Is it just me or do Lemmy communities tend to skew left wing? Why might this be?
Is it just me or do Lemmy communities tend to skew left wing? Why might this be?
I can't say I've been using Lemmy for long, but from the get-go it seems that the communities, memes, opinions that get upvoted seem to reflect left-wing ideas.
I'm certainly not complaining, it honestly feels like a breathe of fresh air compared to other social media sites that seem to shift further and further to the far right, though I am curious to hear why this might be the case? Does FOSS tend to attract more left-wing minded people, or does this just happen to be a broadly left-wing microcosm/bubble?
Hope you all have a great day.
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I wouldn't say FOSS is inherently leftist, but it's certainly not a capitalist approach.
And Lemmy has been developed by two outspoken Marxists, so the earliest adopters before the larger waves of reddit exilees had a similar mindset.
Add to the fact that most of the oldest and therefore largest communities are hosted on lemmy.ml, which is run by the original devs, and features moderators who by and large also share a similar mindset (and suppress critical comments quite a bit), and you've got a lefty echo chamber going, that's spilling into the newer communities on neutral instances, giving the whole platform a left touch.
I once wrote a comment on a lemmy.ml page about China being authoritarian and my comment was removed, with a note saying "China isn't authoritarian, stop spreading misinformation" LMAO. Delusional people
Indeed. I happen to live in China, and everybody calls it authoritarian, especially the locals.
They're not delusional, they're paid.
certainly not all of them. some sure.
Why would they be paid for a software that can be used for free, to create larger servers than their owns, with completely separate communities they have nothing to say about?
Doesn't seem like a very effective strategy
Because the Fediverse is a great target for propaganda, which is invaluable for some authoritarian countries.
Lemmy is an echochamber with relatively limited, uncoordinated moderation. 1,000,000+ monthly active users, and lemmy.ml is a flagship instance.
Not really. Lemmy is filled with skeptics, rebels, and independent thinkers, and there are only like 50,000 monthly active users.
You know what's a much better target for propaganda? Reddit or any corporate social media site. The users are simpleminded and easily manipulated and you don't even have to worry about moderators, you can just pay to run ads.
This is my understanding as well. History of the platform skews it left.
But I also don't think in terms of left and right (though its hard to get away from the terms so widely used). For instance, most people tend to describe the difference in terms of money and profit (capitalism). I look at control and freedom. I don't want governments controlling what we see, hear, and say. I want us all to control our own lives. Lemmy/Fedi is completely supportive of that concept.
I don't want governments controlling what we see, hear, and say.
Might want to find a new instance