this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025
1070 points (95.7% liked)
Political Memes
5831 readers
2576 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That applies to anyone who uses terms like:
It's a way for them to dismiss those that disagree with them by plugging their ears going "HIVEMINDHIVEMINDHIVEMINDHIVEMIND!"
If I am disagreeing with someone I am disagreeing with the individual and the arguments they are making. How many people agree or disagree with them is irreverent to the validity of the statements they are making. (See: Appeal to Popularity)
It's intellectually lazy and serves no purpose other than giving an excuse to not mentally engage with other points of view. At which point why are you bothering to engage at all?
If I think a community is an echo chamber I'm not going to go in there to say "you guys are all in an echo chamber!" And expect that to go over well. I'm not going to waste my time going on Truth Social trying to find the handful of reasonable people in that community, I'll just go somewhere else.
...except I'm not pushing my way of thinking on anyone else? Nor will I stop speaking to them simply because we disagree on something.
I have never gone "well you're in a hivemind so I'm gonna ignore you". I do call out people who mindlessly repeat the same things as everyone else in their circles without taking any time to have their own critical thoughts about the things themselves.
I think there is value in telling people they are inside of an echo chamber because occasionally they take a step back and realize that they are. It's rare but I see happen from time to time. I am willing to eat downvotes from the "hivemind" or whatever you want to call it if it means that something I said causes someone else to realize they are in a bubble and they start thinking for themselves or seek out other views to see where they actually fall on things. I've pulled several friends out of alt right dude bro circles over the last few years who were drowning in that particular tar pit of garbage.
That's what you called it. The problem with complaining about a "hivemind" is that it denies the possibility that the person is thinking for themselves and this is the conclusion they legitimately agree with. As I said, it's an intellectually lazy way to dismiss an argument you don't agree with, and to not reflect on your own comments that others disagree with.
I'm a simple man, I see the word "hivemind" and I downvote the comment.
When you're talking to people you can sorta start to tell after awhile if they are arguing their points from their own beliefs or if they are just repeating what they have heard or been told by others around them.
You want me to say Ideological Purity instead of hivemind? We both know what I'm talking about when I say hivemind. Does the fact that you are willingly participating in a hivemind yourself potentially bother you? Is that your issue with that word? What word would you use to describe a group of people that all think exactly the same and they downvote or block anyone who doesn't think those exact same things? Please tell me what term you would use to describe that group of individuals.
Listening isn't your strong suit is it? My issue is it is dehumanizing to the person you are talking to and you are dismissing their agency. It is also intellectually lazy.
There's nothing wrong with the term "echo chamber" or describing a community as being in a bubble. You're not dismissing their ideas as not their own, they are just expressing them among people who have the same ideas and won't challenge them on it. That doesn't mean they don't honestly hold and believe those ideas.
You know what. You are right. I should not be using hivemind and echo chamber interchangeably.
That was not an accurate word for what I was talking about. Some of the people I interact with around here are absolutely part of a hivemind but for the majority it would be more accurate to describe them as willingly/purposely staying in an echo chamber or bubble as you stated.
My apologies for not listening carefully when you said that a few comments back.