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Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

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Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#71

Post by gremlinsinc »

Hizonner wrote: post #51
coldpie wrote: post #7

Why do you want to share your opinions on controversial topics? What do you get out of it? No one cares about your opinions on incest except to dunk on you. You're not going to revolutionize society's opinions on incest. So stop doing that. There's a whole universe of non-politics and non-religion topics out there. Go find a cool one. Maybe explore music theory and analysis, plenty of people to talk to about that. Ma…

> Why do you want to share your opinions on controversial topics? What do you get out of it? No one cares about your opinions on incest except to dunk on you. You're not going to revolutionize society's opinions on incest. One person won't, but echo chambers definitely do solidify people's opinions. I'm old enough to have seen popular opinions on a lot of issues move during my own lifetime, and things really start to…

I feel like groupthink could be a good thing in the old context where you were part of a community and discussing these things was something you did in the checkout line at the market and people would either nod, or give you odd stares or be like WTF, now that everything is online though, every opinion can find like minded people to champion it, and bad idea-makers are emboldened to take a bad idea and make it a meme and it grows and builds momentum. QAnon is a good example of this.

When you had a smaller pool of people and their political/religious backgrounds were more wide and open you'd be more thoughtful about what you say, and discussions were more academic less political, but now it seems everyone has a motive behind what they say or do and everything is about being grouped under socialist, neoliberal, capitalist, patriot, nationalist, ring-wing nutjob, extremist, etc...

My point is the problem is online echo chambers, if we had a way to build larger but similar wide-view communication platforms maybe we'd have less politicization but then people probably wouldn't use it because that's what they're seeking an outlet for their political idealogies.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#72

Post by nickthegreek »

Hizonner wrote: post #69
nickthegreek wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me make sure I got this right... I make a statement about how a lot of incest is due to rape. You cannot fathom that and ask for stats. I provide them from a child abuse organization that also links to the underlying government statistics. You respond with it's irrelevant. You are not arguing in good faith.

The word you used was "most", not "a lot". Even "a lot" could reasonably be treated as having been a statement about the proportion, but it would not have been a precise enough statement to argue about. And "a lot" could also be treated as talking about an absolute number, in which case the question of whether something was "a lot" would be a total matter of personal opinion. "Most", on the other hand, has a very cle…

Even now you refuse to engage on my original position. My original position was that leaving out the very real issue of rape when it comes to incest could be construed as trying to move the overton window. Maybe I shouldn't have used the word most, but instead, at least 1/3 of all reported child abuse is done by family. This stat should easily backup my original position that incest and rape are intrinsically linked. You cannot ignore this when discussing incest on the internet.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#73

Post by Ancapistani »

wry_discontent wrote: post #27
Lochleg wrote: post #12

Everyone is self-censoring these days, and you really need to operate within a limited persona if you have an online presence. If you aren't political, you don't really need to share controversial opinions online. That's just how it is. If you have a peculiar interest, you can still hide in the crowd and try not to use your main online identity on smaller forums. For example, various porn forums actually promote the…

Even if you are political, there's usually not a need to share your opinions online. I'm political, but my politics are often irrelevant (especially somewhere like HN). Even when politics comes up, it's not like I write a manifesto.

100% this.

I'd say I'm "political" - my username is literally a self-reported political identifier. I often post about various political topics here that I feel strongly about, or where I feel like I have an opinion or context that's uncommon in this community.

What I don't do is get worked up when someone disagrees with me, even if they do so in a rude or dismissive way. After all, most of the time the entire reason I'm commenting is because I believe I have an uncommon/unpopular perspective that I'd like to share. It would be odd to do that and then be surprised when someone doesn't share it.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#75

Post by Izkata »

Hizonner wrote: post #69
nickthegreek wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me make sure I got this right... I make a statement about how a lot of incest is due to rape. You cannot fathom that and ask for stats. I provide them from a child abuse organization that also links to the underlying government statistics. You respond with it's irrelevant. You are not arguing in good faith.

