I’ve been using Lemmy for a while now, and I’ve noticed something that I was hoping to potentially discuss with the community.

As a leftist myself (communist), I generally enjoy the content and discussions on Lemmy.

However, I’ve been wondering if we might be facing an issue with ideological diversity.

From my observations:

  1. Most Lemmy Instances, news articles, posts, comments, etc. seem to come from a distinctly leftist perspective.
  2. There appears to be a lack of “centrist”, non-political, or right-wing voices (and I don’t mean extreme MAGA-type views, but rather more moderate conservative positions).
  3. Discussions often feel like they’re happening within an ideological bubble.

My questions to the community are:

  • Have others noticed this trend?
  • Do you think Lemmy is at risk of becoming an echo chamber for leftist views, a sort of Truth Social, Parler, Gab, etc., esque platform, but for Leftists?
  • Is this a problem we should be concerned about, or is it a natural result of Lemmy’s community-driven nature?
  • How might we encourage more diverse political perspectives while still maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment?
  • What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of having a more politically diverse user base on Lemmy?

As much as I align with many of the views expressed here, I wonder if we’re missing out on valuable dialogue and perspective by not having a more diverse range of political opinions represented.

I’m genuinely curious to hear your thoughts on this.

  • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
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    1 month ago

    I don’t consider myself leftist or rightist. I flip both ways on different issues and the middle on other things.

    How ever Lemmy is becoming less tolerant of jokes and any view that doesn’t line up with a moderator’s view on the world.

    It took a long time for me to get a ban but it’s happened a couple times now.

    Admittedly they’re from .ml

    Though some more left leaning communities have gone full on dog like as though it’s Reddit

  • mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    Conservatives can quite frankly go somewhere else.

    Their policies are terrible and the only redeeming qualities of most countries we live in are socialist.

    Lemmy should reflect the actual political spectrum which is (IMO) Social Democrats on the far right and Tankies on the far left.

  • comfy@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago
    1. There appears to be a lack of “centrist”, non-political, or right-wing voices (and I don’t mean extreme MAGA-type views, but rather more moderate conservative positions).

    I see plenty of them. They’re just mostly on other instances to me (like your home instance).

    Furthermore, while it’s tempting to see the so-called ‘left’ and ‘right’ as equivalent mirrors needing to be balanced for diversity, the reality is far from it. After seeing Wolfballs in action (that instance died before the reddit API fiasco), I can tell you we don’t need to be balanced out by ‘white genocide’ discussions and more open anti-semitism. I know that’s not what you proposed, but it’s to illustrate that sometimes there isn’t value in arbitrary balancing the ‘left’ and ‘right’ on these websites.

    is it a natural result of Lemmy’s community-driven nature?

    It’s also a result of Lemmy’s history and appeal. When reddit went on sprees of deleting subreddits, the right-wing hate groups made their own reddit clones, anarchists typically went to Raddle, and when GenZedong and ChapoTrapHouse went down, they went to Lemmygrad.ml (as a result, it became the largest instance) and created Hexbear respectively. So there is a long history of larger communist communities from day one which was the status quo until the reddit API fiasco.

    The Fediverse also tends to attract anarchists and other socialists by the appeal of its decentralized nature, along with a few right-libertarians who see it as an anti-censorship tool. So one could say there’s a bias there.

    How might we encourage more diverse political perspectives while still maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment?

    That’s tough, because you inherently limit which political perspectives you can encourage.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      It is just an extension of the “Paradox of Tolerance.”

      It is not a paradox at all, it’s just intolerance that doesn’t deserve a platform.

  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    1 month ago

    There appears to be a lack of “centrist”, non-political, or right-wing voices (and I don’t mean extreme MAGA-type views, but rather more moderate conservative positions).

    They hang out in /modlog.

  • boredtortoise@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Conservative and/or right wing views are ethically wrong and lack evidence to add a worthy perspective to discussions. Capitalism is a belief and should be discussed as other religions.

    • ladicius@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      lack evidence to add a worthy perspective

      That’s exactly the point. “Conservative” most of the time means rollback to segregation and discrimination whereas the only chance of humanity lies within compassion and cooperation.

