I Don't Understand People Who Are Against Blocking on Facebook
A good and smart friend of mine wrote a post on Facebook today, in which he spoke out against people blocking others based on political/societal disagreements.
I was surprised to see how much support the post got. And from smart people that I know and respect.
Me?
I have hundreds of names on my block list, which I've been growing since a decade ago in 2008.
Basically, if a person outs him or herself as an idiot, I block. Very often without hesitation. Just like I've muted a bunch of people on Steemit.
I've never understood people's difficulty in comprehending this. To me, a blocking feature is just amazing. It gives me the freedom to control my feed, as well as the content I get exposed to.
Pretty much without fail, left-wing or SJW or similar (((content))) will just ruin my day. I only have so much time and energy to spend per day. Why would I waste any of that on getting frustrated with content that's guaranteed to make me mad?
Ideally, the blocking feature would be enough for sites like Facebook to stop banning people altogether since the users can just block people they don't want to see and decide for themselves instead of Facebook deciding for them.
This is how the adult world works, you know?
There was a time I was into internet debates, but years of experience taught me that no one ever changes their mind on anything. There's pride, there's ego, there's all sorts of things. And people's ideologies from socialism to libertarianism to feminism to facism to "human righs" to what fucking ever are religions.
They're always religions. They are always a form of religion.
None of us fucking know shit. We just have preferences. And they're probably random. Although there was that one study that suggested that conservatism and liberalism are hard-wired into our brains from birth and we basically have one leaning or the other. But that's a different topic.
I've long since made peace with the fact that I advocate for a certain type of society because it's what I want. It's not because I'm principled. It's not because I want a better world. I want those 1950s nuclear families because it would make me feel better.
My point being that debating someone online is a waste of time. Always has been. Always will be. People change their minds on their own if they're so inclined.
Exactly! Ignoring is the best way to deal with unwanted stuff in the internet.
I got annoyed with all of my 2 party friends sharing the daily news arguments we like to have in the US. I think debating politics in it's current form is an act of stupidity, but I love my stupid friends and family, so I started to block the political site that they were using to share memes and other divisive content. I like it. I still get to see what they had for dinner and I can ignore their mission to pass on propaganda.
Hah. Yeah, I guess that's a pretty cool workaround!
Much like political debate, online debate is usually about scoring points, playing to the audience, and showing how right you are.
There probably are people online who are capable of a proper discussion, aimed at information exchange, learning, and getting a better idea of what's what, and reaching a conclusion. There must be, surely. Somewhere.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve come across a few. But very few and far between they are.
They should be muted. No place for such folk on the interwebs. Old-school folk on a hip medium. Can't have that.
I guess my whole thing is, I’ve grown past the point of needing to show anyone how right I am.
I don’t give a toss, really.
I’m right very often. I make a difference never.
Nobody knows what really goes on anyway, in any field. All we have is models of reality. I try to find models that work well in practice, and if a better model presents itself, I'll adopt it. If a model fails to predict well, I reject it.
Don't care much if I support the "right" model, and I can live with not having a model that works in some fields; much better than just making something up and being religious about it. I can accept there are no working economic models, for instance. Doesn't keep me awake at night.
I do like coming up with models that work and that let me build things that work, there is that; that's where a difference can be made. Not sure how to make a difference in other ways, most certainly not by just being "right", and least of all by shouting about it.
Have I been muted yet?
Anyway, not feeling the urge to show you're right all the time does make for a more pleasant life, I think. And proving someone wrong is only important if you like someone and the consequences of their being wrong are severe. But I suppose it is called "trying to help" then.
Would you block the comment section if this would be possible here on steemit respectively prefer having a choice in doing that in case you want or don't want to have comments?
Not sure if I understand the same under the "debate" term you do. For me, a debate is something artful.
I wonder how long until I'm muted Thinking_Emoji
Either way, I disagree halfway. Blocking people who do nothing but spam you is fine, but entering a bubble can be kind of destructive in itself. I used to be anti-block, but then I became openly transgender on the internet and after being swarmed with "kys faggot" on a daily basis, I decided I had enough lmfao.
also, #TRADLIFE
Nah. I like you. And it's not like I don't have "leftist" friends. I do. But they're cool people and have something to offer.
I mean, it's completely and totally arbitrary.
But you've never outright attacked me, and I have no desire to do that to you.
I must ramp up the missiles then. Get your defenses ready.
Lol.
No problem with blocking people in my book. As you said, online debates are worthless and my time is valuable.
Yup.
Good points - if I used fakebook I'd block everyone retarded enough to be on fakebook :)
And I thought I was annoying and pretentious for putting over the fact that I'm better than other people because I don't watch TV.
LOL - and I don't watch TV either...
What do you want from me? A fucking pat on the back? Because you’re soooo special because you’re not on Facebook.
A pat on the back would be lovely, but what I really want is to see you call me a dickhead because you don't care if I give your comment a 5 cent upvote when you offend me.
We should catch up on zionbook and downvote each other's comments!
www.frot.co.nz
I have each and everybody on Facebook on my block list (as I left the place eons ago), but apart from that I agree that there is not much achieved by arguing with people on the internet (or in real life for that matter), except if you want to train your trolling skills.
There is a risk of blinding us if we expose ourselves exclusively to information with which we agree. It's usually what people on the left do.
But that others decide for you, or for me, is much worse, Facebook should stop doing that.
Me too.