Bluesky: It seems like the place on the internet where everyone wants to be right now. “It’s like Twitter, but with less Nazis”, they say. “You’ll love it!” Well, since this new app is apparently the hottest thing since the Chili Peppers, I recently figured I’d give it a shot. But what I saw once I logged in absolutely shocked me. I’m here to tell you, definitively, that this is not a website for intelligent or entertaining discourse. How could it be, when I got made fun of so hard there?
I like to think of myself as a pretty Average Joe – I like sports, I work in an office, and I park my Maserati in my 4-car garage at the end of every day just like everyone else. And I’m just as entitled to my reasonable opinions, too. Opinions like “Having a liberal echo chamber isn’t good for society because then everyone is too cordial and understanding to one another. This site needs to make room for more diversity of thought, because bigotry and hatred are what make the world go ‘round.” Does that make me a bad guy? I don’t think so, but Bluesky certainly does, and that’s why the app will never be a success.
Let me pose a hypothetical question: do you truly believe that a website where someone can tell me to “shut the fuck up, you fascist boomer POS” and that “you’re the exact reason we all left Twitter, lmao” is anything but a failure? I never get this kind of flack on Truth Social, which is doing incredibly well for itself, I might add. Just the other day, I tried to defend myself by lightly suggesting that arguing with Q’Anon psychopaths online is a stimulating mental workout and is an experience noticeably absent from Bluesky generally. More engagement and debate leads to more site traffic and more profit, everyone knows this! But the response from the masses? “Yeah, we definitely need to hear more from the Hitler Youth. This guy’s a real genius.” Well, if that’s how you feel about it, then I guess I’ll just pack my things and leave this failing place for good!
Look, at the end of the day, I just think we’re not taking into account the people who happen to support our current authoritarian dictator and his cabinet of vultures. There’s really just not enough of it on the news programs and other media channels that are playing basically 24/7. I don’t think that’s enough to warrant being made fun of, and people online responding, “Oh, you must be in the wrong place! Elon Musk’s gaping asshole is that way, actually!” If that’s the type of conversation that’s being promoted on Bluesky, it will never take off. I prefer my echo chambers to be a little less intolerant of intolerance, thank you very much.
If you want a website where the same hum-drum, respectful, nuanced discussions are happening all the time, Bluesky is the place for you. But be warned, you might get made fun of way harder for having shitty opinions than you would on a site like X. Elon Musk has a lot of money, after all. He knows exactly what he’s doing.