this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023

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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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I've noticed that lemmy as a whole is much more leftist than reddit (outside of political servers of course) (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago by soviettaters@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I can't really think of a reason for that as Reddit is hated somewhat equally by "both" sides of the spectrum. It's just something I find interesting.

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[–] Screwthehole@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

Not really meaning for this to sound as arrogant as it's going to, but... Lemmy is almost entirely populated by nerds so far.

Nerds tend to be open to tech, maybe a little smarter overall. You know? You can tell by the grammar, the spelling. It's a different group here.

Reality is left leaning, and the stupider someone is, in general, the more likely they are to lean right politically. The rest of the right are the really rich, who tend to be up the psychological spectrum toward sociopathic, so of course they would have no time for caring for others' needs.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Reality is left leaning

I know this was a joke Colbert made, but the truth is the reverse: the left is reality-leaning. It's truly terrifying to see how divorced from reality the right-wing is, and how gleefully they just keep storming in that direction.

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[–] _finger_@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

The super rich are usually highly educated but they live in such a homogenous bubble that they’re opinions on the majority of society should be entirely discounted. They usually have a total lack of empathy for people and vote for politicians with the same attitude. I have met some super rich people who try very hard to go against the grain and not fall into that mindset, but something about the need for protecting your money and lifestyle usually promotes an untrustworthy and skeptical view of everyone in their lives including their own family.

[–] wall_panel_96@lemmy.world -3 points 9 months ago

So you're saying stupid people like to lean left as to appear intelligent?

[–] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

progression tends not to be conservative

[–] JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Well by definition right?
Progressive outlook means your open to new ideas, exploring new territory, open to concept that challenge what you think and know, and gives you the ability to push boundaries, make new discoveries and try new things.

Conservative outlook on the other hand means you are content and safe with the familiar, doing things the way they have always been done because its tried and true, however this means if they feel unconfortable or threatened by ideas which are going to change the way the live and how things work which makes them dig their heels in and get defensive.

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

The progressive/conservative axis has nothing to do with the economical left/right, it was only forcefully merged in the USA because they have only two parties.

[–] Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I'm afraid future will be conservative nevertheless due to the simple fact that they're the only ones making kids. I'm liberal myself but I don't have kids and will never have so my traits don't pass to the next generations. The conservative neighbours with 7 kids on the other hand..

[–] mindbleach@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Politics being genetic, of course.

What?

[–] DrQuint@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Politics aren't genetic.

But they ARE communal. Where you grow decides 90% of what you believe in.

It's actually why I disagree with the top comment chain that smarter means more left leaning. I think it's more that left leaning communities have better education standards and lead to smarter generations. Cause and effect reversed.

[–] HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

The ability to propagate the politics depends mightily on the success of the community though. It's sort of the other side of the 'brain drain' principle-- if people have to leave the community for educational or economic opportunity, they're probably not going to be able to reconstruct the same echo chambers.

Even when you see a preserved group within a larger population (think of Chinatowns and Little Italies), they're inherently getting a lot more cultural exchange than back in the home country.

A lot of the most self-destructive policies (neglecting education, running the environment into the ground, skate-where-the-puck-was-in-1972 economic policy) are just begging for decades of brain drain. The kids are going to leave because there's simply nothing there but the Gizzard Extraction Plant, and that got automated in 2032.

[–] _finger_@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

In some ways yes but it can have the opposite effect too. I know lots of left leaning people who grew up in super religious/conservative families and hate everything about their beliefs.

[–] LambdaDuck@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 years ago

politics aren’t genetic, but they are obviously still inheritable

[–] JTode@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

The thing about that is, if they're ignorant, their kids will be ignorant too. And what that adds up to is just the same thing we've got: a large group of people who are subject to whatever momentary persuasion happens to reach them on any given day, and a political/ruling class that can work with that just fine, so they are taking steps to hamper education sufficiently that this can endure for an indeterminate amount of time before we all burn.

What those large populations do react to, is missing a meal or three. And so far, these aristocrats seem to understand that whatever else they try to pull, they must always service the fundamentals: bread and circuses.

See you at the coliseum.

[–] Teodomo@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

But if that logic held wouldn't religion tend to increase instead of decrease?

