I've pointed a couple folks to Lemmy.world and it's uhhh, pretty hard Left for them (as one girl, who volunteered for the Democrats said "I just got yelled at because I can't be Left wing unless I want to destroy capitalism? Which feels weird.") We're much farther Left than reddit which itself was definitely Left of centre...

I don't know if decentralized open source social media actually attracts many mainstreamers but assuming we want to grow the fediverse, I'd like to have somewhere I can point people to without feeling very nervous for them.

Thanks!

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[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 6 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

While I do think some ways of communicating are certainly more effective than others, social change also requires some amount of tension to be effective. Cordial methods are often the first to be tried, and are also most often summarily ignored.

Moderates often find tension emotionally distressing because it pierces their perception of themselves as a morally just person. They sometimes perceive what is often valid criticism as being yelled at. This tension is required in order to enact social change, though.

As someone who has been on the receiving end of that tension before, I can attest it's an unpleasant experience, but it passes, and hopefully leaves room for some amount of contemplation in its place.

I'd highly recommend reading MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", as he bridges the concept much more eloquently than I could ever hope to.