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Joined 3 months ago
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Cake day: February 26th, 2026

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  • Certainly, it almost undoubtedly has pros and cons, but every source I saw explicitly describes it as an example of a regressive tax, so I do feel like its fair to put “regressive” in the cons column… 😅

    I dont personally have a strong stance on the subject, I dont know a ton about taxes, I was mostly just explaining why someone might want to do away with it because folks were misunderstanding the person who wished we didn’t have it. I only know its considered regressive because hank green talked about it in a video. I was just trying to add context based on something I had learned

    I think its fair to ague it still serves certain purposes or has advantages, but I get the distinct impression its considered ‘on the regressive end of the spectrum’ by every authority on the subject that I have access to, I’m not sure you’re right that it’s just “maybe” regressive 😅


  • I’m no tax expert but my understanding is that sales tax is classified as a regressive tax

    https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/glossary/regressive-tax/

    I mean they list it as their first example of a regressive tax. I learned that it was considered regressive from hank green, who’s a well known science educator. And its always possible he got something wrong, this isnt science, but thats why I looked it up just now…

    Edit: the IRS website has a reference page for teachers on educational content and exercise for school kids. It describes some taxes as “truly regressive” and the wording suggests its considered a gradient of impact relative to wealth, but it also explicitly says:

    Classroom Activity

    Explain to students that sales taxes are considered regressive because they take a larger percentage of income from low-income taxpayers than from high-income taxpayers





  • A little bit, but it makes up very little of my usage. The fact that this is smaller and less hyper-optimized for engagement has been helpful in reducing my usage so I’m intentional about making it hard to use much other social media

    I make it hard to use the fediverse too much too. It’s just easier when its not a massive platform capable of surfacing the most optimized, hyper engaging thing you’ve ever seen one after another for 8 hours straight every single day 😅



  • People who are being exploited are always highly targeted for propaganda and manipulation, explicitly because they have the most revolutionary potential and their position in society makes them more vulnerable to the sales pitch that maybe they can be allowed a seat at the table, even if its a second class one. Uncle tom is a term that’s been around for ages for a reason

    Its good to remember our compassion for folks who are being exploited. No one is immune to propaganda, ESPECIALLY those who come from classes where access to higher education is less common




  • Thank you! ❤️ I think my client also just doesnt handle cross instance links like at all I’m realizing, I prolly need to go open an issue about that

    This whole situation sucks. I just switched to piefed cause I wasn’t in love with my last instance. Probably I’ll stay where I am for some time (and I do like the folks running my current instance, even if the .zip domain is a bad idea), but this does sour me on piefed a bit. With the .ml folks its mostly how they run their own instance, and they take ownership of their ideology. The issues folks are talking about here feels potentially like it spills out onto other people/instances more, and I don’t love that

    Maybe I’ll try mbin, or at least set up a lemmy.zip account in addition to my current piefed one





  • Gonna be really honest, transphobia is very important and its important that we be vigilant for it on the fediverse, and, I’m really not super convinced thats the “obvious” reasons he unlisted them

    I should be very clear- he sounds like an asshole for what you’re describing. Thats not okay. That being said

    The blahaj instance is still listed there. From the rest of the thread it sounds like he has tons of beef with the two instances in question for a variety of specific reasons. I don’t really follow these things but it sounds as though he is unjustified for at least some of that beef, and has generally handled some shit poorly. But the idea that this is lashing out at trans people specifically seems ill substantiated, and honestly not a very realistic explanation

    Actively persecuting people and allowing harm to come to them are generally different rungs on that ladder, and it sounds like he has allowed harm to come to trans folks through failures to moderate appropriately, and has potentially participated in a level of mistreatment (again, I really dont follow these things, I’m just here to chat with folks and look at art), but unlisting entire instances because they include or advocate for trans folks would be a really big escalation

    It seems there are much more likely explanations for why he defederated those instances. At most it’s possible his issues around trans folks colored his perception and made him more willing to ultimately delist them. To me it seems like this is an escalation of a different greivance with him, moreso than an escalation of his mistreatment of trans folks