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“Political” and “decentralized” Are not mutually exclusive. In fact, any platform that uses decentralization as a selling point is inherently political, as the

• swed420 2y ago
  > “Political” and “decentralized” Are not mutually exclusive. > any platform that uses decentralization as a selling point is inherently political This hasn't said anything of value, since everything is political. Limiting your interaction with the world to sanitized corporate/Hollywood social media is political. Using no social media at all is political. And so on.
  • threatofrain 2y ago
    Decentralization is political because even from a sniff test it is very very concerned about evading existing centers of power. Common Lisp is not political. Technical people might say it is political, but non-technical people outside would just chuckle at the conversation — nerds fighting among themselves in an unseen corner with no power, thinking that there's "politics" there and perhaps everywhere too.
  • dartos 2y ago
    > This hasn't said anything of value, since everything is political. I really disagree with this statement. Many things are political, but not everything. (Unless you’re abstracting the word political to the point of it meaning any human relationship. At which point the word isn’t useful) Some choices are just convenience. Most people with an iPhone don’t choose to text on messenger because of a political opinion, it’s just because it’s the default app on their phone. I use discord frequently because all of my friends are on there, not because I particularly care for their politics. My choice to not use social media sites like fb and Twitter was fueled by mental health concerns and the time I’d sink into them, not because they lean left or right. > Limiting your interaction with the world to sanitized corporate/Hollywood social media is political. Not necessarily. Most people don’t know they’re limiting their interaction. They just want updates about things they care about. That need not be about politics. Just because a choice may have political ramifications doesn’t mean that it was a choice made for political reasons.
    • swed420 2y ago
      > Some choices are just convenience. > Most people don’t know they’re limiting their interaction. Sure, but they often carry political implications (even if the choice/chooser was unconscious of them) > Most people with an iPhone don’t choose to text on messenger because of a political opinion, it’s just because it’s the default app on their phone. That's not the best example to make your point considering many people see iPhones (and its "exclusive" text bubble color) as an economic and social class signifier. The insane planned obsolescence model of the iPhone necessitating constant replacement has environmental consequences, etc. Once again, the end user being unaware of all of this does not prevent it from still being very real. > Just because a choice may have political ramifications doesn’t mean that it was a choice made for political reasons. Never said otherwise. A reminder of what I replied to: > In fact, any platform that uses decentralization as a selling point is inherently political, as the only ones that care about decentralization are the ones who care about politics. My original point was that merely "avoiding political things" by using platform Y instead of Z does not exempt one from being political. The act of choosing to opt out of politics in this way or any other is literally political and has real consequences.
      • robertlagrant 2y ago
        This seems like a category error. Topics that have political aspects, e.g. environmentalism, also have non-political aspects. Also, it just seems like an excuse for mob mentality. It's "if you're not for us you're against us" with extra steps.
        • swed420 2y ago
          Being politically conscious instead of proudly checking out to the Soma drip feed of sanitized media is not mob mentality. Though, the minority holders of the majority of capital would very much like people to parrot such nonsense.
          • robertlagrant 2y ago
            "If you're not with us you're against us" is the basest way to be politically conscious, not the only way.