I get my dissenting opinions simply by existing in the society in which I exist. The hexbear "echo chamber" as you put it is small and powerless. This place is a tiny refuge, a brief respite from all the shitiness I see in my day to day life.

Hexbear isn't an "echo chamber" in the same way the republican media circuit is, because we have to leave it. Republicans never do. They can read articles and watch talking heads and never once be challenged on their beliefs. As a communist, I'm challenged on my beliefs every single day. Most articles I read and most talking heads I watch disagree with me.

We respond to lost libs like you for a few reasons. One is maybe we'll change a mind, not necessarily yours but perhaps a lurker reading the conversation. Another is entertainment. It's really funny when someone wanders in here and is the living embodiment of the memeing we do. Sometimes we want an argument, usually because we're having a shitty day and just want to be an asshole on the Internet. This isn't a good motivation and I wish it didn't happen, but it does. None of us is immune.

You're getting responses not because we're unused to being challenged, but because we want to respond to you for whatever reason. My response here is explaining our inner workings so hopefully you can come away from this thread seeing us as people with ideas that we believe. We haven't been tricked into thinking as we do, most of us go against the grain of our societies to come to our beliefs. I want to change a mind today, ideally yours, and I've chosen a gentle tone full of candor to try to do so. Will it be effective? I have no way of knowing, but I hope so. Please realize we're not bots or russian agents or trapped in a cult or whatever, we're humans with thoughts and experiences that have led us to our beliefs.

We don't have downvotes because it's a dog-brained way to do discussion. As a result, when somebody posts something really stupid we can't just downvote you, we have to reply if we want to let you know we think you're a clown.

There are numerous instances still federated with hexbear, there are actual arguments here where people are actually trying to learn. It's one of the further things from an echo chamber, you can't even downvote!

Lmao at the idea that a bunch of western leftists could ever manage to create an echo chamber. We all get the mainstream news bud, we just have the sense to do a little of a deeper analysis. You are correct though you did "trigger" the users: We get so many dumbass libs that come in with the smuggest of attitudes while dropping the shallowest and most surface-level analyses while believing they're blowing our minds and it is tiring and infuriating, so users no longer treat such condescention from dumbasses kindly, they instead just give you what you deserve. People here are triggered by dumbasses who love the smell of their own farts.

Could you imagine users here actually do have access to CNN and the like, so we do actually know of the copium you huff? Seems to me like your kind are the ones that generally don't encounter dissent, considering the reactions that come whenever users say they won't vote for a genocider.

Shitting my pants and then commenting on all the people mocking me for shitting my pants "huh must have struck a chord huh must have triggered them huh must have scared the echo chamber huh must have made some salient points"

Honestly this is rich considering that the other instances defederderated because they don't want to hear a dissenting opinion, not the other way around.

I think you'll find that people on here generally love when someone from another instance wanders in lol.