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submitted 2 days ago by oyzmo@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

I experience Lemmy as a reflection of many of the problems in the world; there seems to be little effort to understand and respect different viewpoints. Instead of being curious about opinions one disagrees with, the community often feels almost aggressive. People end up in their own trenches. What about trying to be more open and curious about our differences instead?

Apparently we believe in freedom of speech—so long as the speech is something we agree with....

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[-] Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

More of a rant than a genuine question. Locking.

[-] ollie@lemmy.zip 44 points 2 days ago

What have you found is not being tolerated?

[-] 87Six@lemmy.zip 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Their post history includes anti-immigration views and comments in favor of AI copy-paste posts. I guess that answers it...

I didn't even bother scrolling past that.

To the downvoters:

What makes you disagree? Did OP make some sort of clear point in a different post in their history, or what did I miss? Because right now by downvoting you're just proving OP right. Downvoting without clear cause and interaction. The reply to this comment is a nothing burger.

[-] Voidian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 2 days ago

I actually did scroll past that.

You are the problem, and so are the people who upvoted you without at looking for themselves at all.

[-] rain_enjoyer@sopuli.xyz 22 points 2 days ago

op: lemmy is so intolerant against my views!

insert untitled goose with a knife chasing op: what views, fucker?

it's not always like this, but it happens so often i'm not surprised

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[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago

It’s always a persecution complex with them.

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[-] Soulcreator@programming.dev 18 points 2 days ago

Mention anything about veganism and watch the comments pile on. The Lemmy group mind is not a fan of anything that challenges their currently held viewpoints.

Veganism in particular is hard for some people, because it pokes holes in their current world view and it effectively says you could be doing more, for people who already view themselves as ethical and caring hearing some of those hard truths can feel like an attack.

And on Lemmy in particular people like to shut down dissenting viewpoints such as those.

And please don't hit me with responses on why you think veganism is dumb, I'm merely making an observation as to what is not tolerated on this platform.

[-] AskewLord@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago

Vegans who treat it like a religion are difficult to be around. Vegans who treat it like a personal choice, are not.

That's true of any life choice though. People get offended when other people don't make the same choices or have the same beliefs, because they feel in attacks of invalidates them as a person.

I mean, I don't cheat in relationships and I am monogamous. But for many people that's a controversial statement that I have had a ton of pushback on because it makes them feel attacked if they are cheaters or polyamorous. Usually informing me how 'ignorant' I am, or how 'judgemental' I am... for simple express my own rules for myself.

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[-] bsit@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 days ago

Discussion about anything spiritual. Mention the word and people automatically assume that you're an extreme right-wing fundamentalist Christian ready to host a sermon about how much God hates homosexuals.

[-] AskewLord@piefed.social 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah. The anti-theism thing here is wild.

I usually just assume they are into healing crystals or yoga, but that's my own bias.

People here love ot hate on bigotry, but are totally blind to their perpetuation of it themselves. Because when they massively overgeneralize anyone who is remotely religions or spiritual based on a tiny extremist minority... it's good! It's fighting injustice and bigotry! But if other people do it, it's bad and evil, and wrong!

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[-] Libb@piefed.social 5 points 2 days ago

Discussion about anything spiritual.

As an atheist and a Bible-reading dude (as well as a few other 'spirituality' books, among many other types of books), the hate towards anything spirituality-related and religious around here was one of those things I almost immediately noticed after joining, it's even worse regarding anything Christian. The worst for me was not that hate, it is the fact that almost all of it rely on nothing but a desire to do like the others. And very rarely on actual knowledge of what is being hated.

It is one of those things that made me question if I should stay, if the Fediverse was a place one could really expect to have enriching discussions, or merely the exact opposite of those corporate-owned social media platforms that are populated by right-winged haters: collectively-owned social media populated by left-winged haters. Hate is a poor choice. It doesn't matter what one hates.

The one thing that made stay is that, thx to the tools available, it's also very easy to filter out most of that hatred and to suddenly realize that, hidden under that now gone noise, there are indeed quite a few persons wanting to have civilized conversations and that are able to not hate on anyone they disagree with. Not a large crowd, but enough to make it worthwhile to stay and from time to time have an interesting discussion.

