4 ms·

Agree The obvious way out of that is to join bubbles that are aligned with your interests rather than political views. If your interest is politics then find a

Agree The obvious way out of that is to join bubbles that are aligned with your interests rather than political views. If your interest is politics then find a better interest :)

michaelleslie 8y ago
That's a remarkably privileged and blasé take, denying the importance of civic engagement.
- rhizome 8y ago
  Posting in political subreddits is not "civic engagement."
- ThomPete 8y ago
  Civic engagement happens in the real world, not by commenting on reddit, fb or Twitter.
  - Karunamon 8y ago
    Civic engagement happens wherever people discuss politics
    - ThomPete 8y ago
      That would be quite an exaggeration. You can already see in this thread how fast the conversation deteriorate into completely meningless quibbles.
biglenny 8y ago
100%. Having a "passion" for politics was abrasive to my relationships with friends throughout high-school and returned very little value to me (save the short-lived energy I got from stupid internet debates).
- doublepg23 8y ago
  Some people don't have the ability to not be concerned with politics.
  - ThomPete 8y ago
    If you mean like a bad habbit i agree.
    - StudentStuff 8y ago
      Pretty sure doublepg23 was referring to those of us who aren't straight, cis-gendered males. Politics directly affects us, sure the rich among us can run to lavender marriages and try to cover up their innate desires, but the rest of us will end up being fed to the wolves. For us, going to a rural town or even many suburbs elicits the observation "It smells like dead gay people" as you've entered an area where you may get lynched for being yourself. Even here in Seattle, non-straight couples are getting violently assaulted for being out in public with their significant other. The state of affairs is rapidly getting worse for us!
      - ThomPete 8y ago
        Not sure what violence in Seattle have to do with whether you need to get politically involved. There are lots of reasons why people get assaulted most of them have nothing to do with sexual orientation. Yes, you can decide to do something about it politically but you can also choose to just not come to those places again just like a family who can afford it would move away from the ghettos. That doesn't mean you have to be politically involved, it's a choice. Don't get me wrong I don't mind people getting politically involved but in my experience confusing virtue signaling on FB, Twitter and Reddit with actual political involvement leads to more disappointment than progress.
        StudentStuff 8y ago
        > Not sure what violence in Seattle have to do with whether you need to get politically involved. Violence against minorities has significantly increased as the extreme right has gained power across the USA. > There are lots of reasons why people get assaulted most of them have nothing to do with sexual orientation. We're talking about growing threats here, the rate of assaults and murders against LGBTQ+ and numerous other minorities has significantly increased in the past 3 years, people feel emboldened to hate. > Yes, you can decide to do something about it politically but you can also choose to just not come to those places again just like a family who can afford it would move away from the ghettos. That doesn't mean you have to be politically involved, it's a choice. Wow, holy shit that is a privileged view you have. Most people can't afford to uproot their lives and flee the neighborhoods they live in. These assaults and murders are happening in "safe" neighborhoods, by people who are rolling in with their prejudiced beliefs and taking it out on the first non-straight person they see. I don't see how the fuck we're supposed to move away from them when we are already in the safest places in the USA to be LGBTQ+. > Don't get me wrong I don't mind people getting politically involved but in my experience confusing virtue signaling on FB, Twitter and Reddit with actual political involvement leads to more disappointment than progress. Perhaps you have gained an idea of why those of us who are actively hated by certain groups in the USA can't just "ignore politics". It isn't a bad habit for us, the outcome of many recent political decisions has directly affected us, and things may get worse. If we fail to pay at least some mind to politics, it may end up where all but the rich are shoved back in the closet, or fed to the wolves.
SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
Every now and then when I access Reddit not logged in from somewhere I get reminded of this. If you curate what you are subscribed to it will be much better. About a year ago I wrote a little Python script in about an hour or so that subscribed me to every single state-level or above location-based subreddit (there is a webpage that you can go to that lists them all, I simply scraped that). I have learned so much about different cultures just by reading posts from people around the world posting things about their area.
- minkzilla 8y ago
  can you share the script ? I'd be very interested in trying it out.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
    Sadly it was wiped when I reformatted awhile back. But it’s rather trivial to implement if you know a little python. The website I scraped is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LocationReddits/wiki/index https://www.reddit.com/r/LocationReddits/wiki/index It took a bit of finagling to exclude the US college and city subreddits but otherwise I subscribed as-is to everything on that page. I think I only have unsubbed to a couple of them manually after, mostly because of excessive political posts by people who clearly don’t live in the area (Israel and Palestine subreddits come to mind) You get some great content from doing it. Specifically Denmark and Sweden have amazing content in Danish and Swedish respectively that you wouldn’t ever see otherwise. Plus the former Yugoslavia countries and Eastern Europe and basically a lot of Europe generically has some sweet content you would not normally see if you weren’t subbed to their subreddits. Right click to google translate helps a lot. There are some truly dank European memes out there. One of the other things I noticed that was really cool is that I now am tuned in to state politics outside of my home state in US. You really start to see the major issues other states have when you are subbed to their home subreddit.

