Im becoming unsettled. Maybe a few memes total on first two pages. How could things go so bad? Where are the yester beans gone?
Im becoming unsettled. Maybe a few memes total on first two pages. How could things go so bad? Where are the yester beans gone?
I blocked all of the news and political communities on my main account.
I keep an alt to keep track of local and national news of where I live. Improved my mental health substantially.
Edit: I live in Europe
I simply blocked Lemmy (and all my other time waster websites) from my phone.
I subscribed to a newspaper to keep track of news.
I wish I could, but personally not knowing would be a greater mental load then having to process this run away train of fascism.
We should really stay on top of the news to know when Trump wants us to wear identifying armbands
If you can’t, it can be enough to say that’s enough for today and control how much you take in I found a YouTube channel belle of the fifth column is just enough to keep informed but it’s short and she put context to the news and just keeps it to the facts no click bait.
I’ll not denigrate your choices. I will just say that I’m reading and listening to a lot less, but that’s because I’m reading/listening/watching across the spectrum. Shutting out others’ voices seems to be what got us here.
I haven’t worked up the wherewithal to brave Breitbart, OANN etc yet. One, my mental health is so valuable to me, two, I want to continue to consume thoughtful pieces; but I think it’s critical to keep an eye on these outlets so we can address legitimate grievances and also be a calm, steady, not-shaming tone to offer a more grounded perspective. It will take time, patience, respect to bring USA back to some semblance of sanity and unity. I think we are on the event horizon of do-or-die together, in that regard ) and I mean globally).
I don’t think i understand your comment what does belle have to do with OANN or Breitbart I wouldn’t touch those with a 10 foot pole.
I’m not sure how to be more plain. People are radicalized because legitimate concerns aren’t heard, let alone addressed. Entertaining ideas doesn’t mean automatically accepting all of them. How are we to address legitimate grievances if we refuse to listen for them?
I understand where you’re coming from, but the legitimate grievances of conservatives are not covered by the far right media. They’re alchemically transmogrified into immigrant hate, queer hate, poor hate.
Their legitimate grievances are largely the same as everyone. Wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living is the most basic. But instead of looking at the top of the hierarchy for answers, these media sources redirect that grievance at the bottom of the hierarchy. And conservatives are obsessed with hierarchy.
It is good to study enemy propaganda, but it’s hard to stomach. I wish more people could understand in the way you have.
And when we’ve tempered ourselves (I’m so not there yet!), we can calmly, rationally refute with truth in non-inflammatory language. We can try to use simpler terms and explain those not understood. I understand it’s not going to be easy, that’s why I’m working on temperance in small bites, first. Our media has inflamed and made reactionary all of us, to varying extents, because that supports the monied interests. It supports everyone’s interests to dial it back, take deep breaths and respond rather than react. Don’t think the Neo Duopoly is going to do that; they will counter it with even more inflammatory rhetoric.
I’m literally texting with my MAGA father in law as we speak. He is embarrassed by how Zelenskyy/Ukraine were treated yesterday. There is hope.
What more are you really going to do? You already know you’re going to vote Democrat in 2028.
You seem surprisingly certain you will be able to vote.
Well, sure. Even Russia still has elections.
True. It’s good to be in league with notable Democratic People’s Republics!
What makes you so certain? A lot of voters voted third party last election, across the political spectrum.
Initially I did as well - but we are fast approaching a point where simply ignoring this further will be unacceptable.
I feel that sometime soon we may be called to do more than be a voice of reason. Americans are being tested right now. Will you quietly look away because you fear discomfort as your freedoms are stripped away? As your neighbors are assailed?
I’m not fond of the sting of teargas and pepper spray… but it’s probably about time to develop a taste for it again. Find a group, know your community, and stop hiding.
Oh, and if you see a Nazi? Punch it.
All threats. Foreign and domestic.
You can’t pretend it isn’t happening.
I’d love to be able to tune it out, but that’s what they want.
Ignorance is compliance.
I find that keyword-based filtering seems to work better than blocking. We’re at a point here that if one is blocking all communities where people post news and politics to then there’s nothing left to browse because you’d need to block virtually every even slightly popular community.
My current record so far is refreshing the front page and seeing 4 posts with all the others being filtered out. That’s how bad the politics and news spam has gotten. And people wonder why normies aren’t coming here…
i don’t wonder that. let the normies have their Destiny 2 and PublicFreakout and fantasy sports communities elsewhere. seeing comment section after section on Reddit filled to the brim with “I’m so funny!” unserious one liners was obnoxious. people talking about GoThrones fandom and RC cars while inequality skyrockets or the rich dismantle every federal govt program that benefit 99% of the population is not a good thing to yearn for. the founders-effect dominance from a handful of narrow ideologically centrists is not something we need more of.
I combine it with blocking users. Political communities are blocked entirely, and then users who post irrelevant political crap in non-political communities are blocked individually.
Just the one alt?