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Can we get a "number of false dichotomies in political spectrum infographics" record going?
Also, Chinese script, even simplified Chinese, is significantly harder to master than English. I for example can speak Mandarin fluently (as a Chinese person in Canada) but can barely read or write it, and no you don't just "pick it up" if you can speak it because there is zero correlation between the spoken language and written script, it's all memorization of every single character. I would have to actually take classes or something to learn to read and write Chinese, which I am definitely considering doing.
Actually, English is technically my second language since I was born in China (long story, left as a young child so wasn't my choice), and after having learned English and become fluent in both reading and writing it, I keep asking myself "how the hell can you be fluent in speaking English and not be fluent in writing it? If you know how to say a word you know 90% of how to write it unlike Chinese."
So, sorry anglophones, even if China had the same literacy rate as the US, it would still be more impressive (not of the intellect of Chinese people or any racial bullshit like that, but the effectiveness of their education system and socialist ideology, which English speakers are fully capable of implementing as well with no excuse not to.)
So I made a passing comment of "it's almost like private car ownership is a really inefficient use of space and resources" the other day, which I didn't really pay much mind to. But all the replies were either explaining the concept of public transportation as if I don't know that's the solution to private car dependence (not in a constructive way adding to my comment or anything, I got the sense that they were trying to explain the concept to me) and someone even basically said "well I'm sure you think urban sprawl is an efficient use of space then."
Are the "normies" this oblivious to how anti-car sentiments work? Do they think we're against the concept of a metal thing with four wheels and not its effects on urban development and society? Why the hell would I be against public transit or pro urban sprawl if I hate cars? Cities before cars were invented had public transit and were tightly packed and walkable. You don't think I support that?
I also find it difficult to respond to a comment without writing a mini essay, not because I lack succinctness, but I find it lackluster to respond to a comment I think should be corrected with only the correction and zero justification or context.
I'm in the exact same boat. Good on you for prioritizing yours too!
I'd be lying if I said I'm not filtering by all-federated at least in part because of the myriad of animal communities I don't know about, namely the niche cat ones dedicated to cats doing just one thing, or maybe I'll find a community super enthusiastic about an animal species I never really knew I wanted to learn about.
So do these people go seeking out communist users specifically to harass them? Or was this the result of a debate directly with them?
They have clearly never actually met a rat because they are awesome animals. Way more intelligent and friendly than anyone give them credit for. Amazing survivors in the wild, amazing companions too.
Pretty much. But it's also nice to be able to discover new communities from the federated view.
This post is as much for me as it is for all of you. I'm doing some live self reflection and criticism here.
I've been growing more and more frustrated with "Lemmy is becoming Reddit!" or more accurately, "the people from Reddit are bringing their bad habits and toxicity over to Lemmy." But upon closer inspection, it's mostly one instance that has by far the biggest problem with this and act by far the most like Reddit. Think you all know which instance I'm talking about. I've been finding myself writing paragraph or even multi paragraph responses to random people's hot takes which they probably spent two seconds thinking through before posting, and I have been deleting them because I realized that I don't fucking care and it's not worth my own time, energy, or mental health. And I'm the kind of person where if they respond with some sarcastic meme comment or a further bad take, I literally cannot stop myself from engaging further, writing walls of text addressing in detail every one of their points that they probably won't read before closing with "ok Tankie" or something.
At some point I had to ask myself, why are you doing this? You've just ruined your free time on Lemmy because of someone else's shit take or toxicity. Fennekin, don't fucking engage the next time you see something that pisses you off, because you could write a book, complete with links to scientific papers (which I have done in the past), it's not going to resolve your being pissed off and who the hell do you think you're trying to actually convince with a detailed response when there is clearly a hive mind that's the genetic clone of the one from Reddit? If I think I actually have a good chance of convincing them or others that might see my comment, then yeah I will still totally write a wall of text to that effort. But in the vast majority of times this is far from the case, and I can more effectively spend my time elsewhere, like maybe actually engaging in discussions with more rational people where they could potentially be convinced by me and I could also potentially be convinced by them. To say that every single non-socialist is like the average Reddit lib would be totally wrong of course, as would be saying there is nothing we can learn from non-socialists, but I actually need to go out and look for those more rational and open minded people, which there are plenty of. Even if I'm not in a debate those people are generally more pleasant to interact with.
If you can go in and debate those people and maintain your own sanity and baseline mood, I applaud you. But I can't. So I'm just not going to engage at all. That does not actually mean I'm going to start removing my access to lib content by blocking it or anything, I still think it's important as a socialist to at least be aware of the takes of the opposition. And like I said in a comment just an hour or so ago, I'm confident enough in my beliefs and ideologies that I'm by no means threatened by these people, quite the opposite in fact, which is why I compulsively try to correct them and respond to them. No more of that, I need to keep myself happy first, or if not happy then at least not pissed off whenever I go on Lemmy.
Button meme:
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Free speech must be upheld at all costs
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If you say you support Russia you should be killed
Wait seriously? They doxxed someone? If you can do so without further throwing the victim under the bus, could you elaborate or provide a link to the incident?
Remember: the corporate meetings and university lectures are the tip of the iceberg of the kind of data Zoom has on people.
Zoom is used by teenage couples to call each other and hang out, which might turn into discussing sexual themes as teenagers dating often do.
Zoom is used by general-care doctors when their patients describe the rash on their anus.
Zoom is used by psychiatrists and therapists talking to their patients during some of the most vulnerable and precarious times of their lives.
Zoom is used by lawyers talking to their clients in all kind of cases, criminal, civil, divorce/family, inheritance, etc.
