Need a politics-free safe space? It’s called “going for a walk”

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’m getting the impression from Lemmy that there’s an overrepresentation of the particular demographic of comfortable middle-aged bookish software engineers who live in the US or Canada.

    • bigboopballs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      comfortable middle-aged bookish software engineers who live in the US or Canada.

      That seems to be like 95% of both reddit’s and lemmy’s (or some other federated instances’) user-bases.

    • TrustingZebra@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      On the other hand there’s also an overrepresentation of tankies. I don’t think those are the same people.

        • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          What word would you prefer to someone who tells you to your face that they intend to “put you up against the wall” and then asks if you “know what that means, you fucking lib”?

          I mean, I’m a demsoc, and of the last 20 death threats I have received in my life, 15 came from people who identify as Communist-Leninist. PLEASE give me a better word for them.

          • SexMachineStalin [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            Funny because of the dozens, if not hundreds, of death threats I’ve gotten, practically all of them come from zionists, NAFOs, keyboard nazis or the occasional trumpeteer.

          • HornyOnMain [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            What word would you prefer to someone who tells you to your face that they intend to “put you up against the wall” and then asks if you “know what that means, you fucking lib”?

            Based

            • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              How many leftists do you have to execute to earn your colors?

          • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            You don’t know the difference between a demsoc and a socdem. You’re not any kind of socialist, just a lib who likes the idea of being seen as leftist.

            • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              And I bet you’re fun at parties. Please oh great psychic, tell me more about myself?

              And actually, I do know the difference between demsoc and socdem. The formal definition for Social Democrat is “a supporter or advocate of a socialist system of government achieved by democratic means.” That we are constantly painted as “filthy liberal” for wanting to respect the will of the majority is a disappointing and disgusting lie. And the ONLY people who accuse socdems of being fake leftists? TANKIES. Who are not, by any meaningful definition, more left than those of us with a soul.

              The only way I’m not a leftist is if your version of leftism says “fuck people, freedom, or democracy”. In **your ** version of leftism, are you ok with being the 1% ruling by force against 99% who hate you? Think very carefully before replying to that.

              • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
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                1 year ago

                God, you’re such a big dumb idiot of a lib. That’s the definition of a democratic socialist, not a social democrat - you can tell by the way one of the groups are call socialists and the others are called democrats. Not only did you mix up your definitions, but you never actually managed to define democratic socialist - do you really know what the difference is if you can’t even remember to talk about one of them? The answer, scrolling down your post history to where you called yourself a socdem, is no, you think they’re the exact same thing, because you don’t even have a surface level understanding of leftism. It only takes 5 minutes in leftist spaces to discover that anarchists, socialists, and communists of all flavour hate socdems for exactly your “no really, somehow we’ll manage to vote socialism in this time” attitude, but you’ve never spent a single minute in them, because you’re not a leftist.

                My version of leftism is called Marxism and is based in historical reality and current material conditions. Your version is fantastical utopianism that’s convinced the elite are just going to give up the reigns any day now.

          • ThereRisesARedStar [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            Death threats are an inappropriate and disproportiate response but have you considered that it is because you’re more irritating to the left than you are to the right? Especially given how right wingers historically are massively more violent?

      • the post of tom joad
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        1 year ago

        Frankly i don’t think there’s nearly enough tankies to offset the neolibs but i have a feeling I’m in the minority. Eh! Fun times we’re in

        • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I’m a demsoc. I want to respect Communism more, but I never get death threats from liberals and do occasionally get death threats from Tankies.

          It sucks because I feel they’d make a good ally to compromise with if they weren’t hoping to have me executed for not supporting an authoritarian seizure of power.

          • the post of tom joad
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            1 year ago

            Well, i can’t speak to your experience but I’m a commie who doesn’t dig a forced central planning authority. Or death threats even!

            For my part i get called a “traitor” and such by libs often, simply for criticizing the DNC et al.

            But your point stands, no death threats.

            • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Well, i can’t speak to your experience but I’m a commie who doesn’t dig a forced central planning authority. Or death threats even!

              Well that’s a breath of fresh air. That’s very different from what I’ve seen. I do have to point out what I said elsewhere, that I feel Communists have a responsibility to speak against violent communism, the same way “good cops” can only be good if they speak out against bad cops. (I know how most Communists feel about police, but at least I hope you can appreciate the intent of the parallel)

              For my part i get called a “traitor” and such by libs often, simply for criticizing the DNC et al.

              I think using the word “traitor” in a situation like that is terrible. I do take it personally if someone treats the DNC as “just as bad as Trump” after he managed to cause an unprecedented amount of devastation between his immigration policies, “pay me” COVID handling, and open hatred of marginalized groups and “great people on both sides” support for groups like the KKK… But as much as I am disappointed when people put even a moderate like Biden in the same boat as him, I wouldn’t use the word “traitor”.

              But your point stands, no death threats.

              I would love if I met more Communists who are more willing to have constructive conversation with the other Leftist groups, instead of the ones that group all of us in a wide-net neoliberal basket that includes everyone from Bernie Sanders to Adolf Hitler. So, thank you :)

            • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              You have my sympathy. Even when I was actively involved with pro-LGBTQ movements, there were people marching for rights that that didn’t respect bisexuals.

          • SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org
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            1 year ago

            By the silent downvote I take it that you think getting so many death threats is normal and not possibly linked to being an extremely weird person who argues with perhaps even weirder people

            • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Which “silent downvote” are you talking about?

              And how exactly did you conclude I’m a “weird person” in this scenario? Obviously I’m arguing with weirder people, we’re talking about tankies.

              EDIT: Just looked through your post history and cannot seem to find any I downvoted.

          • SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org
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            1 year ago

            Do you ever think maybe it’s weird that you get many death threats? I think have ever had one in my life and I’ve conversed with many many mentally… unhealthy people

            • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              I’m a Social Democrat, who used to be a Democratic Socialist. The Right sees me as a Communist and McCarthyism kicks in. Did you hear about the “Physical Removal” movement? A meme-like movement about giving the Left helicopter rides to the middle of the ocean. I lived in a farm town where 40% of the voters were overcompensating for the Right not being able to win a rural area by being very outspoken anti-left.

              And then, the Left. When I considered myself to be a demsoc, I tried to hang out in LSC on reddit. Not sure if you know it, but they eventually got banned for all the death threats coming out of there. There is an attitude around some percent of Communists that non-Communist lives don’t matter. They might be a minority, but they’re outspoken.

              That was what got me to realize the flaw in being a demsoc, and I shifted laterally (NOT to the Right as several people like to pretend) to Social Democrat. Then I got more death threats because Communists have a hard-on of insisting Socdems are literally the same category as fascists.

              I DO think it’s weird that I’ve gotten and get death threats over my views, and I understand why so many people my age have given up having any views at all and just become “I just vote a party and go about my day” folks that are part of the problem.