When I was growing up the internet was a place to be liberated from the world say what you want to say, be whoever you want and form genuine communities with shared interests. Now the internet feels like a tool to enslave the mind with identity echo chambers and any deviation leads you to being banned and blocked shunned and silenced within a void that is inescapable. Novel unique websites coded manually by hobbyists running servers for free in the commons allowing people access to the free flow of information under the banner of “information should be free” has largely gone away with corpratisation. I miss the days when the internet was populated largely by nerds aiming to make a better world not this controlled censored hell hole of profiteering.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    I get what you’re talking about, but maybe it’s being a decently-educated American with a black mom talking, but “enslaved” is not the right word for this.

      • z3rOR0ne
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        2 years ago

        Well you gave enough of a shit to express your not giving a shit, so maybe you give at least a little bit of a shit? Enough to express yourself anyways.

        And it doesn’t appear that the above individual was attempting to enforce any kind of “you can’t say that”. More like its probably not the most nuanced or well thought out way of expressing your opinion, as it equates restrictions on internet speech with slavery.

        It is intriguing that in expressing your lack of giving a shit on the aforementioned opinion you have basically shut down a possibly genuine discussion on the topic and dismissed an expression of the very free speech you are supposedly bemoaning the demise of.

          • z3rOR0ne
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            32 years ago

            If by imperialism, you are inferring a supposed encroachment on a traditionalist culture, I would posit that cultures have never been a static entity, holding onto a static identity. Rather, cultures have been, and always will be an ever evolving and constantly changing collaboration of individuals who hopefully continually evolve as they continually re evaluate who they wish to be collectively.

            There will always be backlash against this change of culture and values, which you are obviously exemplifying here, but I’ll point out that historically this kind of holding onto the past has never really worked out nor has such resistance ever lasted in the face of the general trend of humanity becoming more and more accepting of different ways of living and loving.

            I encourage you to consider not holding on so tightly to the past and instead find your place as a peaceful member of the ever changing and evolving and more accepting society that will, in spite of the adversity to it, eventually come to be.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              12 years ago

              No I mean using woke shit as an excuse to push imperialism to maintain the global system of exploitation for cheap labour.

              • z3rOR0ne
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                02 years ago

                Well now you’ve peaked my interest. If you would please elaborate?

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        “there was once a time when the sky was open, when the twilight beckoned one forth, when the nascent rivers of the internet flowed free with information”, he waxed nostalgic.

        “Fuck you and keep your ideas to yourself”, he says when someone says something he dislikes.

        🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  • RoundSparrow
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    152 years ago

    I miss the days when the internet was populated largely by nerds aiming to make a better world

    The BBS and early Internet days were dominated by people who read non-fiction books. RTFM was a common saying in those days.

    does anyone else feel enslaved?

    “Everything in our background has prepared us to know and resist a prison when the gates begin to close around us . . . But what if there are no cries of anguish to be heard? Who is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements? To whom do we complain, and when, and in what tone of voice, when serious discourse dissolves into giggles? What is the antidote to a culture’s being drained by laughter?”
    Neil Postman
    Amusing Ourselves to Death

  • @[email protected]
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    72 years ago

    Here’s 3 interrelated things that happened, I guess:

    1. Corporatization.
    2. Centralization.
    3. Moving away from privacy by default.

    Essentially, a few companies have found a good way to make money on the Internet: gather your personal information, and use it to put advertisements in front of your eyeballs. Part of that is figuring out every little preference, trigger, and micro-identity you have so you can be fed increasingly targeted ads, and be cajoled into engaging more and more with these advertising platforms.

    Are you a liberal recently single White gay man who owns a condo in a gentrified urban neighborhood in a major US city in the Pasific Northwest, who is between 25-35 and who cares deeply about social justice? Here’s some suggested products specifically tailored to you, along with some communities you can join that our algorithm has found keeps people with similar characteristics on the platform for longer periods of time. Is that increased engagement due to the discovery of a warm and welcoming community or an unending flow of rage bait? Doesn’t matter! If you become increasingly attached to your community, we’ll sell you things that appeal to you along those lines. If you become increasingly despondent and enraged, will sell you a solution for that too.

      • @[email protected]
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        92 years ago

        Ahhh see you exposed yourself. This is about you being pissed about pride flags. I got that sense when you used the word enslaved. We get it no one is more oppressed than the straight cis white man. You miss the old days of the internet when browns and queers and women didn’t force you to acknowledge they exist.

          • @[email protected]
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            82 years ago

            Wanna know how I know you don’t go outside ever? You are literally buying the rights bs culture war. Go outside. There aren’t gay flag products everywhere. Log off.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              32 years ago

              Then come to the UK in my area they hang these stupid fucking flags out there windows, on bins and bus stops pubs and logos.Just fuck off.

              • livus
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                22 years ago

                You, upthread:

                causing people to fight over stupid shit

                You, here: *wanting to fight over stupid shit.*

              • @[email protected]
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                62 years ago

                Oh God the oppression of having to acknowledge that gay people exist and are accepted now in a time of rising homophobia and transphobia! The horrors! Please wont our dear white European Jesus please come and rescue us from this damnable oppression!

  • Jamisonn Bishop
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    82 years ago

    Nice hyperbole. No, I don’t feel enslaved. Give me a fucking break. Enslaved, really? Be the fucking change you want to see, if you are feeling “enslaved.”

    The issue with the corporate internet is that running large websites cost money. The larger the community, the more costs it takes to run. The balance between moderation and a free-for-all is delicate. Fully open allows too much spam and trolling to still remain useful, too much and people start writing in code to bypass censors. You want to go back to seedy chatrooms with a couple dozen regulars, I’m sure you can still find a few places to scratch that itch.

