Post #1696496

2026-04-25 19:38 UTC

@tamarasellman What I mean is the fallacy that history is the story of heroes and villains, not of societies and their structures. And, no, not exclusively American: Margaret Thatcher famously said that "there's no such thing as society". But there is, and structures matter. The way corporate social media are driven by the profit margin inevitably falls to enshittification, and as the owners are invariably rich people, also inevitably to Nazification. For non-corporate not-for-profit social media like the Fediverse, the incentive structure is very different. Yes, the vermin is here too - eh, you don't want to pay me a penny for each one I reported to the moderators on my instance. The moderators are on our side here. And the federal structure makes it easy to escape and contain the vermin-captured instances (did I mention Truth Social?). It's not perfect, but it is community driven and improving all the time. Not a dead end like corporate owned and controlled social media.

Replies (2)

@martinvermeer@fediscience.org 2026-04-25 19:56

@tamarasellman BTW my bad for using the expression 'John Wayne fallacy' without explaining. I have used it but don't think it is widely known.

Open ##1696497
@tamarasellman@social.seattle.wa.us 2026-04-25 20:04

@martinvermeer thx for clarifying. I’ll be surprised if socials last another 5yrs, iibh. As an aside, I wish I could get more engagement here, but it’s my third-string platform because I don’t. I’ve tried several accounts/instances: it’s been 🦗 I just stick with my regional one, where at least people do respond, if rarely. I’m just an author who writes outside commercial molds (not indie) trying to connect with an audience. In Bsky/Substack, I’ve found them. Here? Not so much.

Open ##1696499