Comment by infecto

Comment by infecto 6 days ago

I am not sure why this was flagged but I don’t think it’s wrong. I am not sure if it’s a uniquely American thing but the internet has caused an unfortunate case of brigading for almost anything. I like to think I sit fairly middle in a lot of American topics I lean left on some items, taxes, healthcare, free school lunches and right on others but I remember how easy it was a number of years ago to be labeled a racist. You really cannot have an opinion about much these days without someone labeling you something unfavorably. It’s unfortunate.

pjc50 6 days ago

Ironically, "labelling" someone else is an act of free speech as much as anything else.

Reply View 8 replies

infecto 6 days ago

I don’t think it’s ironic and my point was not the act of labeling itself but more of how America has become a brigading culture. Free speech should be protected, even for things that we know are wrong but we have this decay of the internet and culture where you are either with someone or against them.

Reply View | 7 replies
- pjc50 5 days ago
  
  But that's my point: what you call "brigading" is other people using their free speech in a way you don't like.
  
  Reply View | 6 replies
  
  infecto 5 days ago
  
  I think we are talking past each other a bit.
  I am not objecting to people expressing disagreement or labeling as an abstract exercise of free speech. I am pointing to a pattern that has become common online where disagreement quickly turns into coordinated pile-ons, identity assignment, and social signaling rather than substantive engagement with the argument itself.
  Free speech protects the right to do that, but it does not mean the behavior is healthy or productive. When discourse collapses into binary alignment where nuance is treated as hostility, it discourages honest participation and pushes people toward silence or extremes.
  So yes, others are exercising free speech. My concern is about the cultural outcome of how that speech is increasingly used, not whether it is permitted.
  Increasingly society in America is either you are with us or not and at least for me my view of the world is more nuanced and day to day.
  
  Reply View | 5 replies

JKCalhoun 6 days ago

"Labelling" is different than censorship though, no?

Reply View 1 reply

infecto 5 days ago

I think it’s all part of the same culture of brigading. My comment was more an extension of thought to the parents that America has gone down a hole where dialogue no longer exists.

Reply View | 0 replies

watwut 5 days ago

> You really cannot have an opinion about much these days without someone labeling you something unfavorably. It’s unfortunate.

That is free speech. And the violence you see is direct consequence of a culture that tuts tuts "this is rude" when someone says "these right wing people are fascists" rather then look at what those right wing people openly talk about.

Reply View 1 reply

infecto 5 days ago

It is but you’re missing the point. Just because something is free speech does not make it any less unfortunate. It’s pretty clear in some of the threads here how polarizing things have become.

Reply View | 0 replies

lyu07282 6 days ago

[flagged]

Reply View 10 replies

infecto 5 days ago

I am going to vouch for this comment because this is a great example of what I was describing. People jump to whatever conclusion they want and you are either with them or without. It’s sad what has come to be in society.

Reply View | 9 replies
- dmit 5 days ago
  
  People jump to the conclusion because a lot of the time they've had this exact argument already, and they know how it tends to end.
  Proclaiming oneself a centrist might seem like a noble, moderate position. But in 2026, with the Overton window basically being shifted outside the frame?
  
  Reply View | 8 replies
  
  infecto 5 days ago
  
  What argument are we having? I see someone struggling to hold their own words steady, and you claiming that I am proclaiming something when I only mentioned it because of this exact problem. I do not really think of myself as left or right within the current American political system. I do not follow either political party, and my opinions often zig zag across existing party lines. If anything, maybe “centrist” is the wrong or overly loaded word. I do not follow any particular political movement in America.
  The point still stands brigading is a massive problem in America.
  
  Reply View | 7 replies