this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
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Not really. I mean that "because..." part.
Leftism is inherenty tied to technology, especially new. It's part of its lifestyle. EVERY new, massive social "site" (or online service) is expected to be left-leaning by default. It may later change its political viewpoint, but in its relative infancy it's left.
Rightism is more about actions taking place in real-world. As such, the technology isn't perceived as more than a tool, used for specific purpose only, rather than part of, or the foundation of a lifestyle.
...and of course there's a plethora of alternative political views, options and convictions that are a mix of either extremes of the spectrum - if you meet a person online, it shouldn't be surprisied to learn about "pro-life", but also "anti-Trump" and similarly puzzling approaches to various aspects of life.
tl;dr: it's not about bots. It's because Lemmy/Mastodon isn't popular enough to serve as a tool for right-wing politics.
I'd say I'm generally conservative and have been dabbling in alternative social media for a number of years. Some of the biggest Mastodon instances are/were right leaning. Gab.ai started off as a proprietary site and then migrated to Mastodon. Truth.social was always based on Mastodon. I've never been active on them because I don't like echo chambers though. I've never really had a desire to have my thoughts reaffirmed by strangers...
I would assume they're presence isn't felt in the fediverse because the concept of de-federating is working? Gab is likely cut off by others and truth social never federated with others to begin with. I don't think Truth ever intended to though, and really just wanted something they didn't have to build from scratch.
The only Mastodon instance I actually have an account with now is somewhat right leaning but it's not their emphasis. Even then I'm not too active on it.
From what I gather, Mastodon attracts little attention in conservative circles.
One of main reasons I've heard is that "there's hardly anyone to talk with". Beats me if it's default, general conservative opinion...
I mean, they're there to talk to... If you like jacking each other off... I don't.