[–] Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah it probably will. We'll see in the next few decades. Aging population and low birthrates are much bigger problems that most people realize. Increasingly small amount of workers has to cover the living costs of the increasing numbers of retirees.

[–] PeterPoopshit@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I once got dogpiled in r/lsd of all places for saying employers shouldn't be allowed to drug test for thc. I got swarmed for "being a druggie" in a sub about lsd.

I quit reddit for good not too long after that. What a fucking shithole.

[–] rain_worl@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

wweeew replies to absolutely nothing?

[–] DrFistington@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah, it hasn't been overrun by Russian troll farms and AI yet like reddit and facebook

[–] OptimusPhillip@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

This actually makes a lot of sense. A lot of people are using Lemmy either because they prefer federated web platforms to centralized, which makes it antithetical to corporate interests, or because they're opposed to Reddit's API policy, which was a blatant move to squeeze more money out of their users. Either way, Lemmy's appeal is very anti-capitalist, and since opposition to capitalism is a generally left-wing philosophy, I can totally see why most Lemmy users would be left-wing.

[–] InternetUser2012@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Maybe because on reddit you have an absolute fuck ton of right wing propaganda bots.

[–] gutternonsense@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Thankk you. The Overton window has been forcibly molded to what would've been the mid- Right when I was a kid growing up (90s-00s). This is because of Fox News. And then social media propagandists have tried ripping it to the extreme right, aka alt-right.

I imagine a lot of what younger people think of as left/liberal was very much a moderate view point just a generation ago.

So when you move to a new medium not propagandized yet (or at least a new venue like Lemmy) you might find that organic discourse is a lot more sane, tempered, and moderate.

[–] heimchen@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Remember during COVID, some people thought washing your hands is being left.

[–] DahGangalang@infosec.pub 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

While this is hilarious and I want it to be true, can you pass any source on it?

[–] bert@lemmy.monster 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Co-workers mocking me on the daily was all the source I ever needed.

[–] DahGangalang@infosec.pub 1 points 2 years ago

Mocking you for......washing your hands? Wow. That's....uh.... something.

[–] Skavargen@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That is quite true as well. Lemmy gets Russian shills on Ukraine coverage worse than Reddit though. I don't know if that would be tankies or Russian trolls.

[–] Godric@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I've noticed several pro-china shill accounts as well. Fortunately their attempts at astroturfing are made in China, very obvious and poorly done.

[–] ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

reddit had given into the "work the refs" strategy of the American right wing. That artificially elevated the voices of the right and suppressed the voices of the left. It's actually the case when you look at surveys and voting behaviors that right wing ideas are abysmally unpopular.

So when we're on an actually free platform that doesn't have an "engagement" based algorithm driving anger and division, with no one putting their thumb on the scale (or people who try getting defederated), "leftist" ideas come up.

The confusion reflected in the OP is the obvious outcome of the post Fairness Doctrine "both sides" media landscape. There really aren't as many right wing people as left wing. We are legion.

[–] semigroupoid@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

Reddit has banned most right wing subs and clearly has a pro left bias from the top. The userbase was more right wing before most right wing users were pushed off the platform.

[–] Ulrich_the_Old@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It is driven entirely by the moderators. r/Canada got taken over by alt-right moderators which attracted alt-right redditors.

[–] bloopinator@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

Yeah but Reddit admins are more than happy to remove mods if they don’t like them.

[–] dottedgreenline@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

So was reddit a long long time ago. I watched and felt it shift to the centre then heavily to the right. Conservatives destroy everything in the world. I don't doubt your favourite communitues will start heavily skewing right soon enough. (edit:typo)

[–] bloopinator@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

You can’t actually be serious can you?

Reddit back in the early 2010s was infamous for worshipping Ron Paul. In the early and mid-2010s there were literally subreddits dedicated to racism. It was controversial in the 2010s to ban or censor anything, meanwhile today all of the big subreddits are run by a handful of mods who will ban anyone who says something they don’t like, or even ban people automatically if they comment in a sub they don’t like.

If you think Reddit is somehow more right-leaning today than in the 2010s, I think that might just mean that you became far more left-leaning since then and everything else looks right-leaning in comparison.

