

Yeah, a good bit of the article is dedicated to pointing out that there are a whole swathe of public “intellectuals” who describe themselves as Liberals but are shallow and regressive in their actual ideas.
Yeah, a good bit of the article is dedicated to pointing out that there are a whole swathe of public “intellectuals” who describe themselves as Liberals but are shallow and regressive in their actual ideas.
Did you read the article? I think it does a pretty good job of explaining what the author means by that phrase. The author articulates her concept of a “far center” (as opposed to far right and far left), which she describes as people who take liberal values to reactionary extremes, valuing civility over justice, etc.
The far center is for free speech and bourgeois institutions; it is against cancel culture, student protests, and radicalism of any kind. Yet it rejects the idea of a shared ideology or politics. Instead, its members see themselves as independently sane individuals — concerned citizens who wish only to defend civil society from the unbearable encroachments of politics. So the far center is liberal, in that its highest value is freedom; but it is also reactionary, in that its vision of freedom lacks any corresponding vision of justice.
I hope I’m not jinxing myself, but I don’t ever mess with my Ublock Origin settings and I’ve never once had it break or gotten the threatening messages about adblockers on YT. I’m not sure why, but I’m not going to change anything while I’ve got a good thing going.
My wife and I joined an Episcopal church a few years ago after a fairly painful falling out with the church we had been part of for ~15 years. It has wound up being such a blessing for us in so many ways, one of which is not feeling like we have to cringe whenever a leader in our church speaks out in public. Bishop Budde is a perfect example of the kind of rhetoric that attracted us to the Episcopal church - gentle, kind, but firm on matters of love and care for others.
Thanks for posting this, I’m looking through this afternoon and will distribute to folks I know that might be looking for ways to help.
Hi. You’ve gotten some very good responses from the community so I’m going to leave the thread up for now, but please be aware that pushing more will likely result in removal or a temp ban. Thanks.
No big deal, you’re good.
I actually also think it’s probably both, to a degree, that’s just not what the author of the article is arguing. I think there’s probably a certain amount of persuasion that is pulling people deeper into a belief system that they might only be partially invested in at first, and then they are sucked into ecosystems that reinforce those beliefs and pull them further in. I don’t have anything but vibes and lots of half-remembered reading about online radicalization, though.
You’re right, but I think they are using the term “brainwashing” in a colloquial sense. There’s a perception that misinformation on the internet is persuading people into more extreme views, but what the author of this article is arguing is that what is happening more is that online misinformation is allowing people to easily justify beliefs that they have already formed, and quickly and easily get rid of cognitive dissonance associated with encountering information that contradicts their beliefs. This is something that people have always done, but it’s become so easy on the modern internet that more and more people are embracing fringe worldviews who might previously have been unable to cognitively support those views.
It’s a small difference in the way we think about misinformation online, but I think it’s important that we understand what is likely happening. It’s not so much that misinformation is changing people’s beliefs, but that it’s allowing people to hang onto beliefs that contradict reality more easily.
Go touch grass.
There’s no need for this, seriously. I get that it’s a gaming community but we’re trying to be better than the usual toxic mess, right?
It’s fine. Decent lore and environments, but the gameplay was pretty mid. It was decent fun to play for a couple of weeks with some friends who like LotR. Certainly no reason not to check it out if it’s free
Thanks for the thought - we did a little of this over the last few years but it wasn’t working for us. One of the more important parts of religious practice for both of us is the communal aspect, and as we live in a mid-size city in the Southern U.S. there aren’t very many opportunities outside of a church setting for strong, long-term community building. Not saying there aren’t any, but it’s difficult to build a strong network when third places have essentially disappeared. The Episcopal Church is working for us, at least right now, as a place to build those networks and practice our faith without having to compromise on moral stances that are critical to us.
I’m always a little reluctant to post about religious topics on Beehaw because there’s a pretty strong anti-christian sentiment on Lemmy in general which is, to be fair, entirely understandable.
I grew up in the “Church of Christ” and my wife and I stayed part of our CoC congregation for a long time mostly because of the support network and personal connections we had built up there, even though we had a lot of problems with evangelical theology and the increasing conservatism. A few years ago we wound up in the crosshairs of a group of deeply unpleasant people because of some comments we made in support of LGBTQ folks, and ended up spiritually homeless for a while. We eventually ended up at a local Episcopal church and while it’s been a big adjustment for us in some ways - we definitely weren’t used to high church liturgy - we’ve really come to love it there. It’s not without problems, but we feel like we’re able to wrestle with our beliefs and still have the support of the community, and we’ve made some close connections there as well.
Theologically I’m all over the place, so don’t ask me for a firm stance on anything - I’m just making this shit up as I go 😅
I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re not intending to make this assertion, but as a warning: transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny are not nice, and are not tolerated on Beehaw.
I’ve wondered before if my perception of headlights being so much brighter was them really getting brighter, cars getting taller, my eyes getting older, or a combination of all those (and other) factors. It seems like there might be a few things going on, but it does definitely look like lights are getting a lot brighter, and I’m obviously not the only one to be frustrated by it…
If I recall correctly, the main reason we defederated from those instances at the time was the sheer volume of spam we were getting from users of those instances. While we do sometimes have a need to moderate users from larger instances like Lemm.ee, it’s not currently at a volume that we can’t handle, from what I’ve seen.
As always, as a moderator of several Beehaw communities, I would encourage you to report any comment or post you see that isn’t up to the standards of Beehaw.org. Don’t assume someone else is going to do it, and don’t assume that moderators are always watching every interactions closely - we’re all doing this in our free time and have other responsibilities. We may not take action on every report - sometimes things are borderline or the community has already pushed back and we feel like things are in hand - but I guarantee someone is looking at and considering every one.
If I recall correctly, the main reason we defederated from those instances at the time was the sheer volume of spam we were getting from users of those instances. While we do sometimes have a need to moderate users from larger instances like Lemm.ee, it’s not currently at a volume that we can’t handle, from what I’ve seen.
As always, as a moderator of several Beehaw communities, I would encourage you to report any comment or post you see that isn’t up to the standards of Beehaw.org. Don’t assume someone else is going to do it, and don’t assume that moderators are always watching every interactions closely - we’re all doing this in our free time and have other responsibilities. We may not take action on every report - sometimes things are borderline or the community has already pushed back and we feel like things are in hand - but I guarantee someone is looking at and considering every one.
It was very early on, the first week or so after it released. I’m sure they’ve fixed a lot of the bugs but honestly I just haven’t really been motivated to try it out again.
I tried to play London and it crashed constantly. Now, that’s not all that different an experience from playing any Bethesda game, but it did kind of kill any interest I had in the mod.
Please don’t post full article text in post bodies or comments. If you want to help people read a paywalled article, feel free to post an archive link.