Firstly the obligatory disclaimer that I’m not American, just someone that has been watching this unfold on the same world wide web that we all use.

Maybe I’m too radical but I would say fully. Whether they want a white christian nationalist country or just wanted cheaper eggs. Because that first thing was never a hidden objective, it was clear from the start. We had people who find secret illuminati pizza messages on bathroom walls take one look at Project 2025, an actual real conspiracy and go “doesn’t look like anything to me”.

So whether they’re true right wingers, conspiracy theorists, or people that closed their eyes and ears and hearts while convincing themselves that this was all about cheaper groceries; I’d say they’re all equally to blame.

I dunno but I always get the impression that these fucking people that are too cool for school and need to loudly tell everyone how little they care about downvotes every chance they get, are probably also the people that go around using downvotes in bad faith and making the platform a little less welcoming for everyone.

My advice would probably be to just stay away from instances that are populated with the kind of people that use downvotes as a ‘disagree’ button or panic button to make themselves feel better when reading something they don’t understand. Those were always the worst people on Reddit that dragged the experience down for everyone. And it sucks that they’re all here too. And in a smaller pond, they’re going to be making a bigger splash.

I’d find a nice instance and / or communities to spend 90% of my time in and only actually go to places like Ask Lemmy in world when you actually feel like dealing with smart alecs and neckbeards.

Edit: and downvoting people for talking about downvotes isn’t actually funny, it’s just proof that you use downvotes for the wrong reasons. For the meme and ‘disagree’ button.

What an alpha.

Next step: political adverts that quiz you on what you’ve just heard and repeat each segment if you get the answer wrong.

Just kidding though (or am I). This is truly some dystopian shit. My first reaction was what the actual fuck. And I bet you that their numbers aren’t really going to hurt that much because of this. Mark my words.

English or history. They were both subjects in high school where I could not even study and just wing it with walls of text. As long as spelling and grammar and shit were good and in the case of history, being able to refer to key things from the text book occasionally, I was scoring in the 90s. I’ve gone a bit feral in that regard over the years since then but if my path was to be a teacher, I think that’s what I would’ve gone for.

Just want to add that a big deciding factor in that as well is how cool my english and history teachers in high school were. A married couple that I honestly credit with helping shape certain good parts of who I am. I was honestly borderline anarchistic (definitely anti-authoritarian) in my writings and I think they liked it and nurtured it a little bit.

One moment that stuck with me that I never realised the significance of was my history teacher bringing up how schools have a hidden curriculum. How beyond being taught how to behave in society, it also enforces cultural things like one race’s set of norms and standards or teaching boys to behave like boys and girls to behave like girls (which is a line I even specifically remember him using). And I remember being a little bit outraged about the idea of a hidden curriculum and this fucking guy smiled and kept the conversation going and told me more.

Here’s to you Mr. and Mrs. Owen. They’d be pretty old if they were still alive. I’d be either an english or history teacher because of them.

Edit: just for extra context, for high school I went a boarding school in a very Christian and religious small town and it wasn’t the best of times for me, to say the least. There were a couple of decent teachers but most are wrinkled up, mean, dogmatic pieces of shit in my memory. So these two teachers were special.

I’m only a day in of trying to get away from this, and I’m mostly talking about Lemmy right now (but it would also work / help on Bluesky), but something that’s already made a huge difference for me personally since yesterday, is separating the feeds. I woke up this morning and scrolled through content that didn’t make me want to start a revolution first thing in the morning and I’m already having a pretty good day for it.

I decided to cut most news and politics out of my subscriptions, other than maybe some small communities that don’t show up on ‘All’ on a 24 hour cycle. So from now on, my subscriptions will be only things that interest me and not enrage me. And ‘All’ is still there if I happen to feel like indulging in the rage for a little bit.

Also, finding a server that’s more tailored to what you personally vibe with adds a 3rd option in the ‘Local’ tab for a feed that doesn’t destroy your soul piece by piece.

So the ‘Reddit’ experience is still there in the ‘All’ tab, for everything. From rage to cool shit you haven’t subscribed to yet. But you don’t have to spend all day there. You can fill the other two tabs with stuff that makes you smile or learn or that aligns with your interests / career / philosophy or whatever. And spend more time there.

I was doing the same when I gave Bluesky a try, making use of different feeds for different things. Keep the news and politics in its own tab and only go there when you feel like catching up, or if you’re specifically in the mood to rage against the machine.