That was my first reaction too. I usually try to stop myself from falling into conspiracy thinking, but in this case it’s hard to do when a few days prior the Internet has been full with an alleged memo with plans to stage something dramatic for the press at this specific event.

Can’t rule out a real attack but at this point I wouldn’t exactly say it’s the option with the highest probability for this government filled with tv personalities at record low popularity…

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The American government and their supporters hate modern day Europe, and yet they’re so obsessed with gaudy replication of old European stuff. You see it also with all the kitchy Roman-like pillars and replicas of the statue of David randomly plonked in some room. It’s just so… weird. I guess they like the idea of “old” Europe, the good old days when they still spent half their time killing each other, and the other half killing people in far-away places. They probably see it as their own origin story, so they resent that the modern versions of these countries, after all the devastating wars, have evolved into modern, peaceful countries. Maybe they see themselves as defenders against modern debauchery like freedom, peace and happiness?

From my perspective it just seems kind of hollow and desperate, can’t think of your own stuff to do so you decide to copy the megalomania of dysfunctional old empires that got crushed by their own ego and inability to peacefully coexist in prosperity. There’s a reason they’re not around anymore, and copying them, aside from being vaguely pitiful, just means you’re headed to the same end. Let’s hope it won’t take two world wars for America to catch on.

Kind of niche but Guitar Pro. Not sure what the newer versions are like but the one I have is great for composing and arrangement.

I know you meant it as a critique, but the changing part is actually completely right! I guess my distaste for it stems from my distaste for tribalism. I follow topics I care about, and despite largely comprising opinions I agree with through selection bias, I dislike how there’s a set of agreed upon opinions that people are expected to follow, with intense backlash to attempts at nuance or compromise. Naturally everyone from other tribes is considered a horrible evil being who just wants to see your own tribe suffer, and so anything but the most vicious “anti-them” perspective is considered traitorous.

As far as I can tell, it doesn’t matter much which part of the community it is, most seem to have a relatively large proportion of users who seem to delight in the opportunity to tear others to shreds if they perceive some justification. I sometimes wish we could enjoy things together without turning everything into a hateful fight (that somehow always seems to be considered justified because other tribes are supposedly even worse). Maybe I’m just in the wrong place…

I don’t use Lemmy much anymore nowadays because of this. While it’s important an alternative to Reddit exists, so I try to support it, it ironically feels more like a hivemind than Reddit does (ironic because you’d expect the opposite for federated services). I think it’s because switching to Lemmy from Reddit requires either idealism or a Reddit ban, both of which disproportionately attract people who feel good when they verbally attack internet strangers for disagreeing with them on 1% of the implicitly agreed upon joint viewpoints. It also strangely reminds me of the feeling I got being part of an old gaming community that was slowly dying out, where eventually only the unpleasant ones who defined their identity based on it were left.

I’m always happy to see there are also people here who dislike this attitude, though, or even to see neutral posts. There is still hope!