I think this is a little bit outside of the ask, but I’d like to find a place that is both positive and relatively politically neutral.

Part of what drive me here was that the tip of the iceberg (facebook, instagram, tiktok) feel so deeply infused with ads/ai/influencers that even the content I like is likely deceitful. This bums me out and makes me not want to use social media.

Places like reddit and any of the #chans have less of this, but the baked-in politics in both make of them bum me out.

I like that Lemmy feels like it’s actual people, but the politics and negativity can get to be a little much for me. I don’t like to think about things I don’t like, and while I can the value in being informed of things that I may need to act on, I don’t think that constantly bringing up things we take for granted is helpful.

What I want to be doing is getting to build and be a part of something positive and purposeful, something people do because they’re passionate, something that is so cool that the shitty stuff outside kind of pales in comparison. I’ve met lots of cool people on here that are that way, and I’ve been able to filter some of the negativity out by ignoring posts that I know will bring that out in people, but still, it would be cool to see something like that.

I hope it’s as simple as finding the right instance for me.

It’s cool that they copped to it as well as they did. I wouldn’t have expected that.

I think longer writeups help to provide for the inevitable nitty-gritty (you can’t click the button because it’s not there, etc) while also provide for holistic development, kind of like how incognito mode doesn’t really mean anything because google is still tracking you.

A few things motivate me to move to Linux. I’ve been made aware of the privacy concerns with Microsoft, and since they’re sunsetting Win10, I expect there’s a bunch of security exploits that will be leveraged almost immediately. I also don’t like doing things I can’t lay out logically, and I haven’t been given good enough reasons to get a new OS/machine, especially because tech is a very small part of my life (I have a thinkpad from 2012 and use it like your grandma uses her PC). Improved UI, inclusion of AI, and whatever other capabilities are things I didn’t ask for. That leads into the principle of the argument, I just won’t be in an abusive money-based relationship with anyone, person or corporation. Microsoft doesn’t seem like they’d be a good friend, or even a good business partner, and I don’t like the underlaying vibe I get from the services they provide, so I just won’t participate in whatever they’ve got going.

Linux, on the other hand, seems to be functional enough to meet my needs and comes without all of the other stuff Microsoft does that I’ve already complained about. In other words, Linux seems like a Honda Civic, and I’m good with that.

I appreciated your description of the depression loop that came from the exposé youtube videos on Win11. It’s something I’m deeply aware of within my own life (I started with the Christine Chubbuck thing) and have taken leaps to get away from that whole cycle of mental torture (it feels kind of Plato’s allegory of the cave). Have you been able to develop/connect/apply that line of thought elsewhere in your life?

I’m not aware of the stuff with Firefox specifically, but I think I can agree with the premise. It seems that this boils down to the question of whether “good enough” really is.

This line of thinking is particularly relevant within this community. For instance, Proton/Tuta isn’t immune to subpoenas, so the only way I can think of to have truly secure email is to have a self-hosted service with a dead man switch. However, most email providers block most self-hosted email servers… so one either needs to compromise, or not participate. It’s an uncomfortable place for a lot of people, and calls into question their morals as well as their commitment to the same. I think this is why points that may seem spurious may often creep in, because we’re all trying to find something to better inform our decisions in uncertain circumstances.

Of course. It seems that one of the foundational truths of antifascism is the approach that fascism, operates in all tenets of life, not just on the debate floor, and so if one resigns themselves to only confronting fascism using the establishes channels (i.e. voting), they are “leaving the back door open”, so to speak.

This leads to a certain suspicion toward all things; for example, not accepting trump’s dismissal of project 2025, because it is a forgone conclusion that lying about something that is exactly something a fascist would do.

However, I think that worldview can complicate (and at times create tension with) other discussions, i.e. Proton. Someone who may not consider themselves fascist or antifascist, and just wants to degoogle, may look up Proton and feel as if they don’t have the tools to separate the stuff which isn’t in the scope of their inquiry from the stuff that does, which what I think is going on here.

To put it another way, it’s like someone saying they want a burger and asking if mcdonald’s is good, then being told that mcdonald’s sucks because their food is unhealthy, they facilitate factory farming, and they take advantage of the economically disadvantaged. While those data points are important to the person sharing their opinion, and may very well extend to the life of the individual asking, it doesn’t say anything about whether the food tastes good or not, thereby leaving the initial question unresolved.

So while the data points about proton’s CEO (and anyone else who may be implicated) may be true, and while there may be wider implications as well, it can serve to muddy the waters for those who are coming in perpendicular to the conversation.

Saving this to go over later. Thank you for the writeup! I’m also looking at going from Win10 to Mint.

I’ve noticed that there’s a peculiarly dogmatic approach to antifascism here, and I think that colors a lot of the discussion around Proton.

Damn, that’s terrible. Thank you for the links (although I’m not going to read them all, to preserve my sanity)

I’m not very familiar with this stuff, but it sounds terrible. When has this happened in the past?

Google being a little removed and saying it “detected abnormal traffic coming from my IP” (I was googling something I google often) was my last straw, which ultimately led to me being here and degoogling.

A few years ago I was friends with a cohort of soon-to-be Psychologists, and it was a well known fact that your options for easy employment* were either to get a job as a therapist for a major health corp and make little money and have to deal with the terrible admin, or make 2-3x working for a tech company but having to incur the karmic debt of trying to give Jolly West and James Mitchell a run for their money in the Lawful Evil competition.

*Private practice, teaching, and/or research have their own hurdles that are typically too high a barrier for entry for new grads

Memes aside, my friends and I genuinely would have murdered these things with rocks had they come out before we’d turned 18.

What are you trying to accomplish with this comment

The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend

does that fuckin weenie still train bjj or was that just for show

missing this_tbh

It could be; but, the ones advocating for the punitive punishments rarely consider that their own heads could be next on the chopping block (sometimes literally).

There’s also a bunch of research that seems to say that rehabilitation is typically better at preventing crime.

It has to do with recognition. For instance, Sealand meets all of the requirements: a permanent population, a defined territory, an effective government, and the capacity to engage in relations with other states (I believe this is codified somewhere in the UN’s laws and policies).

But, most places don’t consider Sealand a real country because other countries don’t officially recognize it. Which is kind of weird to think, that being a country is like being a popular girl: if the other popular girls say you’re a popular girl, then you are. If they decide you’re not, then you’re not.

So, while there is a quantified threshold, the de facto rule is whether other countries recognize you. It’s also similar for honorific titles.