OK so if you feel Lemmy has been trending towards hostility in the past weeks ppease here me out, interact in the comments but keep it civil.
Lemmy vs Reddit
We all had our reasons to move to Lemmy. What I remember clearly from the beginning of the summer was that we were all praising the tone. Over the years, Reddit has become increasingly toxic - most of all in the comment section. To me, that was what made Lemmy special. Even with less content, the general vobe was what made me come back every time.
clash of the clans
Due to the nature of the fediverse, we get to interact with people with different backgrounds and dofferent ideas. Potentially an incredibly enriching experience for everyone. Anti-defed lemmings defend staying federated with everyone for that precise reason, which I really get. But lately the vibe has turned sour. Every post that has the slightest political undertone becomes this big us-vs-them show. Please stop
discussion vs. shitshow
I am not arguing for stopping discussing our opinions. I also get the whole they don’t have downvotes thing. But can we please treat eachother with dignity, and when writing comments say ‘I believe’ or ‘in my opinion’ instead of ‘you all this or that’?
I think this is the only way forward if we want to prevent everyone from personally blocking a lot of instances in the furure.
No, I don't believe just letting bigotry stand is the answer.
Just "shunning" them only works if they are actually removed by the admins. Which is the best answer, but it doesn't happen often enough. If one enter a community and sees bigotry ignored, a common assumption is that the community tolerates that bigotry, which will cause many people interested in valuable contribution to leave, leaving a higher proportion of bigots.
Every time someone opens their mouths to spout bigoted nonsense, it should be an unpleasant experience for them. If the admin isn't going to take the trash out, the community should make damn sure that they don't abide the trash themselves.
It can be argued if that is best accomplished by meeting the bigot with "civil" pity as you suggest, or outright hostility. I'm not interested in tone policing. But just letting bigotry stand unchallenged isn't the solution.
What if your negative reaction is what they want? That's how trolls operate. You might think that you're giving them a negative experience, but they love it.
They want me to have a bad time. That's different from people dogpiling a bigot and showing them a bad time.
The problem is, your actions can only ever really represent yourself. You don't have control of the entire room.
The paradox of tolerance. I'm aware of it.
However, intolerance in this regard isn't getting into shouting matches with the asshole. It means to delegitimise that person's views. To ridicule it. To push it aside as though they were the ramblings of a madman. Or to simply leave downvotes and move on. Make them feel that they can scream their message into the crowd and no one would hear them.
This we both agree on.