This happened twice, in two different communities now.
The attached here screenshot shows 3 comments deleted for posting an opposing viewpoints, none of which have any insults. I was told my comment (and apparent ban) was due to violation of rule 1 - don't be a jerk. My comment had no insults or name-calling, only stating what I believe, and this result in a removal and ban without any further conversation. EDIT: to point out this first instance occurred within the Ask Lemmy community, and another person noticed this and posted about it - if it doesn't get removed it's here: https://lemmy.world/comment/7831856
The second time it happened (I will post links and screenshot in comment), I did not realize until today. Someone replied to my comment, and I tried to reply back, but could not - then went to check my original comment, which was removed, and I had been apparently banned - both the removal and ban were without any notice given to me either.
While clearly people disagree with my opinions above, I do not believe there was cause for removal and banning in either case. Both these actions are more indicative of attempts to outright remove certain viewpoints than to promote respectful discussion.
I went to highschool and university in the US - I was lucky that I got a scholarship and that covered pretty much all my tuition costs.
But I had a friend, one year older than me, who joined and served in the US army for something like 2 years just so he could get his university costs covered and to save some money for living expenses.
It may not be intentional, but the high cost of higher education is an excellent recruiting tool for the US military.
lol @ the exact percent
But no, I don't think shitposts by themselves are actually the problem. I think the problem is when when there's so many people dedicated to making shitposts that serious communities with serious discussions start getting overwhelmed with shitposts, and when there's so many people who are only interested in shitposts that they upvote those shitposts to the top, often downvoting anyone who might offer a contrarian non-funny opinion.
or IDK, I'm mostly speculating based on personal experience.
I think the fewer number of people, compared to reddit, on Lemmy combined with the fact that it's not nearly as well known, plays a huge advantage to the quality of the comments. Not that there aren't people like that here either, but I feel like the more popular a platform, is, the more it gets filled, proportionally, with people trying to make witty, shitty, pointless remarks that are often clickkbaity and avoid actual discussion, all in the interest of just getting more imaginary points.
Also the process of "enshitification" (not a term I made up, look it up if you hadn't heard of it) has already started taking place on reddit due to its popularity.
The only sad thing about Captain Planet was that it taught me that if you point out the wrong-doings of the rich and powerful, there will be correct action taken by the authorities to right the wrongs and to punish those responsible. The truth is much sadder imho.
Way too many people, especially Americans, have a gun-slinger complex. They're looking for an excuse, any excuse, to use their guns, and feel like they're "heroes". These people are dangerous and the antithesis of what gun owners should be - responsible and careful. This ain't the "well regulated militia" mentioned in the constitution, this is angsty, angry, insecure people with issues trying to act tough by shooting someone.