So what’s going on here, most likely, is that the intake of new users is declining as opposed to people specifically being driven off the platform (as some users allege).

The difference, one would assume, is that on the whole, Reddit’s political biases influence more what is not shown (much like lemmy.ml banning people for any criticism of Russia, China, or North Korea, or the echo chamber in hexbear), whereas Lemmy’s tankie issue also manifests as people actively sea-lioning (e.g. Cowbee) and (especially from hexbear) overt trolling, which shows up more in people’s faces. Both are issues, neither are good.

    • All Ice In Chains@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      As someone who rips on libs all the time, I’m just frustrated that Cowbee gets all the ire 😤

      It’s probably because Cowbee cites sources and does research, whereas I’m just like “eat shit”.

      • Cowbee [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        As comrade @RedSturgeon@hexbear.net said, what makes them most frustrated is simply not falling for their provocations. They can easily dismiss hostile and agressive actions mentally, but what truly gets under their skin is remaining reasonable and calm about it, as though their own provocations have no impact on you.

        I try not to take cheap rhetorical wins either, taking their arguments at the most charitable and debunking them anyways, as that’s more effective.

        • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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          5 months ago

          The thing is, they don’t think they’re lying. They think that if we were telling them the truth, this information would inevitably permeate the highest echelons of institutional media and academia. They operate under an epistemological framework where these institutions are cornerstone of reality, and any fact or historical occurrence they haven’t acknowledged is suspect.

          The idea that powerful ideologues of American imperialism like Alan Dershowitz and Larry Summers can wield their high positions at an institution like Harvard University to skew the trajectory of academics doesn’t even enter their minds. They barely grasp the idea that there’s a reason why people like Jeff Bezos would buy the Washington Post.

        • Cowbee [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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          5 months ago

          They might even genuinely believe Cowbee is a paid agent of CPC, because they can’t think anyone would willingly spend so much effort into research and education, without being paid for it.

          I’ve seen this accusation a few times, actually. Usually among those that can tell that I do know what I’m talking about for the most part, and that I do believe it as well. As cool as that would be, though, I’m not a CPC agent.

          • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            5 months ago

            One would have to imagine that the kind of person who can do extensive research for the highest bidder could earn more than the CPC could offer to post on social media. Then they’d be like “well, his motivation is political” and it’s like “no shit, that’s the base case. We fucking hate capitalism. Let me explain:”

          • Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            5 months ago

            And like, even if it were true, it doesn’t disprove anything you actually say. You could be from Mars or something and it still would have 0 bearing on whether or not the things you say have merit.

            But liberals know they can’t attack socialist arguments, so they need to attack the person, and you give them so little to actually attack that their only response is to invent conspiracy theories about you.

            • Cowbee [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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              5 months ago

              True, good point! And agreed on the conspiracy theory bit, another I’ve seen is the idea that other users are my alts, which is funny too. It all does end up working towards making socialism more reasonable, though!

              • Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                5 months ago

                In true conspiracy theory fashion, it is completely internally inconsistent. You are both way too active to be a regular person and must be a bot, but also other users must also be your alts, because if they find it suspicious that you spend too much time talking to them, the answer is obviously that you are secretly spending even more time talking to them via alts.