this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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I've been using Lemmy for a while now, and I've noticed something that I was hoping to potentially discuss with the community.

As a leftist myself (communist), I generally enjoy the content and discussions on Lemmy.

However, I've been wondering if we might be facing an issue with ideological diversity.

From my observations:

  1. Most Lemmy Instances, news articles, posts, comments, etc. seem to come from a distinctly leftist perspective.
  2. There appears to be a lack of "centrist", non-political, or right-wing voices (and I don't mean extreme MAGA-type views, but rather more moderate conservative positions).
  3. Discussions often feel like they're happening within an ideological bubble.

My questions to the community are:

  • Have others noticed this trend?
  • Do you think Lemmy is at risk of becoming an echo chamber for leftist views, a sort of Truth Social, Parler, Gab, etc., esque platform, but for Leftists?
  • Is this a problem we should be concerned about, or is it a natural result of Lemmy's community-driven nature?
  • How might we encourage more diverse political perspectives while still maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment?
  • What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of having a more politically diverse user base on Lemmy?

As much as I align with many of the views expressed here, I wonder if we're missing out on valuable dialogue and perspective by not having a more diverse range of political opinions represented.

I'm genuinely curious to hear your thoughts on this.

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[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 17 points 2 days ago

I find circles around .world to be more liberal and not leftist. (Not that there aren't any on .world... Just leans that way)

There's not much in terms of right wing spaces but tbh I'm uh, completely fine with that.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (6 children)

The thing about the right wing is that it always boils down to the cruelty being the point. People play it up -just- being a difference of opinion like we're talking about whether or not pineapple is good on pizza; when the opinions in question are that brown people are inferior, trans people people don't deserve rights, a woman's life is worth less than a fetus, etc: there's no valuable dialogue to be had. Ban the fucker and don't look back.

The closest thing to valuable dialogue you're going to get with that garbage is the bullshit veneer they slap onto their vitriol to make it easier to sell - the whole white knight bit about protecting babies or bathrooms or some other nonsense that conveniently lands the same outgroups into a bind every single time. If you think any of that shit is in good faith, you've fallen for a trap before the conversation even starts.

Diversity of thought is great, up until we start turning to hatred/bigotry for a fresh perspective. Those are not welcome here, nor should they be anywhere else.

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[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

My instance has conservative and anti-leftist communities. They're more the personal playgrounds of a few people with humiliation and persecution fetishes though.

Lack of fake accounts/trolls like on other platforms and you'll have that.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 22 points 3 days ago

Not counting lemmygrad and hexbear most of lemmy instances is completely liberal, at best radical liberal. I seriously doubt your statement about being communist if you call for more centrism and think we need more rightwing info.

You want more rightwing? Go anywhere else in the internet, there's full of it everywhere. What is lacking everywhere else, is communist point of view.

[–] M1ch431@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (10 children)

There are plenty of people on the fediverse that are clearly free and independent thinkers - as in not operating from inside a bubble where they get fed opinions and views from others and them regurgitating those views ad nauseam. On Lemmy, I see a lot of curiosity and a lot of people who were probably censored or effectively buried by downvotes on other platforms, despite their good faith and interesting (and sometimes radical) perspectives.

Discussion flows well, there's less focus on upvotes/downvotes and there is no karma. There doesn't seem to be a tradition of dog-piling people who wrong-think according to the group consensus (or whatever neoliberal narrative is prevailing) as there is on Reddit. Moderation is much less heavy-handed and there are no shadowbans/comments that don't show up for others (but only for yourself). There are significantly less bots and almost zero astroturfed content, as well.

Worry less about the labels, I say. If you want mainstream or conservative opinions, it's very easy to seek them out - the internet is full of those perspectives. If you're curious, you could play devil's advocate and discuss current events or other hot topics from a mainstream perspective and ask others why they think differently to better understand the userbase on the fediverse and how things generally go down here. I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to weigh the pros and cons of different viewpoints and perspectives and entertain a discussion about certain issues in good faith.

Not everybody is filtering everything out from a polarized lens and is focused on being an absolutist or purist with their preferred ideology.

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[–] frank@frank.casa 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I find it interesting that some people are saying "the right is this" and "conservatives are that" and then saying horrible things most people would be opposed to. How would you know if you never talk to them and just assume what they think?

I think most people assume the extreme right is the entire right, just like most people assume the extreme left is the entire left. It's actually a spectrum. Or more accurately, a Nolan chart.

Most people I know are in the center, and they oppose racial segregation, oppose racism, oppose oppression, oppose monopolies, and oppose corrupt officials. But since they are not communists or socialists, some people on the left lump them in with the far right, which the center doesn't like either.

And if you attack the people in the center by falsely accusing them of being the right, all you are doing is alienating people who might agree with you on a lot of things.

[–] Glasgow@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 days ago (10 children)

I have spoken to them all, for years. In all shapes and sizes.

They are all driven by fear and tribe mentally. Reality does not matter to them only emotions.

I’m not a communist or socialist btw.

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[–] Filipdaflippa@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Wait you're saying that calling people nazis if they have a different viewpoint than you doesn't foster diversity? Who would have thought.

[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)
  1. Yes I noticed this too
  2. It already is, which is a shame
  3. Yes it's a problem because even if you try to get a balanced amount of all the views in your Lemmy subscriptions it's not possible, at the same time bubbles radicalize people.
  4. Let discussions happen, don't delete and ban because you're against the view (as long as it's not continuously spamming)
  5. Benefit: You see people as humans even if they are wrong, Drawback: you need to sometimes change your mind in face of new evidence showing up, which it wouldn't if you stay in your bubble.

The thing which I really dislike with a bubble is that people inside of it get more and more radical and ban even their allies because they're not radical enough.

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