That option to filter out the hate, even if it's not perfect, makes the Fediverse quite unique, imho.

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[-] Libb@piefed.social 24 points 2 days ago

Apparently we believe in freedom of speech—so long as the speech is something we agree with….

As already mentioned, it's not exclusive to Lemmy/the Fediverse and then, thx to the Fediverse itself, we still can resist:

  • the most important thing is that we're not into some centralized platform whose owner can easily shut out anyone. Banning is still a thing obviously (I regularly hear about admin abusing their power) but one always has the ability to change instance or even to create their own which i is not even an option, say, on Reddit or X.
  • Freedom of expression should not mean one should be required to listen to trash ideas. Here again, the Fediverse/Lemmy/Piefed already offers great tools to filter out what and who one doesn't want to hear... without limiting their freedom of expression. Meaning that I, for example, am not forced to see the huge amount of low quality posts that are posted (politics and most memes, stuff like that) and that I can also easily block anyone I consider a pain in the butt or that is trying to troll me. Which I do without any hesitation and without ever threatening their own freedom to express themselves. Something I find a lot more friendly to freedom: theirs as well as mine ;)

The issue runs much deeper as, for most people, it seems to not be enough to be able to mute/block someone or some content they disagree with. They want it to vanish for anyone else too. The most... excited even want their author to be removed from the community. So they like to campaign for ban, or worse.

But here again, it's a much wider issue than with the Fediverse.

It's people not being educated anymore to tolerate divergence of opinions and, a lot more worryingly imho, not being able, because of that lack of proper education, to listen to nuanced thoughts and ideas and to be able to understand that we can disagree without having to hate on one another. They seem to live in a black or white world, populated with two groups of people: friends, those that are liking the same things and the same ideas they do, and foes, those who dare not like one or more of those things and ideas the 'friends' like.

As long as that 'logic' is not challenged and put back in its place (trash reasoning) the intolerance to what is different, which hating on one's values and ideals is, won't go away. Around here, like everywhere else.

[-] Voidian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It’s people not being educated anymore to tolerate divergence of opinions and, a lot more worryingly imho, not being able, because of that lack of proper education, to listen to nuanced thoughts and ideas and to be able to understand that we can disagree without having to hate on one another.

What's most worrying to me is that people don't even know why they AGREE with the opinions they agree with. For example, most people would agree that bigotry is bad (which it is), but they don't know how to argue about it.

They’ve got the moral instinct, sure, but zero intellectual grounding. And that’s a problem. Because when people don’t understand why something is wrong, they're just one propaganda push away from accepting a new definition of "bigotry" that serves whoever’s in power.

We’re seeing it happen in real time. People repeat opinions like they’re reciting scripture - no thought, no critique, just blind agreement. And now, even asking people to think critically about why bigotry is wrong is seen as suspect. It's an immediate failure of purity testing. You're not supposed to arrive to the conclusion that bigotry is bad by thinking for yourself, you are just supposed to keep repeating the correct slogans. That’s not just lazy, it’s anti-intellectualism, the exact kind of mental rot that populism and fascism thrive on. That's exactly the kind of bullshit that got USA in the state it is right now.

I have literally been called a fascist for telling people to think for themselves.

[-] AskewLord@piefed.social 13 points 2 days ago

Yep. the motto here for most 'free thinkers' is 'agree with me or you are a bad person'. They don't really want to discuss things, they just want to browbeat/bully other people into agreement. They refuse to acknowledge things are complex and that their are various legitimate viewpoints... there can only be their pure and true version of whatever ideology they believe in and anyone who questions their interpretation it is a 'false' believer.

It's idealism and egotism running into each other. So they just feel like going around labeling everything bigotry makes them some paragon of morality and truth and justice. Meanwhile they have no understanding of their own bigotry.

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[-] Lemvi@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 2 days ago

I don't think this is specific to lemmy. We generally like to hear people agree with us, and social media allows us to a) find spaces with like-minded people b) block people we don't like from interacting with us

We put ourselves into echo chambers where our assumptions and opinions are never challenged. You might talk about people with different opinions, but rarely to them. Live in that environment long enough, and you stop to question your convictions, and become increasingly incapable of articulating why you hold them, or to consider the perspective of 'the opponent'.

[-] AskewLord@piefed.social 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The issue though, now, is it goes even further.

