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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 10th, 2023

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  • Perhaps. In theory, you’re definitely right. I just feel that this is something where building the momentum during a single election cycle isn’t feasible. The most likely result of voting for a third party without laying this groundwork would be splitting the vote and giving a landslide victory to the greater of the two evils.

    Formally organising online would make it possible to demonstrate how much support each candidate actually has without giving an official vote to a candidate that the general public isn’t confident enough to vote for. Watching participation grow and third parties receive substantial semi-official support could build excitement and lead to a third party being trusted to have the sway to win.

    I’d love to be proven wrong though. If we can organize enough support for a third party within a single election cycle that it’s reasonable to risk voting for that candidate, I’m open to it. I already have too much on my plate, but if no one has built this service by the time I have energy for it, I’ll definitely be thinking about it


  • I suppose it’ll continue until enough people believe that it’s possible for a third party to win.

    I think ranked choice voting would make it much simpler to foment that change. People need to be able to trust that breaking from the party line has a real chance of success, but that can’t happen without demonstrating support.

    If we can’t have real ranked choice voting, a third party could build a website to let people coordinate votes according to ranked choice, and hopefully carry the result as a unified bloc to the polls. Have an agreement that if a certain threshold of participation is met, vote for the ranked choice result. Otherwise, lesser of 2 evils.


  • Never been part of that community personally, but thanks for helping to support the platform. Even if you’re not seeing much traction, it’s appreciated. What would you think of picking the most engaging Reddit content and migrate it here to help boost community size? Or maybe posting to Reddit with a watermark/credit leading to your Lemmy community?


  • I think Lemmy would either need to find a way to wean Redditors off of their dopamine machine or replace that dopamine machine long-term to sustain an exodus from Reddit. Either that, or Reddit will need to break their dopamine feedback loop. There are some cracks showing, and that might have already killed the platform in the long term, but it’ll keep going from pure momentum for a while. Maybe as long as months or years.

    Seems like there’s more sexists and racists than I used to see over there, which is definitely offputting. I’ve found communities that are supportive of thoughtful discussion are more appealing, and Reddit definitely lacks that lately, outside of some small, relatively niche communities.


  • trafguy@midwest.socialtoMemes@lemmy.mlThe rent is too damn high
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    1 year ago

    Would you be willing to share how you make that work? I can’t imagine living on my own for that much, let alone raising 3 kids. What does a weekly meal plan look like? Do you drive? What are rent and property values like in your area?

    Edit: Just ran some numbers, and I can see how that could be possible, but it’s dangerously lean. We shouldn’t need to live like that. I commend you for making it work, but would like to say that you’re definitely worth more than $20k/yr (especially with all those home improvement skills, but regardless)



  • trafguy@midwest.socialtoMemes@lemmy.mlCan we please
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    1 year ago

    You’re welcome to dislike something, but that doesn’t mean you need to discourage someone else from liking that thing. You can share an opinion without making it sound like it’s a sin against nature to disagree with that opinion.



  • trafguy@midwest.socialtoMemes@lemmy.mlNext level
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    1 year ago

    I’ll have you know it’s perfectly unnatural when I invert my corporeal form to assimilate my terrified victims into the eldritch void where my soul used to be.

    But in all seriousness, agreed. It’s not possible for something that’s part of nature to be unnatural. All behaviors are natural. Some behaviors pose a threat to the individual or society at large, and that’s the only case where any action should be considered, but only as a harm reduction strategy rather than punitive. An individual’s sexuality, gender identity, etc., definitely don’t qualify as dangerous.




    • Crafting bows to hunt. Wood selection, shaping, tillering, natural bowstring materials.
    • Some edible wild plants
    • Some basic farming knowledge
    • Some construction/shelter repair techniques
    • Algebra and concepts of calculus, and why they’re useful
    • How to preserve foods
    • Basic concepts of electricity’s importance and how to make it, but someone would need to explain how to go from raw material to a functional wire, find some rare earth magnets, and figure out how to make LEDs or something else worth using the electricity for.
    • The scientific method
    • Concepts of how to engineer/design a solution to a problem
    • Troubleshooting techniques
    • Some basic concepts of boat stability and construction
    • Some concepts of modern psychology
    • Concepts of critical thinking and rejection of groupthink
    • Basic physics. Loose explanations of kinematic equations, gravity, friction, pendulums, air resistance, aerodynamics, basic concepts of rocketry and flight/parachutes/gliders
    • Evaporative cooling? I could describe the concepts of modern air conditioning, but that doesn’t seem useful yet.
    • I could probably work out how a windmill works, how to make a wagon, how to purify water, how to make water-tight storage.
    • Germ Theory
    • The Paradox of Tolerance
    • How pasteurization works
    • Fermentation, concepts of distillation
    • Basic oral hygiene? Habits of at least rinsing sugar out of your mouth afterwards, if brushes aren’t available.
    • Use of alcohol and heat as antiseptics. Suggestion to use honey in a pinch
    • Basic concepts of how magnifying lenses work and why they’re important

  • I think you’d need to start by getting them to admit that the heat is a problem without mentioning climate change. Don’t use any of the buzz words they’ve been taught how to respond to. Just try to get them to have a conversation where they have to come up with their own answers.

    In fact, maybe don’t even start off with anything related to the topics they’ve been told what to think about. Ask about something they care about more directly that isn’t on their party’s agenda. You’d need to keep at it long enough for them to start understanding you’re not their enemy, which could be anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks/months, depending on how deeply entrenched they are. Then, start trying to work towards the lesser issues their authority doesn’t bring up often but has expressed an opinion on. Basically, you need to de-indoctrinate them.

    If you can get them to talk about an issue without recognizing immediately that they’re in danger of contradicting their chosen authorities, then slowly transition towards getting them to talk about more and more “dangerous” topics, you might help them to bridge that disconnect and start thinking critically about the key issues.

    That all said, You’ll have an easier time working with people who haven’t been deeply entrenched in an authoritarian ideology. The less developed their beliefs, the easier it’ll be to guide them towards thinking about their beliefs critically. That’s one reason it’s so important to teach critical thinking in primary/secondary schools.


  • logic will never convince them because they aren’t arguing from a position of logic. It’s about conforming to the beliefs required to be part of their tribe and/or protecting themselves from coming to terms with the harsh realities of climate change. It’s reactionary against a challenge to their beliefs.

    You would need to first convince them to consider that their respected authorities could be wrong. But within this reactionary mindset, being wrong is disgraceful. So unless they lose respect for their leaders or manage to shift away from believing fallibility is disgraceful, I don’t know if they can be convinced.