Someone explain this to me...
When I awoke this morning, I distinctly remember having 177 followers. I then spent the majority of my day finishing up this article. About five minutes after posting, I refreshed the page to find that I now had only 175 followers.
Am I missing something here? I did my best to be as objective as possible in my writing and I don't want to believe that not one, but two people would be willing to unfollow someone based on a title of a post without bothering to read it. With only five minutes passing however, it is difficult to believe that anyone had the time to read the article and decide it warranted an unfollow.
I'd appreciate it if someone could give the post a read and tell me if I have overlooked something that gives reason for others to interpret my writing as disrespectful, or any other negativity that could result in one opting to unfollow me. I know I touched on some very sensitive issues but, I felt that I broached them in a delicate manner. Though, sometimes it can be difficult to judge your own work, especially when spending an extended period of time on it, so if there is something that ought to be changed then I'd like to do it while I still have the opportunity.
Thanks in advance to any who assist me with this.
As some of the other comments said, it's always hard to know for sure when there's not a comment made and personally I've never gotten an 'unfollow' statement before. Just kind of how that goes.
If interested, you can actually see your follows/unfollows here to actually see who and choose to ask why if you really want to.
On the comments talking about the dictator vs democracy post, there are certain things that will both attract and drive away people, but sometimes it isn't even in regards to a post, being just cleaning up a follow feed (I've seen some people who unfollow nearly everyone on their list to start over again...to prevents 'monoculture'/force new people to find/read/etc.
In the end, it's more crucial (in my opinion) to write/post what you want and feel to be important/interesting which will accrue followers on those things or on you as the individual behind it. :)
I am curious on you're dictator vs democracy post now though. Lol. I've thought in that area before in the sense of 'efficiency.' Democracy was purposely created to be slow moving.
Thanks a lot for that link. I knew of steemdb but, I had no idea how much information was on there. It would appear that my unfollows were unrelated to the post. I have gained 2 since I lost that 2 anyway, so it's progress nonetheless.
I do intend to continue to write about things which are aligned with my thoughts and feelings. I have also risked downvotes before with a particularly controversial comment, that went on to become the most upvoted comment I have ever written, so I feel the Steemit community for the most part are very open minded and willing to hear everyone's opinions.
That's why I felt the need to make this post, because two people unfollowing me for such a reason seemed unlikely based on my experience with this community. We know now that what I thought may have happened did not, so I am happy about that.
Slow moving sounds applicable to system I grew up in, but at the moment it seems things are moving faster than ever.. Though, we no longer have democracy. Only the embodiment of it through our right to vote.
Npnp, I was happy when they started including the follow list there.
I tend to think of the ideal situation (even though temporary, because those who follow don't always follow suit) to be the 'benevolent dictator.' The closest examples I've found in modern times (in my mind) could be the Dalai Lama (even though he's not been in Tibet for decades) or the King of Bhutan (who ended up setting up democracy there, essentially removing himself as king.)
Imo, ideal democracy requires a very well (fully) informed and actively engaged population (in which we really have neither in the US.) I love the quote by Chomsky of "The bludgeon is to a Dictatorship as propaganda is to a Democracy."
In the end any form of 'ideal' government (in my opinion) is there to sacrifice their own benefits/opportunity cost for the benefit of the whole population. After about 50 years, just about every government has become corrupted from this. It takes truly special persons/people to make things 'work' but greed, laziness, fear, etc. always pop up as time goes on.
Some of this also falls in the lap of populations themselves (imo.) Many don't care or want to put in the effort to know what's going on, even if it was readily provided to them. They also just want the personal benefit versus actually building up the whole.
It's sad to say, but until we have an alien (outside earth) threat, or at least perceived threat, I don't see the Earth population becoming an all inclusive 'us' group...leaving the aliens to be the new 'them.' There always seems to be some us/them for most people.
I think if we had a very well informed populous in any Western country, we would have a revolution soon after. If people knew the true depths of how they and their children are being exploited by those that have sworn to protect them, no amount of democracy could repair the trust the people would have lost in government.
