It's amazing. It's something I've noticed time and time again in online communities. The more you restrict people's speech, and the more you force people to be civil and kind to each other, the nastier and more immature people get. It's almost as if, if you treat people like children who can't control themselves without jannie intervention, they will take on that role and act on it, whereas if you treat people like adults who are responsible for their own actions and for their own reputations, they'll act like adults instead.
We don't all agree when it comes to policies and worldviews, yet this whole place is incredibly welcoming, regardless of how much more left-leaning we (and especially half-KIA) are compared to our neighbours.
This sort of neighbourly and genuinely positive (and not just "cashier smile" kind of positive) interaction between people, especially people who don't necessarily fully agree, is what is going to lead to the healing and rebuilding of western society after all these calamitous events. It takes all kinds of people to keep a society running, after all.
I'm absolutely on the left wing of the spectrum (though decently close to the center) and I can absolutely acknowledge that. The left is fucking insufferable. I disagree with a decent amount of what the right has to say policy-wise, but I'd rather interact with them regardless, they're far less deranged.
This, flipped, was me with SSC. One of the few places you could hold a decently-rational discourse. Did I fit in? Hell no. Did I get called out on things? Hell yes. But it was people actually picking out faults in my arguments, or narrowing down to differences in underlying values. Not namecalling and social shaming.
RIP SSC :-(
Still on reddit, with two subs. Who knows how long they'll last though, the second one especially.
The subs - even if I still could put up with Reddit - were never nearly as good as SSC itself, although I could never articulate particularly coherently why it was better.
I tried googling but really couldn't find anything I'm sure about. What's SSC and what happened to it? I found a sub called Slate Star Codex but I have no idea what that is.
From my limited understanding:
SSC is SlateStarCodex. Run by a center-left dude who posted overly long treatises about random topics, frequently intersecting with politics. He often acknowledged certain realities about how the left vehemently attacks differences of opinion.
I remember one blog post he made where he outlined and acknowledged the truth of "if an organization is not explicitly right-wing, it will eventually be taken over and become left-wing".
Slate Star Codex is/was a blog, though that description doesn't do it justice.
If you follow the link you'll find a much better description of what happened to it than I could provide.
/r/slatestarcodex (and r/TheMotte) are both subs centered around the SSC community.
There is no real policy dispute between the parties. The democrats want the deregulations that make them wealthy, and the republicans want the protections that keep that annoying market from toppling the monopolies. It's commie-cop-capitalist-cop.
Second red pill, the people rioting in the streets are a normal part of the routine:
Hand out money to people who have nothing. You own them now. Without you, they don't eat.
When they notice they are trapped, tell them that someone else is trying to keep them down.
Point at your political enemies, or the general populace if there isn't one convenient, and wait for them to beg for it to stop.
Save the day by placating the mob with the policy that you printed on the signs for them. Something you already wanted. Preferably something that will make the mob easier to unleash next time.
Repeat
I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with what I commented, but regardless, you're not wrong. Maybe a little exaggerated but it does seem mostly correct.
Of course there's a policy dispute. With all due respect are you high? Why do you think the two hate each other so much? Democrats want INCREASED regulations and shit to kill competition and let their big companies keep getting bigger. Republicans want less government intervention so competition can fuel the markets. Democrat policies, (most) of the time, are what create huge monopolies. Monopolies should only be broken up if they obtain enough of a stranglehold on the market that the company itself can be considered as its own government.