Casual Conversation

Agreed in the first half, and the first part of the second, but not the last. If you've ever had a good meal, does that mean that you should never attempt to have another good meal experience again?

OP is doing what many of us on the Fediverse long for - attempting to have a deeper conversation. It never works, at least not for me, but I do understand the attempt. People are simply not capable of setting aside their biases and preconditions and conversing in that kind of "safe space" environment, here. Instead, people actively downvote and move on, angry that you even so much as tried. Maybe an upcoming change to allow for private communities will help change things, when not every single post can appear on All to pollute everyone's feed.

A personal example is my post: [Opinion] Biden Must Resign, which wasn't even my firm opinion yet at the time but I thought that the article had made some great points that were worthy to explore & think about. Never mind the vindication that it ended up happening, never mind how patiently and repeatedly and firmly I mentioned that "blue no matter who", never mind that the position was endorsed by the likes of Jon Stewart (my personal fucking hero) and George Clooney (who I'm not just citing as being famous, but rather someone who personally met with Biden recently just before that time, as e.g. I for one did not) - it was still downvoted far into the negative (ironically, if you sort that community's posts by Controversial, this is the second post with a negative score, and the first one with a double-digit negative score, so apparently I've caused a new record low by having posted it there).

Another, this time non-political, personal example is ...Will Save Your Life Next Week (13:25) that despite being (later) chosen by the non-profit Tournesol group to combat misinformation as one of their top 50 videos, once again features prominently if you sort that community by Controversial, appearing at the bottom of the first page for me right now. Admittedly the source gave it a click-bait sounding title on YouTube, which it seems they later changed, but on the other hand it is "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell", so I felt that it was very deserving of a deeper look despite that. It seems that most people disagreed so strongly that they actively downvoted it in order to get it to appear lower - this time not setting any new records, but still being on the first page among others with similar total scores and negative feedback.

Lemmy wants what it wants: content promoting Linux, memes, and news that lately (aside from the weather) seems mostly politics. The crowd-Think here is strong, and while I for one may rarely ever downvote anything (almost always reserved for when I feel the person speaking is being mean in some manner), others vehemently disagree, and also speak up with their comments as well. Most of which ignoring the points that you may have wanted to discuss, and instead being quick to hit the usual talking points that all of the other comments also say as well - essentially giving the person "a good talking-to" for their nerve to stand up and speak up, with something not universally agreed-upon; or else simply not responding to it at all.

But there is hope. e.g. [email protected] and [email protected] exist, to try to feed our souls, and there are always books to read rather than spending all our time on the internets:-).

I'm disabled and stuck at home. I have no alternative or option but to bottle or try. My chronic issues make it harmful for me to go anywhere that is not a necessity, and doing so is painful enough I am not myself.

People are fundamentally capable of more complex conversations but ultimately lack the maturity to see nuance and use a heightened self awareness when they have other easier outlets and assume others do as well. It is a major factor in the aloneness and insulated feeling of being in my situation.