• 140 Posts
  • 1.23K Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: June 9th, 2023
  • j4k3@lemmy.worldtoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•Would my story qualify as dystopian? What other genres would it be?English
    3·
    5 days ago
    "Dystopian" as a concept can mean many things. One person's individual dystopia may be within a utopia.

    Generally, I consider something to be dystopian if it is making negative assumptions about the future that are rooted in speculative fiction. These are more like science fiction, fantasy, or geopolitical.

    I consider something utopian when it is unrealistic and glossing over aspects that are impossible or poorly premised while presenting them as positive.

    An example of dystopian would be the Terminator films or most films and books about AI. These fall into a trope of the machine gods. These are no more than a retelling of a pantheon like mythos of supernatural gods. The issues of future AI are unrelated to this mythos. They are also based on the fallacy of dominance caused extinction. By this logic Earth is a monoculture. These conceptual abstractions are dystopian because they are making stupid handwaving assumptions that result in a dark and grim setting.

    Depicting the messiness of reality does not mean a fictional story is either dystopian or utopian.

    An example of a utopia is something like a biblical paradise. It is premised on brutal authoritarianism that lacks any objective nuances about the true diversity of life and opinions. It is glossing over the real differences in what people want and expect out of life in an idealized story arc that harms a lot of people. When these people are sidelined as irrelevant, the true underlying dystopian reality comes into view. Utopia is always a story of propaganda-like perfection masking a terror that lies beneath.

    One can paint such abstractions on almost any story. These are not really genera even if someone calls them such.

    You mentioned your story involves massive geopolitical upheaval. This concept could be painted as dystopian depending on how you write it. Throughout history there were many underlying reasons for changes. Like in the era of Alexander the Great, the conquests of the Macedonians in that age were more due to advances in equipment and a professionally trained army in an era that primarily consisted of less formal city states and small raiding parties. The era of the Romans was mostly the beginnings of broader social cohesion and coalitions of regions. The Great War and WW2 was the era of solidifying global boarders and the role of imperialism. If you are proposing a new era of evolving change, the reason for that change and why that change is a form of evolving progress in a geopolitical sense is important if you would like to abstract a label of utopian or dystopian. Otherwise it sounds like “war fiction” IMO.

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldtoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•Everyday I have to block dozen of "x"-moe communities while scrolling the main feed. Is there an easier way to purge anime from main page?English
    242·
    6 days ago

    It really isn’t that much IMO. You’ll get used to blocking more. Don’t keep scrolling and just block what you don’t want while being respectful of others that do like it. I have somewhere around 300 blocked communities in nearly 2 years all for various reasons. This ain’t reddit. No one is manipulating you for retention, but no one is tailoring and babying you either. It takes a little effort to prune the list. Most if not all of this is on reddit too, but you were less targeted by it there, assuming that is where you come from. It took me awhile to adjust to this mentality. Now I am not bothered at all by simply blocking each community. There are not more than a dozen or so people regularly posting anime stuff that I can see from my account on LW.

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldtoLemmy Support@lemmy.ml•How to create a new community?English
    7·
    6 days ago

    You can, but I’ll caution you against doing so if at all possible. Try to find an existing smaller space to post within. Lemmy is not reddit in size. There is a very different potential for ultra niche communities here. Giving up on reddit is hard in that you likely have an emotional addiction on some abstract level. This is just like a breakup in that adjustment takes time. If you try to shape a new partner into the form of your last, things tend to end badly.

    Most new niche communities here are more like blogs. It is a major uphill battle to create something that is self sustained and has others posting regularly. Unless you are very skilled at driving popularity, you will likely struggle.

    However, you will likely find acceptance in a more general space. It is far better to start in a more general space and if you find the comradery, or your regular collective dominance with others becomes an issue, then branch from that base and start a new community.

    I’m a nobody and no authority here. You do you. This is just what I have observed as successful versus the many that are not in the last 2 years.

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldtoFediverse@lemmy.world•.world is like a cartoon parody of itselfEnglish
    41·
    9 days ago

    I blocked NSQ bc of an active bot as a mod.

    Lemmy in general does not handle conceptual abstractions well at all. I think it is great to question the seemingly obvious subjects, and to poll user depth and intelligence regularly. I hate getting blindsided by someone asking stupid questions like this in real life and having to take the time to think out which of many angles I would like to address the issue from. I find it useful and healthy to see how others address such a question and how people respond to the various approaches. This is fundamental to the intuitive usefulness of NSQ and when that utility is hampered it effectively renders the community useless.

    I rather ineffectively volunteered to take over the community myself when I encountered poor moderation from a bot with no accountable individual to address. Instead I block the community and consider it an embarrassment to exist.