this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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In this video I show off some different Lemmy instances and discuss why the lemmyverse and even some individual Lemmy instances can become a better alternative to Reddit.

(via. Odysee)


I dunno how the community collectively feels about Mental Outlaw in sum, but there's content of his that has its way of piquing my interests. He just put up a video showcasing Lemmy, some instances, and the mechanics/interactions between them. Probably old news for many of us, but I think it's always pretty cool to see Lemmy get its mention.

Beehaw specifically got its mention through the video and he briefly touches on Beehaw's defederation from sh.itjust.works. I'm pretty confident he disagrees with the decision, but his opinion and description of things struck me as balanced and respectable enough. I'd wager that a more precise description of the intrigue would likely take as much time as the video itself.

Any thoughts on Mental Outlaw's coverage of either Lemmy in sum or Beehaw? Anyone else seen creators they keep their eyes on give mention of Lemmy?

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t really know what I think of him. I have never heard him say anything bad but he feels like an alternate Luke Smith which gives me bad vibes.

His content is pretty good, though. I have discovered some neat stuff through him which I am grateful for

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Same for me. I really don't like his praising of crypto.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He's actually only praising Monero

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yep. But 'don't invest in crypto, except for this crypto currency i own' is what a lot of crypto folks say. So I'm always cautious when hearing this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you see crypto as an investment, you shouldn't use crypto, imho.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I really miss that brief moment around the start when it seemed thought of as an alternate currency with its own benefits and drawbacks rather than an outright investment. I’d like to think that with crypto gradually exiting the light as popular grifting vehicle of the time, we’ll gradually return to that more grounded outlook of it.

Hopefully at least, but admittedly I’m not holding my breath 🫠.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

What wrong with it?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I feel uneasy that he’s promoting Lemmy given his iffy politics. Lemmy, Kbin, etc… will die like Gab if they get flooded with 4channers and Redpillers.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

In my opinion, the fediverse is quite resilient. Communities can be moderated, instances can be unfederated.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

There are already a handful of relatively old right-wing lemmy instances, you're just unlikely to see content from them without specifically seeking them out as most other instances do not federate with them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

What kind of iffy politics? Only thing of what I see coming from his channel that could be considered political is complaining about government surveillance which is problematic for many regardless of whether they're right or left. Other than that it's not like politics are a talking point on his channel.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What kind of iffy politics?

i can't pretend i know who this guy is but: i'm pretty sure he has iffy politics. i scrolled through the comments on this video the other day (because we're mentioned in it, and just to get a sense of who watches his videos) and i immediately came away with the sense that his community is full of right-wing freaks who think censorship is when you moderate and who are mad that trans people exist. i think counted at least three blatantly transphobic comments in a brief scroll, and the general vibe of that comment section was like a youtube facsimile of 4chan. as a content creator, you have the agency to make dipshits like that unwelcome--so the fact that he isn't is uh, telling, imo.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He does attract a certain crowd on his channel. I think he did express his support on human rights issues like LGBT and racism on certain occasions. He seems kind of libertarian tho. Nevertheless he keeps his political opinions mostly to himself. The FOSS and privacy movements just attract weird people across the spectrum.

His videos are pretty watchable regardless of personal political opinions imo.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There was another comment somewhere in this thread that did a pretty good job at summarizing where I think it comes from. From what I can tell of the videos I hunt and peck from him, his general outlook can be summed up to be libertarian in the traditional sense of the term. On one end of that, he consistently criticizes the reach and practices of US intelligence agencies, which is something I’d think a lot of the country’s politically left would agree with. On the other end, he’s a passionate advocate for firearms, something more in line with the country’s right leaning libertarians. The consistent trend seems to be a view that government ought to have less authority. I don’t think that’s inherently a politically right or left attitude, but in the US at least, I think that it’s more embraced by the country’s right rather than the left, so that’s the kind of audience that builds up a sizable chunk of his own.

There’s also the aesthetic. I think it’s reasonable to say that his demeanor styling appeals to that kind of bend, so that’s another pull for people who get into that kind of culture. I wouldn’t have any examples that come to mind, so take it as hearsay, but I’d wager it would be in theme of him to throw in the likes of a 4chan derived slur if it were relevant to the content. Which is a shame, because I like the kind of internet grit that comes with the vibe, I hate the discrimination it tends to attract and even have baked in it if you’re not careful.

-

It’s all to say I can see him leaning libertarian. Not necessarily in the politically right sense, but in the general “let people govern themselves” sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t mean to have an intolerant fan base, but his political stances end up letting him have that intolerant fan base. Goes back to that paradox of tolerance, I suppose. I keep my distance from his comments.

Still, the man and the content itself seems textbook and divisive, at least around here. I’ll keep future material of his to myself and continue having him in the kinda arms-length distance I have. He has occasional takes that strike me as informative and balanced, but he also has occasional takes that I plainly don’t care for. Seems like a creator to look at critically and not to take their word as gospel, which come to mention it, is likely a kinda perspective to have of creators by default.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just because they advocate firearms doesn't make them right libertarian. For a lot of leftists like me arming the proletariat is essential.

