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John Carter's avatar

99% of everything is shit, always has been, always will be. Music, art, scientific papers - applies everywhere. Best you can do is put out the best you can and try not to let the cacaphonous fluting of the mad idiot god Azathoth get to you.

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Archangel's avatar

Hi Rolo,

You have an uncanny ability to surprise. Your rant is thoughtful.

I used to read reddit; 12-15 years ago. Discussions were free although many descended in acrimony. Then in 2014-2015 the righteous started censoring ideas and many subreddits split, mostly on the progressive-reactionary fault line. Both sides censored the ideas of the opposing side. I left Reddit then.

The phenomenon prompted some thinking. Printed press used to be segmented : communist, socialist, liberal, conservative, christian, monarchist, reactionary papers flourished and appealed to their particular readership. You named the phenomenon selling mind slop. Why not. The free exchange of ideas occurred only on TV because channels were few and every faction wanted to be present, so they had to share the same broadcasts. Same thing on the internet : debating by educated people on Usenet in the 1980's and 1990's was integrated then split when computers became more powerful and the creation of newsgroups easier ; same on Digg in the 2000's and on Reddit circa 2008-2014.

Hence the scarceness of the medium drove the integration of the debate, even among the educated, not the love of free speech. It must be an inherently human proclivity. Being attached to free speech and debating is unnatural hence can be learned and sustained only by a small minority.

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