I don’t want you guys to let up on getting @paulengelhard’s account unbanned for those of you who haven’t abandoned Twitter). He’s a tremendous voice because nobody is more “othered” than a POC German. Black and Asian Germans are constantly spoken to in English by Germans, because “they don’t look German”. Different experience for Arab or Turkish Germans, we are expected to speak fluently. Paul is the kind of voice that needs a microphone during these dark days. Not for his sake but ours.
@Lexialex Could he get on here?
@gargron of course but the point is to be heard. He’s had a bunch of prominent followers there who retweeted him to people who need to hear the stuff he says. I mean, I went from 55k followers on Twitter to 150 here. It’s certainly more peaceful but it’s a much smaller echo chamber
@rcosgrove @Lexialex I feel like this article puts it well https://theoutline.com/post/2689/mastodon-makes-the-internet-feel-like-home-again
> echo chamber
the world is the echo chamber of the dominant culture, or at least it is right now
if evolution can guide us, maybe smaller think bubbles are good for advancing cultural evolution, because the crossover happens eventually, but islands of small groups help prevent larger groups from becoming obsolete and/or stagnant
(not getting salty, but every time I see "echo chamber" I cannot help but remember the assholes who accused me of making one, hence commentary)
@sydneyfalk @gargron listen, most of the time I repeat words that native English speakers use somewhere if I have seen it in a context where it makes sense. In this case, it was a discussion on how many of us didn’t know a single Trump voter and were surprised he got a single legit vote. I think social media has supplied the marginalized and minority cultures (accidentally) with a microphone. Would be sad to use it only to sing to the choir
> only to sing to the choir
this isn't what I'm suggesting
only that ideas trampled on my society at large can flourish in isolation, and sometimes can do so long enough flourish outside in some cases
it'd be sad if nobody was allowed to work on their singing in private and small group collaboration, too, if I understand the metaphor and might build on it
@Lexialex Yeah, of course. This is a long-term thing (I genuinely believe Mastodon will outlive Twitters and Facebooks) but 55k followers don't arrive overnight and I understand that.
Although, people report way higher engagements here. Numbers might be smaller but percentages higher. So I wouldn't discount the importance of this short-term either 🤔