I fucking hate political discussions / ""discourse"" on the internet. Nobody seems to be actually willing to discuss their position, it always devolves to either a rhetorical wankery debate or "lmao its just a meme bro". The left and right both practice their own version of groupthink, the left making a pariah out of anyone not following the One True Dogma, and the right dogpiling on 'idiots' and bullying people with 'stupid' opinions out.
"But that person was a racist/misogynist/whatever!"
It's sad how rarely this is true. Too often I see people that are just considering a position labeled an awful human being with nothing to back it up other than a hunch from one of the clerics and a poor word choice.
"They just couldn't handle the bantz."
Oh, I've also seen when others try to play by your rules, it's mostly a shitslinging competition at that point.
Most people may not even have an ideological purity police inside themselves, but the way drama tends to escalate just usually trickles down; you can't research and consider every issue properly, so you just agree with whatever in-group you're part of.
This is why I don't really want to be openly committed to a label. You might call me a coward for that, and you may have a point, but I don't really care. What I care about when it comes to politics is facts, ethics, and good solutions. Labels can be useful, but they way they're used is more of a dogwhistle these days. (I don't know about other times so can't comment on that).
Just to be clear, I don't think advocating genocide should be legal, or that your race/sexuality/gender should indicate how you're treated socially, legally or professionally. It feels really fucking bizarre to me that I don't feel safe posting this without stating that. (Especially as I lean more to the progressive left side.) Take a look at
https://socialcooling.com/ , the effect works in many ways.
There's much more I want to say, especially regarding the Mastodon block stuff, but can't be bothered to write more on a smartphone and I actually have to do things now.
Bad people exist, but not everyone is bad. Try to see each other a bit more as human beings, and try to make friends instead of enemies. Discuss the subject, not the possibility that the other person is One Of Them.