court, Upon Being Convicted of Violating the Sedition Act, September 18, 1918:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

I listened to all that was said in this court in support and justification of this prosecution, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon the Espionage Law as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions…

Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in a fundamental change—but if possible by peaceable and orderly means…

Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop; at sixteen I was firing a freight engine on a railroad. I remember all the hardships and privations of that earlier day, and from that time until now my heart has been with the working class. I could have been in Congress long ago. I have preferred to go to prison…

I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and the factories; of the men in the mines and on the railroads. I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the monster machines while they themselves are being starved and stunted, body and soul. I see them dwarfed and diseased and their little lives broken and blasted because in this high noon of Christian civilization money is still so much more important than the flesh and blood of childhood. In very truth gold is god today and rules with pitiless sway in the affairs of men.

In this country—the most favored beneath the bending skies—we have vast areas of the richest and most fertile soil, material resources in inexhaustible abundance, the most marvelous productive machinery on earth, and millions of eager workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child—and if there are still vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to dreamless sleep, it is not the fault of the Almighty: it cannot be charged to nature, but it is due entirely to the outgrown social system in which we live that ought to be abolished not only in the interest of the toiling masses but in the higher interest of all humanity…

I believe, Your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nation ought to own and control its own industries. I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointly owned—that industry, the basis of our social life, instead of being the private property of a few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all…

I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.

This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protest against it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but, fortunately, I am not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings of civilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual and cooperative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economic and political movement that spreads over the face of all the earth.

There are today upwards of sixty millions of Socialists, loyal, devoted adherents to this cause, regardless of nationality, race, creed, color, or sex. They are all making common cause. They are spreading with tireless energy the propaganda of the new social order. They are waiting, watching, and working hopefully through all the hours of the day and the night. They are still in a minority. But they have learned how to be patient and to bide their time. The feel—they know, indeed—that the time is coming, in spite of all opposition, all persecution, when this emancipating gospel will spread among all the peoples, and when this minority will become the triumphant majority and, sweeping into power, inaugurate the greatest social and economic change in history.

In that day we shall have the universal commonwealth—the harmonious cooperation of every nation with every other nation on earth…

Your Honor, I ask no mercy and I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never so clearly comprehended as now the great struggle between the powers of greed and exploitation on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of industrial freedom and social justice.

I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity. The people are awakening. In due time they will and must come to their own.

When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the southern cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches, the southern cross begins to bend, the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of time upon the dial of the universe, and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the lookout knows that the midnight is passing and that relief and rest are close at hand. Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

Lhianna, 7 months ago

But…what does this have to do with the posted video? Your comment just felt like an attack on everyone who doesn’t have access to diagnosis.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and it’s the hill that I’ll die on:

There is a huge difference between teenagers self-diagnosing because of TikTok videos and people who do their research looking for ways to make their lives easier. The latter ones don’t do it to get attention and accomodations and you’ve grouped them together with the former ones. That’s not what they are though and it’s hurtful. I thought this space was a place to find help and community instead of being told again and again that I don’t belong.

sardaukar, 7 months ago

Polyamory is wrong! It’s either polyphilia or multiamory, you never mix Greek and Latin.

ShaunaTheDead, 7 months ago

Y'all are thinking it's like this but it's actually like this

rigor, 9 months ago

The point is that liberalism and facism are intrinsically linked. Liberalism does not seek to change the world and stems from philosophies instead seeking to explain it. Accordingly, liberalism is a philosophical justification for the capitalist status quo. As such, when contradictions in capitalism accentuate with time, such as those between classes, liberalism turns to fascism. Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds, because the liberal is a closet fascist when times are good; when class struggle poses a threat, it clamps down. You can see this throughout history.

That a poor, simplified explanation, but I hope it helps.

fubo, 9 months ago

These are the sort of folks who, when they were told they had to let black children use the town swimming pool, instead shut down the entire town recreational athletics program and filled the pool in with concrete.

And told their kids to blame it on the black people.

Hey kids? When someone tells you to hate, they’re trying to make your world worse.

Hillock, 9 months ago

I am going to assume you have a cellar spider. Removing part of the web isn't going to directly harm them. They don't recycle their web so you aren't even removing nutrients from them.

The only way it's going to affect them is by reducing their chances of catching prey. Cellar spiders don't have a sticky web and rather rely on prey brushing up against their web, then rushing there and killing it with a bite. So you are reducing the area they are covering.

They also usually just gradually increase the size of their web. So it's unlikely it will try to rebuild everything you removed at once. Meaning it's not going to waste too much energy.

Jyrdano, 10 months ago

Virtually all free to play games are. The most popular are designed in a way to lure you in with freebies and gameplay that tickles you lizard brain in a pleasant way. Then, when you are invested enough, they annoy you with waiting times and artifical speed bumps just enough to make you spend bucks in their cash shop but not enough to stop playing. These games are basically slot machines masquerading as a game, where the only goal is to milk you dry of your income.

Aesthesiaphilia, 11 months ago

Conservativism just means not wanting things to change. If you grew up in a society where LGBT rights are already inviolate (such as San Francisco), it's perfectly possible to just want to keep the status quo.

You're mixing up conservativism and the Republican party. The fringe Republicans aren't even conservative - they're reactionary. They want to go backwards.

Think of a spectrum:

Revolutionary - progressive - conservative - reactionary.

HandsHurtLoL, 11 months ago

Take a moment to really drink in that last sentence.

Some dude named Ernest is just tooling around with a social media platform, trying things out, getting the hang of things, just posting into the nothingness for less than a month to test code. Meanwhile, the CEO of a social media conglomerate who doesn't even know who you are opens the lid on Schrodinger's "ideas box" (don't know if it's a good idea or bad idea until you look inside!) and out of nowhere, your little tiny corner of the internet goes from having like 50 people to 250k in a week.

This is like the plot of Fifth Element kind of.