Let’s hope what replaces it is as much of an improvement.

I say we’re doing one better than ‘just’ hoping it. Talking about it and articulating modern needs lets others learn new ideas and maybe find some social structure.

I think I understand what you mean about the shattered zeitgeist (or social cohesion maybe?). One of my friends is leaning heavy into one of my lesser favored narratives, and he sends me lots of jokes that boarder being edgy (like racist n such), but sometimes actually being quite funny. He’s a close friend who casually said he’d have no quarrel if the nazis took over. What can I do? Cut him off based on philosophy? Teach him his wrong ways? So far just asking questions helped me understand more about my view. And as far as his shitty racist jokes go, I don’t send a pity smiley. That’s the best I have for now.

the zeitgeist has fractured

I’d argue it’s being diluted by noise. There have always been conflicting narratives. History is so hard to untangle (for me at least), because most of us come out a bit brainwashed from the system.

I think we are seeing the ends of the safeties this form of democracy has to provide. We are all in it together, everyone hallucinating to some extent. The big difference today is that you don’t talk about tv around the watercooler. You send cat pics and talk about Will Smith AI spaghetti videos, digitally or in meat space.

The problem usually isn’t lack of shared context, I believe, especially when we have so much in our pockets. It’s signal dilution with some plain old ill-intent under the hood (i.e. ‘advanced’ marketing).

Stuff’s happening really quick. Orbán is trying to leave the ICC (proclaimed at the press conference with Netanyahu). We suspect it’s in preparation to host Putin soon.

In these interesting times I urge people against blanket hatred, or any hatred at all. We are all being pumped up emotionally, and it is hard to understand what’s going on if you are blinded by (the justified) rage you’re experiencing. Even having feelings towards Orbán, Putin or Netanyahu helps the media shape you, as when they get that dog whistle in place, we are prone to accept opinion as fact.

Most of us are doing the best we can, and in the rarest of cases (maybe not in politics) do we find actual bad actors instead of misled.

Times can be scary, but if we connect ourselves emotionally to the feed, it only becomes worse.

It hit my eye as well, but I am sure there is a way to present it without being downvoted.

As a fresh convert not having my .exes work would be sus. But with MS locking more and more stuff in their app store, we’re not too far from a full-on windows troll distro.

reframe the discussion

Simple solution. Mimic what paid online news does. Paywall, but like don’t raise the perimeter anytime someone finds a ladder. Like we have here with the linked archive posts. Definitely a good way to keep out the heavy commies.

Selling ad space

Go for it! But you won’t get me to uninstall my adblocker until I am convinced ads are any good to me. Like not the piece of shit manipulations that treat me as a skinner box. Many good examples of incorporating ads into shows, but with dignity and taste and a clear indication that it is an ad.

Also, if the admin deserves compensation for their time, why don’t I get a pretty penny for this? Sure, the admin hosts and supports the frame, but they could twirl their short hairs all night without the buzz.

“just a hobby”

Love the enthusiasm! If anything gives me faith in the world, it’s that we have the Gnu crowd. I thinks it’s hard not to fall in love with it in the gloom of the late-freemium era.

Stop rummaging in other people’s wallet. Money as it is, is a very sensitive topic. Also further down in this thread you bring in addiction, alienating further people.

Reddit is having trouble monetizing, yet you blame druggies from this very community for similar problems we’re facing. What is your point? Where are you going? What do you want?

We have no tools against capitalism besides pushing a friggin ‘buy me a coffee’ button anywhere possible. Maybe Copyleft for those who’d proudly piss in the headwind. If you wanna make the system better, that’s great! It just feels like you are lashing out at the community instead of empathizing. Broadcasting ideals is alright if you only want to vent about it and not actually look for solutions.

Can you imagine me not contributing monetarily but wanting the best for all of us? You are definitely underestimating the number of broke people here, but the things you are campaigning for go straight against the spirit of the movement. Work with what we have to make shit better for all (while somehow hardening against capitalism).

What I don’t understand is why some people only want to participate here if it means they can get to free ride on “volunteers”.

On reddit, the picture was pretty clear: admins are being paid, so your average commenter is volunteering the content, not to talk about the free (or power trip sponsored) work the mods are doing. And of course with the way reddit treated it’s contributors, there was huge animosity towards certain admins. I don’t see the participants here riding any more ‘free’ in terms of making this place work. The difference is that the admin is contributing money, instead of getting paid.

I can get behind a campaign for temporarily funding hosting costs, but that probably would not include rent or pay for the admin. It feels the main problem is rooted in our economy somewhere, but this is also something of a ‘put your own oxygen mask on first’ scenarios.

It is frustrating that someone who does such an amazing thing for the common good is struggling to get a fraction of a Zach Braff indiegogo project. You are also doing a good thing by spreading the message, but the pressure on this donation almost alienates me. Without knowing much about server instances, I imagine there are less fortunate alternatives, like moving the hosts to someone close by, outsourcing certain roles to trusted folk while the admin finds the time and money to fund their hobby again.

