Although I don’t fully agree with the sentiment expressed by this thread, it did get me thinking about leaning even further into contributing to an environment I’d like to participate in. I personally much prefer dedicated discussion threads to discussing news stories myself and reading through the comments it seems like there is a huge desire among many for exactly that. In this thread I’d like to brainstorm with y’all about the conversations we wouldn’t risk trying to have on reddit, conversations you don’t have people around willing to engage in but would work well here, community vibe checks, or something I’m not considering. I would also like to explore what obstacles others see for why this hasn’t happened already despite the apparent desire so any solutions we experiment with can avoid issues which we are already aware of.
My response to my own question will be in the comments.
I have always wanted to talk to others about their personal philosophy. This is completely distinct from academic philosophy although there may be some bleed-over, especially when someone can specifically name a school of thought which consciously informs their behavior. For a few examples, I’m interested in talking to people about how they personally define ethics for themselves, whether they feel like they are living according to their values and how those values are formed, and the nature of their relationship with “truth” or “Truth.” I have always been very interested in why others do what they do, and this seems like a community which could have many people who have considered these things for themselves.
I just finished listening to “how to be perfect” by michael schur. It could be a bit cringe at times but it was a really interesting listen (especially when confecting it to The Good Place)
Definitely got me to think a bit more about moral philosophy and my own choices day to day.
One personal philosophy I try to follow is that I really try hard to think the best of people…. Assume the best rather than the worst.
Most obvious example is when driving: if a driver is going too fast/too slow/not indicating/drifting/hogging the middle lane etc etc…… they probably aren’t trying to be assholes, maybe something in their life is distracting them, maybe just made an honest mistake and now feel bad about it all day because they realise they weren’t quick enough to wave a sorry in the window and so on.