Zoom was used by actual fucking courts to hold actual fucking criminal trials. Like bruh the fucking US judiciary department couldn't have self-hosted one of the many open source and E2EE solutions?
The fact that they can do this with no oversight or regulatory bodies intervening is utterly ridiculous. Zoom has probably some of the most sensitive data of people's lives. It is not a social media platform where people know that they shouldn't put too sensitive information on, it was literally intended and marketed for people to use for sensitive communications. They shouldn't even be keeping any amount of data after the call ends, IMO, but using it to train an AI (to presumably sell later) is utterly morally bankrupt, and so are the regulatory agencies and lawmakers who could have intervened. Fuck you Zoom, fuck you FCC/FTC/whoever handles data privacy in the US. You want to ban TikTok because of its "national security implications" but don't bat an eye when it's a US company doing something far worse huh? Not implying I like TikTok, but TikTok doesn't have access to live court trials or doctor-patient discussions.
Yes, we shouldn't have used Zoom in the first place. But that ship has sailed and most people were forced to use it against their will if their company/university/doctor/lawyer/judge decides to use it, and/or they did not realize the terrible data security/privacy implications of using it. It's entirely unhelpful to victim blame and go "well you shouldn't have used Zoom then! Sucks for you" as I see so many people in the FLOSS/privacy community doing. Additionally, that also does not address the actual societal/legislative issues of them being allowed to keep that information and use it for profit.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. recently updated its Terms of Service to encompass what some critics are calling a significant invasion of user privacy.
![Zoom's Updated Terms of Service Permit Training AI on User Content Without Opt-Out](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/48b8fd2a-6d50-4fec-a882-c0041c99402d.png?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Hey I bought a coffee from Starbucks the other day. You heard it here first folks! Starbucks is now an official supporter of Marxism-Fennekinism and his weird communist furry worldbuilding and short stories!
The US has sent Ukraine millions of 155mm rounds since the war started, including cluster bombs. But there's a global shortage of 155 shells, and some are afraid that the US is depleting its stockpile. We visited the Scranton Ammunition Plant to see how common shells are made. 0:00 Intro 0:52 Why 1...
![Inside the US Factory Making Ukraine’s Most Important Ammo | Big Business | Insider Business](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/3575ddfb-5ce1-42ef-914d-aef308b94a31.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Nah the title is accurate. Because, as we all know, everything bad in East Asia is China's doing. No exceptions. Ozone depletion? China. Korean War? China. Vietnam War? China. Nuking Japan? See, a common misconception is that Oppenheimer invented the nuclear bomb, but it was actually Mao Zedong, and he forced the Americans at gunpoint to take credit for its invention and so far only two uses in war.
Well they banned Hexbear preemptively, so
Absolutely! The joke is that "freeze peach" sounds kind of like "free speech," so it's become a meme to mock the (usually far right) people who claim that freedom of speech should be upheld at all costs, including human decency, and that things like racism, sexism, LGBTQ+ phobia, hell even full-on Nazi propaganda should be unrestricted on the internet.
Been on a nostalgic cartoon kick lately re-watching some of the old both Chinese and Western ones I enjoyed. But I never watched any Soviet cartoons having not grown up in the USSR, but I want to! Can anyone make any recommendations? Especially if it has animal characters because that's kind of my jam.
Not even liberals. What the US considers liberal would be considered very conservative, even in other Western countries.
Where should my annual $3 charity budget go, now?!
Linux foundation, GNU/FSF, Software Freedom Conservancy, Lemmy development fund, Lemmygrad server fund! Just to name a few!
To also live in a coffin.
![the background blur](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/37bf883b-7e5b-478a-b8c8-98deb7f81ae2.webp?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/37bf883b-7e5b-478a-b8c8-98deb7f81ae2.webp?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
What do we call this? Early stage capitalism? What the Western world is on track to return to? Forshadow capitalism?
This is when miners were paid in company currency and lived in company houses and shopped at a company store.
Just on Television?
This instance used to be communism.lemmy.ml and run by Dessalines and Nutomic right? I remember when I first joined Lemmy that's where I posted to and those really old posts had since been relocated to Lemmygrad without me needing to do anything, so I assume it's the exact same instance?
I'm really interested to know what the story of that is. It's honesty been piquing my curiosity since Lemmygrad became its own thing. Does anyone know what happened?
Well, the Nostalgia Critic isn't going to review this horrible movie, so I guess I'LL have to... Pray for me.
![Tentacolino Review](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/548f900b-c0ff-4b26-8dbd-18a51fa23a20.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
This movie aged beautifully in July 2023.
How & Why of the I-35W Mississippi River Highway Bridge Collapse in Minnesota - Aug 1st, 2007. A story of industry-wide negligence, a decades long nationwide lack of understanding bridge nodes and an investigation & rescue that all stand as leading examples to this day. *Correction: at 8min 45s I ...
![An American Infrastructure Problem: The I-35W Minneapolis Bridge Collapse](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/3bfbd064-ac59-4e55-be8d-b960b06d638a.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Wonder why.
I mean, I know why, but
So this is where you went. Makes sense. I missed you!
![HiddenLayer5](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/2eebd270-7474-4b8d-9fe3-af63e826e856.webp?format=webp&thumbnail=64)
(He/him) Marxist-Leninist and amateur writer. I like cats, foxes, sci-fi, science fantasy, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Message me for my roleplay ideas!
Lemmy.ml account: https://lemmy.ml/u/HiddenLayer5
Discord: LinuxFennekin#5514
Reddit: /u/HiddenLayer5