      • helloworld55@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        I think there are some conservative opinions that are worth discussing. For one example, I’ve seen conservatives talk frequently about protecting children from an increasingly secular world. Comparitvely, that topic rarely comes up in normal lemmy topics.

        Truth be told, I generally am progressive on this, but I sometimes wish I could discuss this with someone whom I may disagree with, so I could better understand where I would stand

        • Seleni@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Protecting them from what now? Exactly what are we protecting them from in a ‘secular world’?

    • Snickeboa@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I think you provide the perfect example of what OP is talking about.

      In my experience this kind of comments and “far left” views are the norm on Lemmy. I think that in this regard Reddit had (I have not been there since the API shutdown) a much more balanced and wide spectra of political views. Not to mention that everything wasn’t political there. Here I feel like everything takes a “far left”/Marxist turn.

      To me, this homogenous political environment turns me off and is one of the primary factors behind me not really using Lemmy that much.

      To be clear I do not think that your views should be silenced and whatnot. Just agreeing that this is indeed a “far left” echo chamber.

      • boredtortoise@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        If a view isn’t based on truth, it just simply doesn’t matter. It’s not a matter of silencing

      • davel@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        To be clear I do not think that your views should be silenced and whatnot. Just agreeing that this is indeed a “far left” echo chamber.

        We, just like you, have been bombarded incessantly from birth with the hegemonic bourgeois ideology. It is inescapable. Most people don’t even realize they’re soaking in it, because they’ve never been outside of it. For most people it’s just “common sense.” It’s literally impossible for us to escape to a “‘far left’ echo chamber.”

        Who is really in an “echo chamber” those who have seen outside of cultural hegemony, or those who have not?

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        In my experience this kind of comments and “far left” views are the norm on Lemmy. I think that in this regard Reddit had (I have not been there since the API shutdown) a much more balanced and wide spectra of political views …

        redditors (like most americans) proved that they believe a genocide is acceptable political collateral damage and that facism is a good thing; that’s fucked and not at all balanced at all.

        • Bonesince1997@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Yeah. Why go through all the effort to cover up the true nature of your actions if your beliefs and views are so much more balanced. While the speech here may be more absolutist, I think other people who don’t factor in these untruths or use them to make their points have much to add to the conversation. It’s just talking points.

        • Snickeboa@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I’m not talking about whether the content of an opinion is balanced or not. I’m talking about that if you take into consideration all the different views; are there just a few vs many, are the views leaning heavily in a specific direction (right/left), etc.

          And you continue to prove the point that Lemmy has a “far left” overweight. I’ll remind you again that I’m not talking about whether I think you are right or wrong, just that it’s an echo chamber for opinions like this.

          • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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            1 month ago

            And you continue to prove the point that Lemmy has a “far left” overweight. I’ll remind you again that I’m not talking about whether I think you are right or wrong, just that it’s an echo chamber for opinions like this.

            genocide is never acceptable and facism is never okay; these are facts, not opinions.

            • endeavor@sopuli.xyz
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              1 month ago

              The facts are so, but reddit and fediverse turns a blind eye to calls of genocide, mass murder and inciting violence when the genocide and fashcism is in the name of “class struggle.”

              • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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                1 month ago

                They’re big parts of the American Overton window now; yet you called their consideration

                a much more balanced and wide spectra of political views

                • Snickeboa@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  Not sure what you mean to be honest. What do you mean by “yet you called their consideration”?

                  What I meant earlier was that the way that you express

                  redditors (like most americans) proved that they believe a genocide is acceptable political collateral damage and that facism is okay; that’s fucked and not at all balanced in any way.

                  is (in this case left?) misrepresentation what others (or most other) believe. I don’t know if this is in bad faith or if its because of “echo chamber radicalization”. I do have a hard time believing that “most americans” or “redditors” (as in most redditors?) approve of genocide or facism. They might have other/more nuanced ideas on some issues than you. But for the record I’m not American.

