Hear me out: I am a leftist. Don't ban me - this is something i've been thinking about quite a bit recently.

I mean, at a macro level comparing the far left to the alt-right -- we seem to be a lot more focused on egalitarianism (while disagreeing on the means to that end). The alt-right seems to be focused on creating an ethno state, pretty much. Comparing them, the morality clearly skews towards our direction.

However, what concerns me is how we (you and i) are further insulating ourselves into message boards. When I first think about insulation, what comes up to my mind are those idiots who get brainwashed by alt-right facebook propaganda. They interact with it, then that's all they see on their wall, and all of a sudden they are in an echo chamber. We've all heard about these and know how bad they are.

My first thought is: "Oh, well, I'm educated and I read books and theory. I'm not like them. Alt righters are just dumb ass facebook moms who haven't read a book in years."

My second thought is: "Oh, shit. I'm insulating myself JUST like them, though."

I don't know. I'm just kind of conflicted. Left ideologies aren't morally bad, unlike alt-righters. But, at the same time we are creating an echo chamber, just like how /r/thedonald did with thedonald.win -- after we both got banned by a traditional news outlet.

What are the effects of that? Is this good or bad?

  • nox [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Yeah and it's also worth pointing out echo chambers have kind of been a feature of the internet from the very beginning, they were just a lot smaller back then so not as big of a deal. Before the rise of social media sites like digg, reddit, Facebook etc subject-specific forums, message boards and email lists were much more common.

    • adultswim_antifa [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Political movements have always produced propaganda and bubbles. It used to be newspapers.

      Keep an open mind but don't be a liberal, I understand it's a difficult tightrope for you libs.