this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
    • If you feel strongly that you want politics back, please volunteer as a mod.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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Yet.

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[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 258 points 2 years ago (26 children)

Lemmy is so far left leaning because a large part of its existence is due to people being mad at capitalism

[–] Silviecat44@aussie.zone 32 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

And its so tiring to hear about all the time

Edit: and I don’t disagree

[–] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 25 points 2 years ago

I agree with it, but I also agree with you

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

"I disagree with the bad thing, but I wish the people affected by the bad thing wouldn't complain about it so much!"

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[–] pfannkuchen@lemmy.world 87 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thinking like this is why people get surprised when right leaning parties get voted for in elections

[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 47 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Lol right? "Right wing politics only seem popular because of bots". No, left wing politics only seem popular on social media because old people dont use it, despite making up the majority of many populations, and often times are the only people who actually vote in elections.

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[–] jesterraiin@lemmy.world 78 points 2 years ago (12 children)

Not really. I mean that "because..." part.

Leftism is inherenty tied to technology, especially new. It's part of its lifestyle. EVERY new, massive social "site" (or online service) is expected to be left-leaning by default. It may later change its political viewpoint, but in its relative infancy it's left.

Rightism is more about actions taking place in real-world. As such, the technology isn't perceived as more than a tool, used for specific purpose only, rather than part of, or the foundation of a lifestyle.

...and of course there's a plethora of alternative political views, options and convictions that are a mix of either extremes of the spectrum - if you meet a person online, it shouldn't be surprisied to learn about "pro-life", but also "anti-Trump" and similarly puzzling approaches to various aspects of life.

tl;dr: it's not about bots. It's because Lemmy/Mastodon isn't popular enough to serve as a tool for right-wing politics.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 52 points 2 years ago (17 children)

Leftism is inherenty tied to technology, especially new.

I don't know, there has always been a huge libertarian contingent of the tech industry as well. I'm not sure which is bigger. I hope the leftism.

[–] MBM@lemmings.world 25 points 2 years ago

Yeah crypto bros aren't exactly leftist, neither is the hypercapitalist Silicon Valley crowd, and I've encountered plenty of other tech enthusiasts with worrying opinions.

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[–] frathiemann@feddit.de 68 points 2 years ago (13 children)

I dont think that is the case. Left leaning people are just much less accepting of authority, so there are more likely to move of of reddit. right leaning people also tend to be more conservative, so they are more likely to stay on there old platforms.

[–] IDe@sopuli.xyz 31 points 2 years ago (3 children)

There have been many right-wing exodus from reddit over the years. All of them have centered around a perceived "free speech" issue, and they have always flocked to the most promising alternatives (e.g. Voat). Obviously Lemmy with its origins was never seen as particularly appealing for that crowd. This time the issue just happened to touch the left-leaning part more.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago

Probably also explains why Lemmy is doing well.

Knock on wood, but Lemmy's grown to the point now that it almost completely replaces Reddit for me. The only reason I still stop by Reddit is for more niche fandoms that haven't taken off here quite yet.

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[–] Zomg@lemmy.world 66 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Grandpa also doesn't understand federation

Grandpa actually votes tho

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[–] gunnm@monero.town 56 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Lemmy is a decentralized protocol not a centralized americanized political leaning social media.

[–] glue_snorter@lemmy.sdfeu.org 16 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Do you think that's relevant? I don't see anything about either reddit or lemmy that makes it harder for right-wingers to join. I can tell you that America does not have a monopoly on the alt-right (AfD, Brexit, etc)

I'm keen to learn more if you've seen evidence in this topic. I wouldn't know how to investigate, tbh.

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[–] Zezzoz@lemmy.world 47 points 2 years ago (10 children)

The political discourse seems toned down here, I am already happy with that.

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[–] willeypete23@reddthat.com 40 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I would say less "left leaning" and more anti-capitalist / anti fascist. More socialism less Nazis.

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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 28 points 2 years ago

Not by bots but by rage farming algorithms. Rage farming the right is easy and profitable. Facebook has gotten that down to science. The fake absolutist free speech espoused by Twitter's management as well as the apparent moderation inaction by Facebook are all about that. Letting right wing nuts rage freely generates engagement, generates ad revenue. The only thing the platforms actively manage is making sure that big name ads don't show up on Nazi posts.

[–] style99@kbin.social 27 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Among people in general who actually read comments, the left does have a distinct advantage.

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[–] Dasnap@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago

Lemmy also isn't profit driven, so you don't get libertarian tech bros.

[–] PatFussy@lemm.ee 23 points 2 years ago (36 children)

For all we know the people that are on the right have gone to other platforms. That doesnt stop you jerks from saying im on the right even though im not. For some reason both sides have adopted a "with us or against us" mentality and everyone is a nazi.

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 33 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That’s exactly what a Nazi would say!

/s

[–] damnYouSun@sh.itjust.works 25 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (17 children)

People throw around the word too much, there are actual Nazis around and we need to reserve the term just for their special brand of evil. Otherwise the phrase gets so watered down as to essentially become meaningless.

Otherwise they are just rightwing dipshits.

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[–] healer_56@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

i think its not just the bots but also that the right want their posts to be seen and want to "present" themself and their "opinions". And i think for that, lemmy is just not visible enough, yet.

[–] letsgocrazy@lemm.ee 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Imagine if Lemmy just totally avoided playground level political debate?

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[–] partypoop@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

People will stay where they're right, and avoid places where they're wrong. See: Facebook groups.

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[–] STRIKINGdebate2@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (6 children)

I honestly don't think that's the case. There's tons of right leaning and left leaning people that are bots. You can just never know. I think it comes down to the age range using this place and the culture using it. Reactionary people prefer sites like 4chan or the other online communities designed to cater to them. The age comes in because based on research the largest age demographic using Lemmy is between 25 and 35. This site is too underground to attract the middle aged and older cohort that are right wing. It's also not hip enough to attract the under 20 crowd who make up the bulk of Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro and Tim Pool viewers.

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