I find this a very odd take... You are free to say whatever you want, however people are also free to not listen to you. Why is the freedom to not listen seen as a "lesser" freedom than the freedom to say what you want?

The main benefit of federation like Mastodon and Lemmy is that if you and like-minded people in your community don't wish to listen to vitriol being spewed then you don't have to. Don't like it? Go and find an instance that does tolerate it and does want to listen.

Paradox of tolerance

The paradox of tolerance states that if a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually seized or destroyed by the intolerant. Karl Popper described it as the seemingly self-contradictory idea that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must retain the right to be intolerant of intolerance.

You will be hard-pressed to find a home on the #fediverse as somebody who is conservative. That's just a simple fact. The fediverse is generally a home for those that reject capitalism and have gone hard to the left. The reason for this is because corporate social media banned and censored people that share my viewpoints. This is most likely why you aren't getting the reception that you hoped for

That much said the protocol that makes the fediverse work, ActivityPub, is completely standard and free to use and adopt. There is nothing other than time preventing you from studying it and deriving an implementation that will put you in touch with people that share your values.

The beauty of the Fediverse is that anyone can set up an instance and, if a bunch of Nazis, for example, did that then it needn't be an issue for as, in the normal run of things, I wouldn't just stumble across it, I'd need to seek it out.

Where that Nazi instance would become an issue is if:

• Their content is illegal in the country another instance is based in (for example Germany), as anyone subscribing to a community on the Nazi server from another instance is causing that content to be drawn over and displayed in another instance. It happened recently with issues arising from lolicon.

• The Nazis decide to stir the hornets nest and start cross-posting objectionable content or just being unpleasant trolls. If an instance becomes known as a hotbed of trolls and bots it is likely to be cut off by the main instance.

Neither example is anyone scoring "Internet points".

I think I get what you're trying to say here that if you even slightly and respectfully disagree then you're banned. That's not so much a feature of Mastodon as a bug of humanity. I like to refer to it as a range of tolerance. I have a really broad range. But I have no tolerance for hatred, racism, and bigotry. There is no valid argument putting these subjects in a positive light - zero. zip. nada. There is no alternative conversation to be had where these could be remotely beneficial. I can understand and tolerate different likes and dislikes without getting impassioned. But if you attack me or my principles, I won't even glorify you with a response. It will be an instant block and I will wash my hands of it.

If you @[email protected] are generally a follower of the conservative end of the political spectrum, that is every bit your right as it is my right not to have to be subjected to that morass of hate. I am sure there are instances that federate solely around conservative values if that is what you seek out.