Clement Tahershamsi @Clementulus@qoto.org

@kilroy_was_here @freemo . I get what you are saying but I think that common refrain about not teaching taxes in school is more about what schools choose to emphasize in their teaching efforts. Hell, you can just pick up a book and learn all about WW2 if you want to or just about any other subject as well. The point is more that the school system emphasizes intellectual pursuits under the mostly false assumption that parents will teach kids practical skills at home.

@Baley The main argument used by leftists against voting NDP is that it helps get conservatives elected in many ridings, since the left-of-centre vote is split but the right all vote for one party. Each riding is a first-past-the-post election just like in the US. Could use ranked-choice voting here too.

@maxkasy What an excellent article! It is truly sad how the most powerful nations have for centuries promoted and exploited sectarian and class divisions for their own ends, whether intentionally or not. The remedy for this is the willing unification of these disparate peoples and the conscious elimination of these ancestral sources of contention and strife. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and continuing to this day, the Baha'i Faith has brought together many individuals from all the backgrounds present in the regions in question, from the jewish, christian, zoroastrian and all different sects of islam and from the majority of the differing ethnic groups. They all came together in peace and harmony and continue to promote peace in the wider society to this day. For this they have been heavilly persecuted, especially in Iran. Had the majority of the people in those areas adopted those same principles, this perennial violence, whether produced by foreign meddling or not, would hardly be possible, especially not to the degree that it has. I am heartened when I see more evidence of those ideals being promoted among the young Iranians, Iraqis and others, but real change is, unfortunately, still a distant goal.

@katrinatransfem @freemo @theothersimo @meredithw @Wolven
Gonna shout out @maxkasy who has/is publishing excellent papers on this very topic. Check him out!

@PBruce @freemo @NMBA
This has to be intentional irony, right? There is no way it could not be. But maybe.... nah. Its gotta be intentional. I hope.🙊

@thesquirrelfish Thats ok. I dont really think you have understood what I have previously written at all and I am not sure how I could word it so that you would but if thats what you choose to take away from this conversation, all the power to ya. Cheers

@thesquirrelfish Child porn is obviously wrong on so many levels and needs to be stopped and obviously we agree that it is harmful to view such imagery so we completely agree that it should not be allowed to exist anywhere regardless of ones views of free speech.
But if you think that merely seeing an ideology is harmful to thinking adults then I would find that a very paternalistic mindset. I have studied nazi ideology in various university settings, listened to lectures about the psychology behind it and even read excerpts of Mein Kampf for similar purposes; i probably know the ideology more thoroughly than most actual neo-nazis and yet I somehow find myself still in disagreement with everything it stands for and am still disgusted by people who espouse even portions of its tenets. Did any of that study harm me? No. Would seeing some random person online foolishly supporting those doctrines harm me? No. Do ignorant people exist who will fall for these foolish ideas? Yes there are, but the solution to this is education, not just trying to make them even more ignorant which is itself a supremacist idea.

@thesquirrelfish In terms of what I see when I look at my screen yes it is tolerable. Seeing child porn and then needing to block it after the fact would be unacceptable and I would never use social media if that was the case. Seeing someone spout nazi ideology might make me shake my head in disgust but its not gonna scar me for life. Maybe other people feel differently but lile i said before there are tons of moderated communities that block every instance where they believe nazis to be so if that stuff scares you, you are perfectly free to join those communities.

@futurebird reddit is a decent example of an open structure that in some ways mirrors reality, you can try to find communities that interest you and then participate in those communities and yes, they have shares values that are reflected in their moderation but the platform itself is neutral. Did I ever choose to go on rpolitics? No. But when I wanted a good chuckle at goofballs throwing all their money into gamestop stock, rwsb was the place to be. I think that I just use social media differently where I mostly look at OPs and rarely the comments, which I put zero stock in since its mostly just people trying to be obnoxious.