                  I do believe that you will be able to provide examples of crazy comments on some issues. But in my experience, when you leave the internet and talk to people in real life - most people are sane, moderate and do not hold far left/right opinions on most of the issues discussed like this on the internet.

    • Alteon@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The phrase “are ethically wrong” is hilarious. According to whose code of ethics? How are their ethics more moral than someone else’s set of ethics?

      There’s literally entire branches of philosophy dedicated to the concept of morals and the concepts of good and evil.

      Edit: Also, to add on to this, something can be ethically right but morally wrong, or ethically wrong but morally right.

  • Squido@discuss.online
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    1 month ago

    I’m interested in this, i left reddit due to that, if it’s just a reddit 2.0 i’m better getting off. So far it looks samey.

  • Ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 month ago

    This is such a strange take to me.

    I was on the broader fediverse for a year or so before lemmy took off, and I got used to the very strong left leaning environment I found there, where compassion for your impact on the people around you was built in to the norms of many of the communities. I wasn’t used to it, but I was so glad to have found it.

    And then lemmy happened. And unlike the rest of the fediverse, which was largely populated by people escaping twitter because it had been taken over by a fascist, the lemmy population was largely people escaping reddit because they could no longer use 3rd party apps. And the difference in ideology between those two groups is night and day.

    To me, the broader fediverse feels left wing and comfortable. Lemmy feels centrist, where half of my time as an admin is banning trolls and bigots spreading hate.

    tl;dr - Your definition of leftist is not my definition of leftist.

  • Ænima@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Using Lemmy requires some modicum of understanding in technology. Most conservatives I’ve encountered tend to be technology-ignorant at best, and technophobic at worst. You don’t see as many differing political views on Lemmy cause some/most conservatives are too inept at technology or can’t be bothered to figure it out.

    Reddit was just easier to get into, and as much as I personally like Lemmy, it’s a hard sell to some from the outset. If the signup could be simplified (which I understand federation and why it can’t be that easy), we could see an influx of more outdated viewpoints on the platform.

    I also agree with others who have stated that most “conservative” philosophy involves denying rights to those who have only recently (last 50 years or so) been afforded rights equal to their own. I’m also growing increasingly suspicious of how much lead was actually used in the products consumed by boomers and some Gen-x before its use was known and most of it banned or removed from products. It seems too many in their late 40+ are going from normal human being with empathy towards others to RAGING MAGA CONSPIRACIST, seemingly overnight.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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    1 month ago

    Conservatism is generally a worthless ideology that makes the world worse, so I don’t feel a desire to spend more time with it. We don’t need to debate “what if women don’t have rights”, “what if gay stuff is illegal?”, “what if you had to pay for health care so if you were poor you’d just die?” or whatever.

  • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    You sure you’re a leftist? I see more leftism allowed to exist on Lemmy than other platforms, but the majority of it certainly leans neoliberal.

    Try criticizing NATO or the Democrats in Lemmy communities. See how fast the powermods and groupthink kick in to put a stop to it.

    • DasKapitalist@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Try criticizing NATO or the Democrats in Lemmy communities. See how fast the powermods and groupthink kick in to put a stop to it.

      That’s on lemmy.world and lemm.ee

      lemmy.ml and a few others are more pro-left

  • TypicalHog@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Lemmy is the definition of a left-wing echo chamber. We all see it and if you downvote me for pointing this out - you are lying to yourself.

  • bstix@feddit.dk
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    1 month ago

    There are many posts preaching for the choir, but I wouldn’t call it an echo chamber. It’s more like a dead sound chamber where the ideas dies in agreement. It doesn’t bounce off the walls or resonate. It’s already there so no answer is required.

    Lemmy would benefit from more users playing the devil’s lawyer, but I think it’s too small for anyone to use their main profile for that, and alt-accounts would quickly get blocked or banned.

    Actual users with opposing views wouldn’t be of much help. Politics isn’t very nuanced these days. It’s not red or blue, left or right or whatever. It’s polarized into a new duality: Those that give a shit and those who are proud idiots. Lemmy is on the good side of this and will not benefit from being more accepting of idiots.