    Federation is a great concept, and we’ll see where it goes, but social media splintering from a Twitter/Meta/Reddit stranglehold to a more splintered collection of sites has both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, when everyone is in one place, you get a lot of idiots. On the other, you have to go to multiple places to find everyone/everything you’re looking for. Seems a lot of people like the ease of one-stop-shopping, so that’s how we got here.

  • theodewere
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    42 years ago

    you’re right that the problem is centered on identity, and the need social media platforms have to sort of get everyone categorized… and fighting based on their categories… it’s what the advertisement thrives on…

  • Ada
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    132 years ago

    I get what you mean, but I also feel like the fediverse has given many of us a return to some of the freedoms and feelings of the early internet.

    I’m writing this from an instance I admin, an instance that exists, specifically to make a better world for queer and gender diverse folk. We prioritise minority safety over “federate with everyone”, but that freedom to exist without institutionalised transphobia being ignored like it is on most social media platforms, with the ability for us to exist and communicate without being dogpiled by haters, and to actively remove the bigots, that is a freedom I haven’t felt in a long time!

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    Have you tried to post something that was censored? I haven’t run into that, though I’ve heard a lot of people complaining that they’ve been censored. The worst I’ve gotten is downvoted, which is not the same as being censored.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      Have a look at the mod log for MaliciousCompliance on Lemmy.world if you want to see censorship and extreme mod abuse.

      https://aussie.zone/modlog/917

      If you dare say “biological sex exists and is different to gender” - a pretty factual statement that not even trans people would deny - you’ll have your comment deleted and be banned.

      Have to hope those same power tripping mods aren’t also mods in many other subs, but unfortunately the most active one doing all the censoring and banning is.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      I have seen a couple of comments removed by mods that I thought were perfectly fine, so there’s that. 🤷‍♂️ I just hope it doesn’t become a regular thing.

  • slaytswiftfan
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    32 years ago

    “enslave”

    ??

    are you serious with thos wording? and if everyone agrees with your opinions would you have still made this topic?

  • amio
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    132 years ago

    Well, I’ve had a look at the way you argue - maybe you should, too. It’s not even about specific views or opinions, although full disclosure, I disagree strongly with quite a lot of it. The way you discuss things looks extremely insincere.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      52 years ago

      Course it’s about specific views and opinions if I discoursed the opposite it would all be given a complete pass like how I was up to 3 years ago and prior. I changed my approach and how I look at things and all a sudden I get all this abuse and harassment for just having an opinion.

      • HotDogFingies
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        2 years ago

        Can you seriously not see how your “opinion” hurts people? My opinion is that dicks are icky and no one should be allowed to have one. Me and millions of other like-minded individuals are going to vote this into law. Lots of people are going to bleed out and die from their dick removal. Let’s talk about how awesome my hero is, they cut thousands of dicks off and encouraged other people to do the same! That makes you feel good, right? No? Why are you so mad? It’s just my opinion!

        • @[email protected]OP
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          52 years ago

          So let’s do away with democratic principles of discourse because a tiny few doesn’t like a opinion?, how is society meant to advance without discourse or communicate? Are you suggesting everyone should live in fear of reprisals because a group threatens violence? It is wrong, I don’t like a lot of other peoples opinions and you know what I do? I move on, why would the opinion of pineapple belonging on pizza bother me, I would not be offended by an opinion that much that it requires banning and harassment. Just move the hell on.

      • amio
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        112 years ago

        So when I talk about your style of discussion seeming insincere, this… is exactly it.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          22 years ago

          Why does style matter, you don’t like my style so you can say I’m wrong? Or exploiting the fact I communicate differently? Or are you coming up with excuses to defend your ideology?

      • @[email protected]
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        102 years ago

        It sounds like your actual problem is that you hate the freedom other people have to disagree with you and critique you, and you would prefer to enslave everyone else into conforming to your ideology.

          • @[email protected]
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            32 years ago

            You’re really telling me that on your own post full of assumptions and jumping to conclusions?

            You need to take some of your own medicine because hypocrite doesn’t look good on you.

  • JesseoftheNorth
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    192 years ago

    “My right to spout my ideologically inconsistent dog shit opinions is clearly more important than the rights of women to decide what to do with their own bodies. This is the worst kind of discrimination; the discrimination against ME. It’s literally slavery. Woke women with blue hair challenged me on my idiotic opinions and I felt like they were being mean to me. You can’t disagree with me though, because I’m a Marxist-Leninist and I throw out buzz words like planned economies. Believe me bro, trust me bro.”

    • @[email protected]OP
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      62 years ago

      You lot are really creepy with your judgements, generalisations, assumptions, stalking and harassment. Maybe if you took the time to understand that communism is stateless their would be no need to implement rights because there would be no government as we think of it today.

      • JesseoftheNorth
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        62 years ago

        So you believe that there should be no rights for other people, but YOUR right to free speech should never be limited. Gotcha. Either you’re a complete imbecile, or a troll. Probably both.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          32 years ago

          Communism would be the resolution of contradictions that cause conflicts therefore no need to pass rights because no state which means no one to enforce such measures, a law in communism would be fictitious as it would just be a writing on paper.

      • Aatube
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        62 years ago

        It’s supposed to be a stateless condition but the Marxist-Leninism intermediate is just giving most power to a small vanguard that could turn corrupt really quickly.

        • @[email protected]
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          2 years ago

          Look up marxist leninist-castroism which believes the role of the vanguard party is to provide resources and education to the people in order for them to lead themselves if thats your problem with vanguard parties and you otherwise believe in communism.

  • HSL
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    92 years ago

    This conversation has gotten out of hand. There are too many comments that are making it personal rather than focusing on the discussion. Locking it now.