I don't particularly like Mental Outlaw because he's one of those edgy people who likes to use the word "normie" a lot, but at least he's not like Distrotube or god forbid Luke Smith.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've only seen a few of their videos but didn't pick up any right wing rhetoric or anything, what's their politics and how does it come out?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Basically he is pro-privacy, somewhere in the libertarian space, supports usage of monero, recommends you move to a rural area, etc.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I made my own thread on the topic over at [email protected] and it seems like a mix of "oh that's cool" and "some of the stuff he says is kinda ehhh"

I'd say that sums up my opinion pretty well, too.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He's more entertainment or beginner's guide than deep tech info.

I saw someone ranting, maybe a postig from a reddit comment, that Outlaw is too far right wing, I have no understanding of that for someone that talks about software and a little bit of culture.

How hollow and shallow someone has to be to view all opinions through politics.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't personally find them offensive or think anything of them, but sometimes he does throw out a non-sequitur that I could see people disliking. He does do a good job at introducing topics in a digestible way though, and most of his takes aren't all that bad.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Overall I like him. If I had a criticism, it's that his videos are not technical enough and covers topics in a more general sense. Some people look for their ideal personality who has all of the traits they want and none of the characteristics that they don't like. That person will never exist

For material, I try to feed the intellectual thirst.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

For material, I try to feed the intellctual thirst.

Jesus Christ I can smell the pretetion from my toilet seat

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He seems to have a relatively anti government stance in various areas, eg. surveillance and the centrally driven monetary system. Those leaning right often have similar stances, so that might be why he is being put into the same mental box as them?

I agree that it's a bit shallow to split people on the left/right axis merely based on a few ideas of how very specific aspects of the society are being run.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ah even leftists have these views? Those are common anti-establishment viewpoints.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As far as I noticed he never actually said something offensive

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He did say something antisemitic in one video, then he took it down. Let me find it real quick.
Should be this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63hor
It is disabled though....

Please correct me if you find it!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Interesting, what was the topic of the video? And what did he say?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Why is that important, he’s been accused of bigotry! Grab your pitchfork and don’t ask questions

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I have not used Odysee for quite some time. Why is the comment sections of the video so filled with terrible opinions. Claiming being blocked federation is bad while they would also do it themself to keep the echo chamber?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nowadays it seems to be filled with extremists and other people that got blocked from popular platforms for various reasons. It used to be a bit better a year ago, with more technical and FOSS oriented channels.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Sad, really. We really should try to push Peertube further. They are really struggling.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Definitely, the issue is that hosting videos is much more resource demanding than text or photos, thus there are few large instances with enough creators and quality content.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Damn, im reading the comments and its pretty rough over there. Those guys are mad, they could always just make their own federated hellhole, or i guess stick with 4chan

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Honestly, those type of people will be mad at anything. But lets not open the can of worms.

I am extremely sure there is already some instance catered to their thoughts.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think both types of isolation are bad, personally. It's all very divisive and non-constructive. To me it seems very easy to just ignore or block a community I don't like instead of de-federating from the host instance entirely. Idk. It's disturbing to me that that was the route taken to cut off a particular community.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does Lemmy allow for blocking at an instance level single communities? Because I think the profiles should not be blocked from federating, but the communities of an instance dedicated to certain specific things should.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I as a user can go to a community I do not subscribe to and block it. I'm not sure if that's exactly what you are meaning. Either way I find that this is the appropriate measure for anything from spammy/annoying communities to ones that are just toxic. I think we should all be more concerned with curating our experience to what is useful to us instead of worrying about what others can see. Otherwise we begin the creep back towards centralization - which is great until it isn't.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I am talking about an instance A federating with not the full second instance B. I asked if A can set to be able to see only a not-whole fraction of B.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Isn't he right-wing, LiBeRtArIaN? I could be thinking of someone else, though. Not a fan of his.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you might be thinking about Luke Smith

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are so many Linuxy YouTube Guys With Terrible Politics(tm) that it's really not that hard to confuse them with each other.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What deeply frustrates me about it is that a lot of people who would otherwise be big advocates for FOSS software get completely turned off by creeps like this being absolutely everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Then they never believed in it to begin with. Freedom comes with a cost.

It's not surprising that people who have unacceptable views seek out the freest medium to express them. That's always been the case.

You need the crazies to be crazy for alternate media to exist.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes he is pretty well. I still watch him because he is mostly interesting. I would say he is in the overly paranoid bucket when it comes to personal government surveillance. Pretty sure I heard him load a rifle in one of his videos talking about gun control recently. As an Australian, that was just bizarre to me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t know about a rifle, but there was at least one video of his recently where he draws a pistol to help drive a point home. Maybe it’s only because I’m from California, but even as an American that bit was jarring. I said it elsewhere in a comment for this post, but in sum I know to give his work a skeptical lens before I decide to take it in.

Ironically his videos ultimately helped me to become less paranoid about government and corporate data collection. His work help shows that no countermeasures taken will be absolutely bulletproof in protecting from data collection, and that the kind of work and changes needed to get somewhere closer to absolute feels like a mountain. Personally I have my respect for people with the resolve to see that through, but for the kind of experiences and tech I want in my life, there’s no way I could get close to that kind of dedication to privacy.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I remember this guy said slurs . Noped the fuck outta there

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Cis is not a slur lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I can't think of a time he's said any slur, but there is a particular video I would be interested to see it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Fuck this guy tbh. I look forward to the day men of his ilk succumb to their own bullshit and are entirely left behind and forgotten by society.

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