I can’t speak for everyone. All I know is that every time I notice the deduction in my paycheck that’s going toward my health insurance, I’ll be thinking of this. Same with when I have to pay a co-pay despite having said-insurance. Or when I get a text from the urgent care, months after my visit, telling me I still have “a balance” to resolve…

Really, there is no shortage of reminders for many of us. As long as the system keeps squeezing us, we will have plenty of reminders.

The fun thing about this is that the more the media doubles down on “he’s a right-winger!”, the more united the rest of us may become over him.

Think about it - Hardcore right-wingers in the US strongly wish to associate with “their own” team/teammates. If Luigi had been left-wing, this division tactic could have worked to convince a number of them to turn against him. Instead, highlighting his conservative viewpoints gives right-wingers more reason to cheer for him.

Meanwhile, left-wingers and their diversity tend to identify less as a single “team.” They’ve got more free-thinkers, both of the scientific “skeptic” mindset and of the artistic “open possibilities” mindset (or both.) Either way, there is recognition that they aren’t all going to agree 100% with each other on everything, but they still recognize that we’re all in this together.

I just realized, it’s no wonder much of Lemmy’s current base is in their 30s (and older.) The social aspects of the internet we grew up with was more forum-based. The slower pace we currently have here isn’t a deal breaker, because we knew a time where this was normal. We participated in and built communities because if we didn’t, they wouldn’t exist. There was no pre-made social media behemoth for us to get lost in.

But people who’ve grown up with modern social media didn’t have that experience. They’re accustomed to riding fast-paced rapids, where things quickly change, and where algorithms control their feed and direct the whole experience. That’s their normal. By contrast, Millenials and older came online to gentle, quiet streams. We had to learn to row the oars manually (creating novel communities and content.) That gave us greater control over where we’d go and what we’d see.

Lemmy is a gentle stream right now. People who come here expecting white water rafting are going to feel like something’s missing. People who grew up with pre-made online communities probably never took the steps to build one up before.

I’d love to see younger people taking up the mantle of building a new corner of the internet. Especially in an era where personal control is increasingly limited by powerful monied interests, learning how to create and run communities can be very empowering.