I’ve been seeing a worrying number of these people on Lemmy lately, sharing enlightened takes including but not limited to “voting for Biden is tantamount to fascism” and “the concept of an assigned gender, or even an assigned name, at birth is transphobic” and none of them seem to be interested in reading more than the first sentence of any of my comments before writing a reply.

More often than not they reply with a concern I addressed in the comment they’re replying to, without any explanation of why my argument was invalid. Some of them cannot even state their own position, instead simply repeatedly calling mine oppressive in some way.

It occurred to me just now that these interactions reminded me of nothing so much as an evangelical Christian I got into an argument with on Matrix a while ago, in which I met him 95% of the way, conceded that God might well be real and that being trans was sinful and tried to convince him not to tell that to every trans person he passed, and failed. I am 100% convinced he was trolling – in retrospect I’m pretty sure I could’ve built a municipal transport system by letting people ride on top of his goalposts (that’s what I get for picking a fight with a Christian at 2AM) – and the only reason I’m not convinced these leftists on Lemmy are trolls is the sheer fucking number of them.

I made this post and what felt like half the responses fell into this category. Am I going insane?

  • AVincentInSpaceOPEnglish
    1920·
    8 months ago

    Oh my god. Tumblr’s reading comprehension is better than this.

    I’m not saying your political opinions are the same as those of the right. I’m saying you use the same bad faith tactics that they do to spread them.

    Namely, you both believe that nothing short of perfection on the first go is worth pursuing, and anyone who dares to pursue it is at best wasting their efforts and at worst a traitor to the cause.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      148·
      8 months ago

      I’m saying you use the same bad faith tactics

      Uh-huh

      Namely, you both believe that nothing short of perfection on the first go

      Biden has been in office since 1973. Crack open the '94 Crime Bill, the '05 Bankruptcy Bill, and the How Does This Keep Getting Worse Every Time They Renewed It Patriot Act.

      We are well past his first go and nowhere in the ballpark of perfection.