[–] FellowEarthling@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Makes sense that leftists would be more likely to reject the platform that is centralizing power

[–] Lols@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

centralisation of power is not an inherently right or left wing ideal, and some of the largest left wing communities on the fediverse are practically or outright authoritarian

the centralising power thats being opposed being a profit oriented organisation does make it more of a leftist thing, though still not exclusively

[–] FellowEarthling@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I'd say it is the definitive distriction between left and right. These concepts mean things to me on a vacuum. Show me a "left wing community" that is authoritarian and I'll show you a community that isn't actually leftist.

[–] Lols@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

im not really interested in discussing your definition of a scotsman

[–] FellowEarthling@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Ok but if you want to discuss politics with me in any way, which you seem to want, your need to know what I mean when I say words. Maybe get out of the kitchen?

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Left wingers: "The right is full of neo-fascists who want to exploit natural resources, subjugate minorities, project their own pedophilia habits onto us, roll back the clock on women's rights, and are willing to lie, cheat, beg, borrow, and steal to get it all done!"

Right wingers: "The left is ANNOYING!"

[–] Blamemeta@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Also the left projects and makes shit up constantly. Hell, one of their favorite phrases "dog whistle" means "My opponent did not say X, but I want him to say X, so I'm going to pretend he said X"

[–] Cistello@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

I find it hilarious how this comment has 11 likes which is pretty decent for the atmosphere here but the user got banned

[–] YourHuckleberry@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Hot take: you shouldn't subscribe to an ism.

You know what my political affiliation is? I'm an engineer. You want to solve a problem, you break it apart and fix the broken parts.

Abortion? Sure.

What's the problem? Women are pregnant and they don't wanna be.

Well how'd they get pregnant? They had unprotected sex, or they got raped(including all kinds here). Teach people how to use birth control and make it easy to get. Teach men about consent. Fund sex crime policing.

That takes care of the input side of the equation. What's next? Oh yeah, they don't wanna be pregnant. Why not? Because it could kill them, or wreck thier bodies. OK, well let's fund research and support for maternal mortality issues (including post-partum). If a pregnancy is likely to kill a woman (like double the normal mortality rate) she should be allowed to abort, even if she's not in immediate danger. You can't force somebody to risk their life.

Any other reasons? Because the fetus is severely deformed and will die in pain if allowed to make it to full term? Abortion, no question. Honestly any other position on this one is fucked up. I'm sure of very little when it comes to God, but I'm sure it doesn't want preventable suffering.

What else? Families can't afford a kid? Free high quality childcare for everyone. Free healthcare for kids and post-partum mothers (probably for everyone but that's a different topic).

What about adoption? Well, as they say, adoption is the answer to a different question. Just to cover all cases though, let's fund high-quality adoption services, including counseling for the birth mother for as long as she needs.

How do we pay for it all? Taxes. Taxes are good for society. Shut the fuck up and pony up your fair share. If you use our stuff, eat our food, drink our clean water, taxes are what you owe.

These are just off the top of my head. The real answers are probably way more complicated, but it's going to take work to figure it all out. This is how you fix a problem though. Lots of hard work to understand the whole thing, soup to nuts, and then you fix it all.

Does that make me a leftist?

[–] Cistello@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

Even Donald Duck doesnt subscribe to the abortion ban

[–] miridius@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think there's a wide range of people on Lemmy too but the extreme right and extreme left have ended up on instances that have been defederated from the main group. So what you're seeing are the sensible, rational people, and in America such people are considered left wing I guess 😉

[–] Cistello@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

"FR" I need to take a look at the instances because I haven't encountered one yet

[–] nomadjoanne@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

Yup it is. There are a lot of communist techie people I guess. I still generally state my political opinions here though. Let them be downvoted.

[–] JH6@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

You're absolutely clowning if you think you have the breadth of data available to confidently make such an assessment. This is, ironically, an incredibly Reddit moment.

[–] wall_panel_96@lemmy.world -4 points 9 months ago

I know, I got a 3 day ban for a silly reason from reddit. I figured it was a good time to make the move to Lemmy, it's even more leftist activist over here. Like tenfold. It's insane. I cang believe I'm saying this, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the standard low level leftist nutters.

Why can't we have nice things darnit.