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This weekly thread will focus on debate, discussion, and the lack thereof on social media (including Lemmy).
My apologies for “leading” a bit more than I try to normally in these weekly threads, however this is a topic that pisses me off in particular. Not only as a mod of a discussion-based community, but as someone who loves it when someone challenges me and proves me wrong / disproves my logic so I’d very much like to hear outside opinions on the topic. I can’t even partially understand how people don’t want to have a more cohesive / logically sound opinion.
Some Starters (and don’t feel you have to speak on all or any of them if you don’t care to):
- Do you feel that discussion is worse now? If so, what caused it? If not, where may others get this feeling from?
- Is it potentially a platform issue, or does it happen everywhere?
- Does discussion even matter any longer? Why or why not?
- Do you feel that more could be done to encourage discussion with outside views or are we better off just “bubble”-ing ourselves and blocking everyone we disagree with?
Yes. I think there has been a move away from teaching and learning “soft” skills, towards focusing on employable, money-making skills. Oratory and philosophy used to be part of school curriculum; they still are in some of Latin America. If you:re expected to be an employee, you don’t need to learn how to present and analyze ideas, you just need to learn how te repest the company’s (or political party’s) motto.
I’d say it happens everywhere, but it is made worse in Lemmy by an incredibly widespread and entrenched Dunnin-Kruger bias. See the many 100% authoritative and confident responses to this post, that completely fail to address any of your questions.
I’d say it matters now more than ever. Learning is the wind that pushes the sails of change, and there can be no learning without discussion, that is called indoctrination. I personally think discussion could be made more common and attractive by bringing back debate and oratory as forms of entertainment. A good debate can be engaging and thought provoking, great speakers present ideas not just technically well, but also try to make them appealing and easy to understand. I wonder how fun it would be to see two religious representatives debate each other in good faith. Maybe it is worth asking how many angels can dance on the tip of a needle.
It is our differences that make us strong. When we bubble up, we all lose. I think echo chambers are a defense mechanism, if the world was a bit less shit, and people had the mental space and physical comfort to just admire life, think and wonder, the walls of those echo chambers would slowly erode as well. Curiosity is the enemy of hate.
TL & DR: Monkeys strong together. Alone weak.
I don’t have much to add that I didn’t write elsewhere, but thank you in particular for your response. Thoughtful and thorough is always awesome to see! I hadn’t considered the shift away from life skills to money-making skills, but you’re quite correct.