I hope I’m not coming over as too cold, it just feels like you are trying to solve a way bigger problem than we have. We need the instances run by volunteers. Would the admin be happier if their project died, or temporarily be handed over (if this is possible at all)? What’s better for the thousands of users? Is it fair to the admin? Shit no. Can they get the funding to pay for their hobby? Maybe. Is it fair if they are using the instance as leverage?

You skipped a whole generation there.

Super easy fix. Go Gecko!

Maybe his fetish is government sponsored cucking.

Definitely question the source. Even after writing I realized RT is more akin to hollywood propaganda than RFE. On the best of days could we compare RT to AP, I guess.

That leaves my other point standing. I understand we are all people and are emotional about such matters, but you countered the Romanian source with a jab, then drove the point home by attacking their state of mind. An emotional, triggering response to a friggin link. Deepening divide, operating with shame.

Why do you use these tools of shaming when plain truth is on your side? Why did you not go through the romanian sources with a trusted translator service and reply with glaring problems instead of questioning their sobriety?

Hi, sorry to butt in on this thread, but this part almost feels malicious:

I’m supposed to read Romanian now?

Especially in an age of automatic translation, this sentence just broadcasts ill intent. While you cannot know what allegances that specific Romanian outlet has, it feels strangely biased you doing all this under a Russia Today article. Also those jabs, man. ‘Did you drink too much?’

You really gonna call sources into question on an RT thread?? Would I be going too far as stating RT is to Russia what RFE is to the US??

So, I don’t know if you know, but many countries haven’t really had a chance to digest the second world war collectively. The polish can go from zero to 100 as soon as you bring up national involvement in the holocaust.

If someone is bringing up old skeletons from a neighbouring country instead of working on their million and one problems at home, I get suspicious. Why are the Russians pointing a finger now? How is this not sewing division?

plenty others had their regime changed or couped

While I do appreciate that Maidan brought a regime change and the many Hungarian protests haven’t, so I keep the possibility of CIA intervention open there and can ‘give you’ that much. But which other Eastern European (or Baltic for that matter) had to be coaxed into Nato? Like where were there power grabs before the 2004 wave?

If it is a choice of going from sending troops to weird desert wars or having russian boots on Hungarian land, 10 times out of ten I’d choose the former.

We can disect the harm Soros caused the world, but I feel we see it from an opposing side. He funded Orbán and co. The same group that says it would have let the Russians in in '56 without resistance because that would have saved lives. It feels this is the main argument as well, against Ukraine: ‘Stop hurting yourself’. You can say Orbán got smart and stood up to the old dude, but this part feels like speculation.

I am fairly sure I won’t get convinced otherwise in this thread, but I do appreciate the civil tone. I am also in a lucky situation where things aren’t going my way: if I’m right, I get to say it, if I’m wrong, Ukraine will be denazified and peace will reign in a new Russo-European collaboration of the likes I haven’t seen before. Peace, hegemony.

Thanks for the talk. I’m open to further discussing views if you want/have the energy.

I do understand how Russia feels threatened by Nato expansion, but the many ‘buffer states’ chose to be part of a defense alliance by there own will.

But the Russian reasons are pluralized now. Not only is it Nato expanding, but they are also doing everyone a favor by killing nazis again. The first one might be a true threat to Russian interests, the second one seems to be moral justification.

I appreciate you taking the time to explain these stuff and give links. Just based on these facts you provided, I might be convinced. But there is an extra layer of bias in me that will be hard to scrub, and we need to bring Orbán into the mix for me to explain. So I’ve seen first hand what Orbán did to his country under his 14 year, near totalitarian reign. Orbán is playing for the russian side. Birds of a feather…

Even though I know most politicians are trash, I’d rather be under the thumb of capitalism, than a vassal of Russia. I don’t want small kings around, who have it right by might. And that is what Russia is doing now. Maybe US and Europe too, so who knows. It’s a shame diplomacy fell through.

Everything you say could be true. Just like the Ukranian propaganda. More probably there are kernels of truth, blown up on both sides.

Just from my personal view, I feel a Russian army moving towards Europe gives me more angst than some very problematic Ukranian language laws. I remember the laws being in the news in Hungary waaaay back in the day, maybe even before Maidan, but I wasn’t really paying attention to happenings at the time.

Maybe the time for mutual understanding has passed.

If you feel nazis are your main baddie, it might be better to understand what makes them tick. If not for empathy, then for hitting where it hurts.

Why do you say I am denying the presence of nazis? They are usually a niche demographic, but present in any country. I am not saying let the bastards speak hate with impunity.

For sure, countries need to look inward and start digesting that many people ate the onion in the first half of the 40s. Not because we need justice for the deaths of local minorities commited by nationals, but because this type of behaviour causes great trauma not just for the victims, but the aggressors. They pass this trauma down and it remains alive in current generations. It usually doesn’t even manifest itself as outright racism, just lots of anger issues in general (I guess this part is anecdotal).

All that being said, fuck Russia for bringing this up now. They went in to Ukraine under the flag of denazification. But Latvia is in Nato, so I don’t really see this as a cassus beli, but more of sowing division in EU.