Yeah I posted here a few days ago about trying to find a good alternative. I’m very sad to see lemme.ee go

Sorry if this is a dumb question, still figuring things our.

How else would you use the platform without joining an instance? Just have a private server?

Lemmygrad.ml seems kinda obvious, but I have a completely naive question about lemmy.ml. Is it essentially the same? Why is it a controversial instance.

Based on just the sidebar description it sounds like a cool instance: A community of privacy and FOSS enthusiasts, run by Lemmy’s developers

But I also see a lot of people saying they have it blocked

Do you have any chest, arm or back pain? Do you have a pulse oximeter?

Can you go to a minor ER? If you hadn’t said your heartbeat was off, I would say not necessarily a big concern at this point, but this also sounds similar to what happened to a friend of mine with an aortic dissection.

She thought it was food poisoning at first, finally went to a minor med, they refused to treat her bc her and sent her to the ER ASAP. She ended up in the hospital for several weeks.

I’m definitely not looking for a centrist view, in fact kind of the opposite. Other than bans on bigotry/hate speech, I really don’t want to be boxed into a singular way of thinking.

I don’t mind if I end up interacting with or hearing views from people who are more centrist or radical, as long as there isn’t an all or nothing/hive mind kind of way of thinking about those POVs.

I am definitely more left, I wouldn’t call myself a radical, but if I talked to someone who identified as a moderate, they might consider my opinions far left compared to their own POV, whereas somebody who is extreme left might consider me left of center.

I understand there are some people who truly have all or nothing beliefs, but I am also suspicious that movements on the left are often hijacked by bad actors in order to keep people as divided as possible.

Even the idea of a “tankie” as it’s used online, seems like it’s often just meant to further divide the left during a time when extremists on the far right are trying to keep people divided and distracted in order to maintain the power and control they have achieved.

It’s almost like union busting tactics being used against political beliefs instead of labor. As long as people have a core set of values they agree on regarding human rights and liberty, I feel like it’s in our best interest to unite against extremists on the far right, even if we don’t always agree 100% on everything else.

I may be overthinking the specific instance thing, and I think somebody already answered this, but I guess originally I was thinking, if I joined an instance with say a focus on technology, would I still be able to create a community with a political focus, or would I need to join an instance with a focus on politics in order to do that?

If I did need to join an instance focused on politics, would I then be 100% constrained by political beliefs of that instance to fit a narrative? Like if I felt there was evidence that justified a criticism of someone that’s normally placed on a pedestal, would I be free to say that.

It seems like most instances would allow political communities even if the focus of the instance isn’t political, so probably a moot point anyway.

I’m not really looking for any one specific perspective, I just don’t want to help strengthen an echo chamber whether it’s spreading disinformation, edge lords saying shitty things to make some kind of Fred Phelps like point about free speech, or just set on ignoring valid information in order to keep pushing an agenda regardless of facts

I feel like a “good balance” inherently means accepting that you will probably see some things you don’t agree with or support, but you can also present your own case for why you don’t agree without attacking the person who posted it, or just keep scrolling past that to something else.

A bad balance would be just imbalance where everyone in a community is trying to push one single opinion/agenda, and if anything contradicts that opinion, even if it’s well supported by evidence, it results in removal of content or a ban.

That seems to be the real root of suppression of information. Like if someone is told from the time they join an instance or a community that bigotry/abusive speech isn’t allowed, and then they use a bunch of slurs or abusive language, they’ve violated a rule, and it seems like that really shouldn’t surprise anyone that would need to be addressed.

If someone can’t present evidence contradicting a popular narrative, or critique an argument, idea, or a public individual without getting banned, that is an issue.

People can disagree with what is said/downvote it/present their own evidence why they disagree/or ignore it and block the person, but if it’s not intentionally violating a rule, you shouldn’t have a bunch of people reporting it as being a violation just because they don’t like it.

Yep fuck Sinclair broadcasting too, but as you can see, the only news covering this is from local Indiana news reporting.

Yeah fuck the intercept, not really the point.

My point is that while big news networks are fucking around it’s the locals news and individuals who are getting fucked over the most by this bullshit who are actually trying to make sure this shit doesn’t get buried

True, there was not a whole lot of mainstream media coverage of assange but there were journalists from places like the intercept and I believe rolling stone or vice also covering it.

In this case, and many cases all over the country lately, I’m finding that tiny local news outlets are doing a better job keeping us informed than mainstream media or even larger less mainstream news outlets.

Also realized that if this was a case of spying it would seem very unlikely he would have a lawyer at his residence while it was being raided but who tf knows. Not us.

What are you talking about. State secrets are well protected by Elon Musk

Yeah, if only we had a free press that could keep the public informed about matters so we could know what the fuck is actually going on anymore.

It’s especially weird the university just didn’t release a statement about it or anything.

It definitely could go either way

If we actually still had a free press, you would expect this to be getting some coverage and for there to be some kind of statement from the University’s lawyers saying they were cooperating with the FBI if this guy was legitimately wanted for shady dealings.

It’s fucking sad that we all read this and have to think, is this the FBI handling a legitimate threat or is this why DHS keeps complaining about Civil Rights Offices standing in their way.

I do have face unlock option but it’s showing in settings it’s never been set up. No app permissions I wasn’t aware of except android system intelligence. I tried to switch it to always ask permission but it just disappeared

Yeah I went ahead and just deleted it, but I’m very confused why it’s showing any app associated with that email. It was literally just a throwaway email I used once so I wouldn’t have to use my main account.

When I tried to log in to Google play using that email it said I needed to accept the terms and conditions bc I’d never logged in before.

What’s weird is that’s a throwaway email address I made to sign up for something but never used otherwise. Like I had never actually logged into the playstore with that address

No, I used my lock code