edit: having a community dedicated to letists only can be a bad idea in that it can make sure your beliefs are not questioned. I have thought myself as a socialist and I have thought myself as a anarcho-capitalist, I don’t believe in either anymore. I think if radical views go unchecked they might cause problems. Although I am a capitalist now, being confronted by socialists has made me aware of capitalisms deep flaws. When I considered myself a communist (17 year old me) I thought opposing views really changed my mind. So that’s the ideologically diversity I am talking about.

I love the outlook of lemmy, I think the design is decent and simplistic. But one thing I can’t seem to get over is the fact that almost everyone here seem to think the same politically. Why do you guys think this is?? I know this is a community of leftists foss enthusiasts but I hope everyone here is aware that it is driving many people away from adapting it.

  • southerntofu@lemmy.ml
    7·
    2 years ago

    I don’t mean to be rude, but how is centrism not right-wing? To be fair, in my view of politics i consider most so-called left-wing parties (socialists, communists) to be right-wing as well. To me, the Left stands for abolition of private property and money.

    How do you define your centrism? If we start from this, i may be able to elaborate on what i perceive as right or wrong with your views. I personally could consider myself a centrist in a non-traditional sense because as an anarchist i’m opposed to political parties (who divide the people on brand not principles), but i don’t think that’s what you had in mind :)

    • Liwott@nerdica.net
      2·
      2 years ago

      To me, the Left stands for abolition of private property and money.

      That’s only the left on one political axis though, but politics is more than just economics. For example, LGBTQ+ right movements are leftist in some sense, but a priori don’t stand anywhere on the economical axis.

      A more general definition of the left is through progressism, as opposed to conservatism. As I seem to understand from other comments that you are French, may I ask whether you know (/ what you think about) the Peertube channel !esprit_critique ?

      • southerntofu@lemmy.ml
        0·
        2 years ago

        For example, LGBTQ+ right movements are leftist in some sense

        I don’t think this is true at all. I believe queer movements could be interpreted to be leftist in some sense, in that they defy current norms and expectations, but there’s many many LGBT people who are very conservative or outright fascists. Take a look at the top10 trans youtubers for example, or to give an example closer to home, Florian Philippot is a famous gay politician from the fascist party Front National.

        I would also argue that women have often been instrumentalized in colonial discourse (“white men protecting brown women from brown men”), and that lately this discourse has shifted to include trans/gay people (pinkwashing). Two examples:

        • in Palestine, Israel is often framed as the progressive LGBT-friendly bastion of freedom against the “islamic barbarians”
        • in France and in Western Europe in general there’s a growing trope of the “rapefugee” in the past years, and there’s a public/mediatic construct that homophobia (transphobia is not yet really part of public discourse) is a product of non-white people in the suburbs ; there’s certainly abuse/prejudice in popular neighborhoods, but building this image allows to completely erase the vast amount of abuse/prejudice experienced in white rich neighborhood or in the workplace

        All in all, i would say reproductive rights and views on gender are different axis than left/right. They could be fitted on a top/down authoritarian-libertarian axis (in that they represent personal self-determination vs society-driven roles) but could as well become axis of their own.

        As I seem to understand from other comments that you are French, may I ask whether you know (/ what you think about) the Peertube channel !esprit_critique ?

        I am french on papers, although proudly anti-french in spirit (being an anarchist). I don’t know about this video channel though. I’ll try to think to take a look, don’t hesitate to remind me in the future ;)

      • southerntofu@lemmy.ml
        0·
        2 years ago

        I believe the state should interfere in economics, protect its citizens from monopolies and ruthless profit oriented tactics and provide support for those in need

        I’m curious how you consider that compatible with private property. Let’s take a practical example: in France there’s over a million empty dwellings, and there’s people sleeping on the streets. What do you consider is the most sensible course of action: let people sleep on the streets, or take over empty dwellings to rehouse everyone unconditionally?

        If you believe human needs are more important than arbitrary religious beliefs like money/property then i’m afraid you are very much against the principle of private property which says that resources are “owned” by someone and only that specific person gets to decide how those resources are used.