Agree The obvious way out of that is to join bubbles that are aligned with your interests rather than political views. If your interest is politics then find a better interest :)

michaelleslie 8y ago

That's a remarkably privileged and blasé take, denying the importance of civic engagement.

rhizome 8y ago
Posting in political subreddits is not "civic engagement."
ThomPete 8y ago
Civic engagement happens in the real world, not by commenting on reddit, fb or Twitter.
- Karunamon 8y ago
  Civic engagement happens wherever people discuss politics
  - ThomPete 8y ago
    That would be quite an exaggeration. You can already see in this thread how fast the conversation deteriorate into completely meningless quibbles.

biglenny 8y ago

100%. Having a "passion" for politics was abrasive to my relationships with friends throughout high-school and returned very little value to me (save the short-lived energy I got from stupid internet debates).

doublepg23 8y ago
Some people don't have the ability to not be concerned with politics.
- ThomPete 8y ago
  If you mean like a bad habbit i agree.
  - StudentStuff 8y ago
    Pretty sure doublepg23 was referring to those of us who aren't straight, cis-gendered males. Politics directly affects us, sure the rich among us can run to lavender marriages and try to cover up their innate desires, but the rest of us will end up being fed to the wolves. For us, going to a rural town or even many suburbs elicits the observation "It smells like dead gay people" as you've entered an area where you may get lynched for being yourself. Even here in Seattle, non-straight couples are getting violently assaulted for being out in public with their significant other. The state of affairs is rapidly getting worse for us!
    - ThomPete 8y ago
      Not sure what violence in Seattle have to do with whether you need to get politically involved. There are lots of reasons why people get assaulted most of them have nothing to do with sexual orientation. Yes, you can decide to do something about it politically but you can also choose to just not come to those places again just like a family who can afford it would move away from the ghettos. That doesn't mean you have to be politically involved, it's a choice. Don't get me wrong I don't mind people getting politically involved but in my experience confusing virtue signaling on FB, Twitter and Reddit with actual political involvement leads to more disappointment than progress.
      - StudentStuff 8y ago
        > Not sure what violence in Seattle have to do with whether you need to get politically involved. Violence against minorities has significantly increased as the extreme right has gained power across the USA. > There are lots of reasons why people get assaulted most of them have nothing to do with sexual orientation. We're talking about growing threats here, the rate of assaults and murders against LGBTQ+ and numerous other minorities has significantly increased in the past 3 years, people feel emboldened to hate. > Yes, you can decide to do something about it politically but you can also choose to just not come to those places again just like a family who can afford it would move away from the ghettos. That doesn't mean you have to be politically involved, it's a choice. Wow, holy shit that is a privileged view you have. Most people can't afford to uproot their lives and flee the neighborhoods they live in. These assaults and murders are happening in "safe" neighborhoods, by people who are rolling in with their prejudiced beliefs and taking it out on the first non-straight person they see. I don't see how the fuck we're supposed to move away from them when we are already in the safest places in the USA to be LGBTQ+. > Don't get me wrong I don't mind people getting politically involved but in my experience confusing virtue signaling on FB, Twitter and Reddit with actual political involvement leads to more disappointment than progress. Perhaps you have gained an idea of why those of us who are actively hated by certain groups in the USA can't just "ignore politics". It isn't a bad habit for us, the outcome of many recent political decisions has directly affected us, and things may get worse. If we fail to pay at least some mind to politics, it may end up where all but the rich are shoved back in the closet, or fed to the wolves.

SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago

Every now and then when I access Reddit not logged in from somewhere I get reminded of this. If you curate what you are subscribed to it will be much better. About a year ago I wrote a little Python script in about an hour or so that subscribed me to every single state-level or above location-based subreddit (there is a webpage that you can go to that lists them all, I simply scraped that). I have learned so much about different cultures just by reading posts from people around the world posting things about their area.

minkzilla 8y ago
can you share the script ? I'd be very interested in trying it out.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
  Sadly it was wiped when I reformatted awhile back. But it’s rather trivial to implement if you know a little python. The website I scraped is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LocationReddits/wiki/index https://www.reddit.com/r/LocationReddits/wiki/index It took a bit of finagling to exclude the US college and city subreddits but otherwise I subscribed as-is to everything on that page. I think I only have unsubbed to a couple of them manually after, mostly because of excessive political posts by people who clearly don’t live in the area (Israel and Palestine subreddits come to mind) You get some great content from doing it. Specifically Denmark and Sweden have amazing content in Danish and Swedish respectively that you wouldn’t ever see otherwise. Plus the former Yugoslavia countries and Eastern Europe and basically a lot of Europe generically has some sweet content you would not normally see if you weren’t subbed to their subreddits. Right click to google translate helps a lot. There are some truly dank European memes out there. One of the other things I noticed that was really cool is that I now am tuned in to state politics outside of my home state in US. You really start to see the major issues other states have when you are subbed to their home subreddit.