Ardern's government might have sounded progressive, but it was all talk. They never did anything good and I'm still poor and I struggle to save any money. My future has been destroyed by these people who pretend to be progressive.

That's true and I'm aware of it. If we had an authoritarian leader who would build houses then I'd be all for it, but more likely we'll get some out-of-touch boomer who brings in a racial agenda and other crap, while not fixing the daily problems that people like me face.

This happens when the spirit of a nation is crushed. For example, the same thing happened under communism.

haha

I think kiwis are strange in general. We live in a shame based culture, similar to Japan. Top priority is to be seen doing the "right thing". Wrong think is unacceptable, even in your own private thoughts. No wonder why Reddit became the new TradeMe Forum, people love the downvote feature, because it promotes shame and silence. Other countries have more inquisitive and open-minded citizens.

I think it's a good thing if people trust the government less and less, all this conspiracy stuff just means that people have access to other information. I'll end up dying alone in a run-down hostel at the rate things are going, I have no interest in defending the government here in New Zealand after everything they've done to spread poverty. I don't care what the official narrative is. I may be aware of it, but I don't actively follow it.

uh oh, don't say that, you'll only bring the mob upon yourself.

We've reached the point where the amount of outrage, false info, and bots is too much to handle. We actually need networks like Lemmy or Urbit which are closed off from the public internet, and invite only. Give people an invite code like Gmail did when it was new and coveted. When everyone comes to one place it will naturally degenerate into garbage. That's why we need a variety of different groups, made by different people. With some more open than others, so there can be actual debates instead of downvote mobs.

Being able to downvote without contributing any thoughts is just childish and stupid. I hate websites with a downvote feature because it ruins the authenticity of the website. People begin to act cautiously and don't say what they think, and don't challenge anyone on a touchy subject. The word "troll" has also lost meaning. It used to mean someone being intentionally disruptive, but now anyone with a different view is just a "troll". I could go on Reddit and use my real name and I'd be a "troll" for having my own opinion, while anonymous cowards chuck insults from the safety of their keyboards behind a VPN.

There are ways to handle dissenting views, like having a debating board on a website that's separate from the main topics. Of course nobody does this on the big websites.