I came here around the time the rif app shut down, and the general vibe I get from this place is much more negative than when I joined. Is Lemmy growing more toxic or is it just my imagination?

  • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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    20 hours ago

    Yeah, the total destruction of community and third-places is I think the #1 cause of the division of political discourse, but second is that people refuse to engage with other human beings on the topic. They watch TV or browse online, and they get one extremely biased view of the world. They don’t share it with other people where they could get other points of view.

    It used to be people would get the paper and talk about it with each other, but that’s taboo now. You take it to an online community who all agree with you. There’s a reason why the infamous Thanksgiving family gathering caused strife. It’s because people were actually having discussions and disagreements. Disagreement is healthy, but people seem allergic to it now.

    • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Disagreement is only healthy if both people are approaching it with the desire to further their understanding

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        12 hours ago

        Honestly, I disagree still. That’s the ideal, but even just seeing that there are other opinions held by people you care about is good. If you live in an echo chamber where everyone agrees with you then you think you must be right on everything.

        • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          Disagreement with unreasonable people does not change your opinions, it hardens them in the worst way. Also I don’t care about the people making unreasonabke arguments

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            11 hours ago

            I think it depends on the situation. I’m not saying to spend time arguing with them. I’m just saying showing them there’s another position that reasonable people they know hold is good. Most people are told the only people who hold a different position than them are crazy people.

            I do care about these people, because they vote.