I feel like we need to talk about Lemmy's massive tankie censorship problem. A lot of popular lemmy communities are hosted on lemmy.ml. It's been well known for a while that the admins/mods of that instance have, let's say, rather extremist and onesided political views. In short, they're what's colloquially referred to as tankies. This wouldn't be much of an issue if they didn't regularly abuse their admin/mod status to censor and silence people who dissent with their political beliefs and for example, post things critical of China, Russia, the USSR, socialism, ...
As an example, there was a thread today about the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. When I was reading it, there were mostly posts critical of China in the thread and some whataboutist/denialist replies critical of the USA and the west. In terms of votes, the posts critical of China were definitely getting the most support.
I posted a comment in this thread linking to "https://archive.ph/2020.07.12-074312/https://imgur.com/a/AIIbbPs" (WARNING: graphical content), which describes aspects of the atrocities that aren't widely known even in the West, and supporting evidence. My comment was promptly removed for violating the "Be nice and civil" rule. When I looked back at the thread, I noticed that all posts critical of China had been removed while the whataboutist and denialist comments were left in place.
This is what the modlog of the instance looks like:
Definitely a trend there wouldn't you say?
When I called them out on their one sided censorship, with a screenshot of the modlog above, I promptly received a community ban on all communities on lemmy.ml that I had ever participated in.
Proof:
So many of you will now probably think something like: "So what, it's the fediverse, you can use another instance."
The problem with this reasoning is that many of the popular communities are actually on lemmy.ml, and they're not so easy to replace. I mean, in terms of content and engagement lemmy is already a pretty small place as it is. So it's rather pointless sitting for example in /c/linux@some.random.other.instance.world where there's nobody to discuss anything with.
I'm not sure if there's a solution here, but I'd like to urge people to avoid lemmy.ml hosted communities in favor of communities on more reasonable instances.
It seems to me you have more of an issue with the concept of the draft, which ok, is a fine position to take. Nothing wrong with having a stance on that. Some people are pacifists and radically opposed to any type of armed conflict or draft service. But there are valid arguments for the draft too, so you can't just write them off by painting Zelenski into some type of tyrannical despot.
But that's neither here or there. The country is already in the midst of a full fledged war and elections don't typically occur in time of war.
I've found that it's best to be precise when articulating a position. When you paint things in broad strokes (ie Zelenskis cabinet as authoritarian) you are inviting unnecessary argumentation from other sides. If your thesis is that the draft is authoritarian then argue your point why you think that is. For instance, I do contend that the draft was executed in Russia under Putin is a manifestation of an authoritarian exercise because there is no justification for the war. Russian soldiers are not going to the meat grinder to defend their homeland. It's a completely different take. I can also provide counter arguments as to why the notion of the draft is not authoritarian when it's implemented in the service of defense.
I do have an issue with killing people (because that's what draft is - you force somebody to go war, where they die) who done you no harm, indeed.
I'm not and I don't really care about what other people do to each other, as long as both parties consent, they are free to wound, murder, rape and do whatever else to each other - "whatever makes your boat float" or something..
Is there something one can't provide a valid argument for?
For one, slavery is extremely good for the economy, if we enslave all the black people (or anybody else, black is here just to make a point) we can have lots of goods and services for fraction of the cost for example, we will solve the unaffordable housing very quickly and many other problems, wouldn't you agree?
And yet, I guess, if somebody does that - people will probably argue that that person is a tyrannical despot or something?
Zelensky effectively enslaved the Ukraine, where people are forced to do what he says, can't leave, and so on, and yet I wrong to say he is a tyrannical despot?
I am not too well-versed to really argue that point, but quick googling "are elections held during wartime" paints a mixed picture really, and says that at least in case of US it did hold elections during wars.
My point is a little bit different than simple "draft is not okay" (although that is definitely included) - people in the west are thinking that by helping the Ukrainian government they are helping Ukrainians to survive, and I am trying to tell people that it is exactly the opposite, and by supporting our government, they are only contributing to more of us dying and suffering (and so, I consider them directly responsible for all the deaths), as simple as that.
I'm having a problem with this narration of "helping".
If the narration was honest, like "let's support Zelensky's regime and supply him with weapons, because we want to harm Russia no matter the cost and no matter how many Ukrainians die" then it'd be a different conversation, but it isn't.
So, I guess, my point is trying to make people admit that this ^ is the case, and not "but we are helping Ukrainians and you are a russian bot!" 🤷♂️.
Thanks for the advice tho, I suppose you are right that I should be more precise when articulating a position.
I understand what you're saying.
On another note, are you Ukrainian by any chance brother? I really feel for you and I can tell that the draft is reality and not a joke for you if that's the case. I hope I wasn't rude and that you stay safe.
I am. Although nobody believes that because I don't praise our glorious Lord and Savior Zelensky.
Thanks man, really appreciate it! It's rare to hear that on this instance :(
You are perfectly reasonable, I wish the rest of the instance could participate in a civil discussion instead of name-calling and ad hominem.
Thanks again man.
I am safe, as I've left Ukraine before the war started, so unless other countries start cooperating with Zelensky's regime and kidnap people from the streets [and send them to Ukraine to die] there is no threat for me.
Unfortunately it's not true for some of my family members, my friends, and millions of Ukrainians :(
I totally understand! Peace and love homie.
It's genuinely nice to see two people with completely different opinions and views on a topic just get along nevermind engage in civil discourse and debate. Thats something I find Exceptionally hard to find on Lemmy. Thumbs up from me mate 👍
That's Lemmy.world for ya! Stick around 🙂
I've been on instance for 8 months now m8.