Though I am familiar with the quote--it's a great one--I knew not of who coined it. Without propaganda we would have that informed public that you speak of, and they would have no support for their illegal wars.
I used to think that if people want to remain blissfully ignorant then that's their choice and it shouldn't be a problem to allow them to bury their heads in the sand if it allows them to sleep better at night. However, in recent years I feel that this widespread ignorance and apathy is exactly what paved way the way for things to progress to this point, so I completely agree with you. I don't think people should be allowed to use, 'I didn't know' as an excuse anymore. You have a duty to know, for the sake of your fellow man and the children of tomorrow.
I am seeing a lot about aliens recently, to the point it almost seems like pre-programming, so I won't be surprised if you get your wish before long. Though, I expect that if anything it would be the perceived threat rather than the legitimate thing.
@son-of-satire, this is daily on my follower count. Have no idea. Can't wait to read comments
Mine fluctuates...
Gain 20, lose 3...
Go up one, down one, up two, down one...
Don't know?
I wouldn't mind gaining 20 and losing 3. That sounds like a good deal. lol.
Just keep doing what you do, and maybe one day you will!
Heck, even @papa-pepper could do it!
Hmm. Well it has never happened to me before. I have noticed my follower count going down by one on a couple occasions. I assumed it could be a cancelled account or perhaps a controversial comment I made that someone disagreed with. But, for it to go down by two in such close proximity to that post, I hadn't thought it could be anything other than the content of the article itself.
Perhaps I may have jumped the gun and it was nothing to do with the post..
I'm on a lot more followers now than I was the last time I seen it go down by one, so maybe this is a common thing as your number of followers increases.
it may be couple of spammers or scammers you lost from followrs list @son-of-satire
Those counting bots have been at the whiskey again, I'm sure of it.
They always get worse around Christmas time. i'd go and give them a good talking to, but they'd probably mis-count all of my followers as well and I'd end up with nobody.
Maybe look at the following numbers as a general guide to followyness, not an actual count of real people?
Well I have been watching them closely because I wanted to make some sort of special post for my 100 followers landmark, perhaps a piece of art something along those lines. It snuck up on me so quick however, that I didn't get the chance.
This time around I want to be prepared to have something done for 200 followers, so I have been watching with a keen eye to ensure it doesn't pass me by unnoticed.
If it is really inaccurate then I had better get to work on something ahead of schedule...
Probably because your claims are divisive and opinions polarising. Just sayin' ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Well this is a lot more akin to the sort of advice I was looking for. Though, an example or two would be useful...
I think arguing for dictatorship might loose you a few followers. Many people have a family member who was killed or tortured directly as a result of Hitler or Qaddafi's regime. It can be personally intolerable to read that perhaps we'd be better off with something similar.
If you're going to court controversy you'd better expect to annoy some people, but hopefully it'll balance out by attracting people who are interested in your style. For the record, while I mostly don't agree you in that article, I think it's a worthy exercise to question the fundamental narratives and reasoning behind any system.
The most insightful comment yet. Thank you.. Though, I wasn't arguing for dictatorship. I was just making a point that what we are told is the worst form of government could potentially still be better than what we have.
Well, more or less! 😅 Point taken.
This is hardly me arguing for it to become a reality. You have taken my words out of context, and completely ignored the comment in my opening statement where I said that I do not believe that a dictatorship would be the best system of governance..
When discussing the pros and cons of democracies and dictatorships, it is expected that one would have to conclude with some sort of compromise that would be better than the two original concepts. Hence a democratic dictatorship.
I can't comment on your reply to this for some reason, so I'll have to comment here, though I'm probably stretching a well intentioned comment thread depth rule.
I ignored the comment in your opening statement because I don't think it's representative of the article content, you make several arguments for aspects of dictatorship. I admit I should have been more precise in my representation though and I was attempting to be funny, please don't take it too seriously.
On your last comment, I don't think there's any reason for there to be a compromise between the two systems of government, but the appeal is certainly clear and well laid out by you, I'll give you that. Best 👍