I've probably seen half a dozen "debates" in the last year in which American Leftists were arguing with actual Venezuelans about whether the situation in Venezuela was real or Western Propaganda (TM).

I really hate grouping everyone like this. I consider myself left but you were arguing with a moron. I was under the impression in liberal democracy, even up until maybe 2015 treating an individual as an example of all individuals from that group was considered reprehensible for obvious reasons, i.e. you will end up saying racist or sexist things. The more general rule, to treat everyone on the content of their individual character, is an important one in my upbringing and I would like a return to these values. Currently everyone is being forced, on left or right, to have it assumed that they occupy absurd extremist positions. I do admit these people are on the rise, but I’m not sure inflating their importance (they are seeking attention in a lot of cases) is helping.

> you were arguing with a moron

I'm inclined to agree, but increasingly these "morons" are more numerous and more likely to occupy positions of power and authority.

> I was under the impression in liberal democracy even up until maybe 2015 treating an individual as an example of all individuals from that group was considered reprehensible for obvious reasons, i.e. you will end up saying racist or sexist things.

Yeah, me too.

> The more general rule I would like back because everyone is being forced on left or right have it assumed that they occupy absurd positions.

I'm having a hard time parsing this sentence, could you rephrase/clarify?

Okay! Lot’s of clarity added…

For what it’s worth we have the same amount of morons just the Internet has given them means to organise and communicate and people like Steve Bannon to weave in a bit of ethnic-nationalism into the minds of the public.

> For what it’s worth we have the same amount of morons just the Internet has given them means to organise and communicate

That seems concerning enough on its own, but that property ("means to organize and communicate") has knock-on effects: those morons become even more extreme and they come to occupy positions of power and authority in even greater numbers.

Once upon a time you had millions of village idiots whose views were moderated by their community and the talking heads on TV, and they were typically blue-collar, uneducated, and had no real power or authority. Now because of the ability to communicate with each other, they develop echo chambers that radicalize their viewpoints. On top of that, they organize, such that the administer universities, overwhelm newsrooms, and lead DEI departments in every major company in the country.

How did you systematically come to the conclusion that those "debates" shouldn't be had? Which straw broke the camel's back? Is it because Carlos on the internet , who writes for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Americas Quarterly, told you so? How do we take your guidelines and judgement and form it into a framework of rational thought where it then becomes generally applicable to the general population if your guidance wasn't available one day?

Because actual Venezuelans are closer to primary sources who don't need a bunch of pseudointellectuals to handwave our experience away.

I guess I find the Venezuelan’s experience to be more credible than the baseless beliefs of an American undergrad Tweeting from Starbucks on the new iPhone his parents bought him.

In my town, the leftists still put up "Viva Chavez" banners on their balconies.

My college buddies did that, too. This was in Houston, Tx.

So sad that this site has gone the way of reddit.

I used to come here for tech discussions and maybe some startup insight.

Now every day there's a post that devolves into qanon, trumpists, leftists bickering.

I guess every site goes to the dogs eventually.