We now live in an time when the very idea of of our assumptions and opinions being challenged is considered assault or violence, and thus justifies the use of force to prevent that from happening. They think any acknowledgement of the humanity or legitimacy of their opponent is also something that should be met with violence.

I hear 20 somethings now talk like my boomer parents... in that anytime their views are challenged or questioned they resort to violence and threats. I've also had those threats directed at me in the past few years in a way I haven't encountered for most of my adult life until recently.

[-] a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

To your point, in the UK and Australia you can now literally get jail time for saying some pro-Palestinian slogans. So certainly there has a cultural and sometimes legal shift towards not tolerating opposing viewpoints and it is not healthy. That said this behaviour is not limited the right. The left is not very tolerant of opposing viewpoints either

[-] AskewLord@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah, it's a product of identity politics. One of the premises of identity politics is that speech in and of itself, is harmful and evil, and that we must use force, including the power of the state, to stop harmful speech.

So now we have this world where we are making laws and punishing people based on subjective perceptions of 'harm'.

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 22 points 2 days ago

It's the karma system. People stop talking to you and start performing for an audience instead. A good dunk never changed anyone's mind - but it wasn't intended to. They were just hoping for applause.

Then other people see what gets applause here and what gets booed, so they tweak their takes to match. Everyone likes applause and nobody wants to be booed. And that's exactly how an echo chamber gets born.

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[-] OwOarchist@pawb.social 23 points 2 days ago

Apparently we believe in freedom of speech—so long as the speech is something we agree with…

Apparently you believe in freedom of speech -- so long as nobody says 'aggressive' things to you.

As long as you're not frequently getting blocked or banned, nobody is trampling on your 'freedom of speech'. You're free to say what you want. And other people are free to say what they they want, even if they use that to say your speech sucks. 'Freedom of speech' doesn't mean people have to be nice to you no matter what you say. It just means you can say it. And then other people get to say their part.

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 25 points 2 days ago

Personally attacking OP with strawmen accusations for calling out the platform for being hostile toward differing views is peak irony.

[-] Krono@lemmy.today 10 points 2 days ago

OP's snarky reference to free speech is hypocritical on its face. The entire thesis of their post is to attack criticism, and criticism is a form of free speech.

Pointing out hypocrisy is not a strawman.

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 14 points 2 days ago

You're not accurately representing their view neither. At no point have they taken issue with criticism.

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[-] PosiePoser@feddit.org 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm going to struggle writing this because the logic is so hard to follow but db0 blocked my whole (GERMAN) instance because my (again, GERMAN) instance moderates against hate-speech against Jews, making us Zionist fascists, somehow.

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/63525728

Look carefully at the modlogs in the screenshots and understand db0 admins think that it's the feddit.org mods that are in the wrong for removing the hateful comments. It took me several minutes to comprehend that the screenshots were supposed to be proof that Feddit.org people are Zionists, because the mods are removing hate-speech. The screenshots are NOT proof of hatespeech on Feddit against Palestinian people.

In the eyes of db0, the GERMAN INSTANCE IS EVIL because it doesn't platform enough anti-semitism.

The ANARCHIST instance is mad at the GERMAN INSTANCE for not allowing hateful rhetoric of Jewish people.

[-] Pinetten@pawb.social 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This whole DB0 vs. feddit.org situation is a joke. They’re using their "Anarchist Code of Conduct" to justify the exact kind of tribalist garbage it was supposed to stop.

The Code says you can’t disrespect or exclude people just for being part of some "unfavorable group." That got binned fast. Like you say, they're not even showcasing Feddit hosting Zionism, they're showcasing them removing hate-speech which aligns with their own damn Code of Conduct. The hypocrisy couldn't be more palpable.

That "democratic vote" is a joke too. The admins didn’t present a fair debate, they framed it as "Do you stand with the oppressed or with the fascists?" They loaded the language with terms like "Zionist bar problem" and "genocide apologia" to make sure the answer was obvious. That’s not democracy. That’s manipulation. That's blatant fucking propaganda.

It’s like they think anarchism means "do what we say or you’re the real fascists." Actually that's exactly what they think.