The word you used was "most", not "a lot". Even "a lot" could reasonably be treated as having been a statement about the proportion, but it would not have been a precise enough statement to argue about. And "a lot" could also be treated as talking about an absolute number, in which case the question of whether something was "a lot" would be a total matter of personal opinion. "Most", on the other hand, has a very cle…

> The word you used was "most", not "a lot".

You missed that it's a totally different statistic. Even if it was 100% of reported sexual assault on children is by family members, it could still be that incest between consenting adults is more common.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#76

Post by johnea »

coldpie wrote: post #7

Why do you want to share your opinions on controversial topics? What do you get out of it? No one cares about your opinions on incest except to dunk on you. You're not going to revolutionize society's opinions on incest. So stop doing that. There's a whole universe of non-politics and non-religion topics out there. Go find a cool one. Maybe explore music theory and analysis, plenty of people to talk to about that. Ma…

Sure, donkey kong .vs the neurotic generation. It's the same, right?

As long as now one attacks me with the violence of typing mean letters into the intertubes...

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#77

Post by Izkata »

theelous3 wrote: post #50
coldpie wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A rule of etiquette -- in business, at the dinner table, at the barbershop and elsewhere -- is 'never talk about religion or politics.' These subjects are highly contentious and usually result in heated argument instead of general agreement. 'Never discuss religion or politics with those who hold opinions opposite to yours' has been cited in print since at least 1840. 'Do not discuss politics or religion in general…

The person is not walking in to business meetings arguing the ethics of incest. Clearly they understand this given their declaration of a throwaway. I think it's also probably safe to say they're not delivering these opinions as non-sequiturs. If there is some news article posted for discussion about incest, and I showed up to say "I don't like incest", I doubt I'd find anyone telling me about references to > 1840, T…

> OP is just giving the outsiders perspective to the hivemind. It's worth hearing now and then imo.

Sometimes it can even be fun. I've gotten a surprising number of upvotes with no supporting comments in the past on here, presumably from others too afraid to speak up.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#78

Post by Hizonner »

nickthegreek wrote: post #72
Hizonner wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word you used was "most", not "a lot". Even "a lot" could reasonably be treated as having been a statement about the proportion, but it would not have been a precise enough statement to argue about. And "a lot" could also be treated as talking about an absolute number, in which case the question of whether something was "a lot" would be a total matter of personal opinion. "Most", on the other hand, has a very cle…

Even now you refuse to engage on my original position. My original position was that leaving out the very real issue of rape when it comes to incest could be construed as trying to move the overton window. Maybe I shouldn't have used the word most, but instead, at least 1/3 of all reported child abuse is done by family. This stat should easily backup my original position that incest and rape are intrinsically linked.…

At least some percentage of all sex is rape, so by your, um, logic, the two are "intrinsically linked", and mentioning sex without bringing up rape is trying to move the Overton window.

AND the original post explicitly limited the field to adults. So even that had already been dealt with.

You are operating in the proud rhetorical tradition that calls all LGBT people "groomers"... and I'm done with you.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#79

Post by lukebitts »

theelous3 wrote: post #58
lukebitts wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are we seriously questioning why someone wants to share their opinions on a topic? Are we actually clueless as to what they get out of it? Yes, feel free to explain why that’s insane. It seems absolutely normal to keep things to yourself

There is no way this is a good faith question. As someone delivering their opinion on the internet - surely you can explain why someone would like to deliver their opinion on the internet.

I personally don’t get anything out of sharing my opinion on the internet, I do it out of reflex and I actually have been taking measures to stop doing it. So no, not asking in bad faith.

Re: Tell HN: I'm scared of sharing my opinion online

#80

Post by lukebitts »

freedom2099 wrote: post #70
lukebitts wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are we seriously questioning why someone wants to share their opinions on a topic? Are we actually clueless as to what they get out of it? Yes, feel free to explain why that’s insane. It seems absolutely normal to keep things to yourself

The possibility to have a healthy debate on any topic is the root of progress!

Fair enough, though I would argue it’s impossible to have a healthy meaningful debate on “the internet” (by which I mean reddit or any social media)
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