[-] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 13 points 2 days ago

Now this is some S-tier trolling, the kind of thing that could've incited a weeks-long flame war back in the Usenet days. The key here is the lack of any specifics, so each reader can interpret the issue differently by filling in the details from their own experiences. And it's framed so that either I agree that Lemmy users have bad attitudes, or I disagree and prove it. *chef's kiss*

[-] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 8 points 2 days ago

lack of any specifics

Bringing up specific examples would be counterproductive - the whole thread would just turn into a debate about those examples instead of staying on the actual point. The discussion isn't about what the disagreement is over; it's about what that disagreement looks like.

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[-] Peluri96@feddit.org 20 points 2 days ago

Dont know how you got this impression but i think people are quite civil here. I guess people here have the tendency to be more left leaning. I guess if your opinions dont align with that i can imagine that a lot of people will disagree with you. But i guess this is the "curious about our differences" you talk about. They state their differences after you stated yours.

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[-] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago

I've seen the opposite. I've enjoyed conversation's here and people generally have good facts to back up their point. There's a few assholes but way less than reddit. I'm worried it will get worse though.

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[-] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Apparently we believe in freedom of speech—so long as the speech is something we agree with....

Freedom of speech isn't freedom from response. Some people have shitty opinions, and are too fragile to accept that people don't like them or their opinions.

And some people get upset when other people don't like AI and don't want it to do everything for them.

[-] jtrek@startrek.website 10 points 2 days ago

Freedom of speech doesn't mean a guaranteed audience or platform.

You can write whatever you want. No one is required to read it. No one is required to host it. If they do read it, they can say whatever they want about it.

This is the fediverse. You can host your own instance and say whatever you want. No one else is required to federate with you.

If you post something and people say it's garbage, that's not your freedom of speech being quashed. You spoke. Now they are using their freedom of speech in response.

[-] Chippys_mittens@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

People seem to be much more passionate about their stances here. Even when their stance is completely ridiculous and not rooted in reality. I've only blocked one person so far though (something I've REALLY tried not to do) and I've had a ton of good dialoge. You also can't really express any view that isn't far left.

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[-] Ryoae@piefed.social 13 points 2 days ago

The stupid karma scoring system doesn't help matters. When Lemmy and the Fediverse began, I was hopeful that we'd be rid of such things. Sadly, people feel we need to still have them and look where that has gotten us. Are you trying to be Reddit or not trying to be Reddit? Because if you're aiming for the latter, you've fundamentally failed.

I hear so many excuses why we have scoring systems, but none of them add up. People will upvote anything they feel fits their world view and downvote things they feel doesn't. It creates artificial engagement. It does nothing for the ecosystem as a whole.

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Give us an example what you’re referring to…your comment doesn’t mean a lot of without any context.

“Freedom of speech” is a fraught concept. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean one must accept the views of another, for example. Freedom of speech is also accepting reaction to your speech. Each speaker is “owed” whatever freedom you’re proposing.

Yeah, we've hand now hundreds, maybe even more low grade trolls butthurt here that they aren't allowed to be racist sexist piles of shit and whine about free speech. No dudes, we have the right not to host your shit. Not saying OP is one of them, but I'll throw a link at 90% of the people who post here about free speech are under that umbrella.

And every time I point it out I offer that they may start their own instance with all the hate they want. So far I have seen almost no one do that.

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[-] EmilyIsTrans 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Have you considered that the reason the community isn't curious about your opinion is because they've heard it dozens of times before? Or maybe your opinion is just rude, or maybe you're posting it in a space that was never for you in the first place?

The entire internet is not and should not be an endless space for you to engage with the MArKetPLAcE OF idEaS. There are plenty of dedicated spaces for that in which every party has already consented to that kind of discussion.

[-] TheV2@programming.dev 9 points 2 days ago

I experience Lemmy as a reflection of many of the problems in the world

You've said it yourself. It's not unique to Lemmy. This is just a smaller platform with therefore more biases. You could keep trying and show new visitors with your viewpoints that they have a space here. E.g. Lemmy is slowly becoming less try-hard anarchistic. But honestly with your viewpoints, whether it's about AI or strict immigration, I consider it too difficult and unrealistic currently.

[-] Nemo@slrpnk.net 9 points 2 days ago

I find lemmy a lot more tolerant than most other social media, myself.

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this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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