How is it that you are presenting different viewpoints as evidence of an echo chamber? That sounds like evidence that it isn't to me. It just seems like you want it to be one so you're forcing that conclusion.

There's lots of different people with different opinions here. If you expect to get the same response from different people that is pretty odd.

You're obviously allowed to care and to express that. I hope you don't hear me saying that I think you're dumb or anything like that. In fact it's pretty much the exact opposite. Most of the time when I see people complain about downvotes they're trolls upset that it hampers their ability to be a troll but you seem like a reasonable person so I am simply seeking to better understand your perspective.

To put it another way I agree with your first sentence but I don't generally feel like visible downvotes prevents that from happening. I actually think downvotes function to encourage good discussion more often than not. That isn't true in all cases but it seems easier to be discouraged or get the wrong idea about prevailing sentiments if the dumb comments are just sitting there next to the good comments with no indication that a majority of other users also think they're dumb.

I mean it was mostly a joke but it's also semi serious. You seem capable of disagreement without it bothering you much so I don't get why the number next to a comment is different. Yeah some people use it in a dumb way but that's true of pretty much everything.

I disagree. Have I ruined your mood now or do I have to actually downvote you for it to work?

Thank god the pedantic police are here to prevent any casual use of language!

There's legitimate uses for downvotes but you seem to take issue with people using it to express disagreement. My question is why does that bother you? There's lots of reasons why that could happen, some valid and some not. Disagreement isn't usually supposed to signal that you're a piece of shit or however else you seem to be interpreting it. It just means the people who read your comment don't share your view but you don't even know who they are so who cares. It's a minor thing. It's equivalent to telling a joke to your friends and no one laughs. Big fucking deal, life goes on.

The nipple ring is a nice touch

You know, I've been feeling kind of down about America lately, for obvious reasons, but I just had a beer and set off some fireworks with my kids and now I've seen this masterpiece. I'm feeling patriotic as hell. Let's kick some fascist ass boys and girls. If we can't pull it off at the ballot box we can do it with the ammo box like our grand daddy's did. I hope it doesn't come to that but I am not afraid because I have all you beautiful people to back me up.

Take care of each other. Happy Fourth of July my friends.

That's beautiful

Politicians rarely help the average person and voters are dumb so they listen to fascists who say they can solve all of society's problems. If the status quo sucks for you then a shake up doesn't seem like a bad thing. I'd be willing to bet that most of this would go away if moderate politicians started prioritizing regular people instead of rich donors.

If an Independent can look at how the Republican party conducts itself and still be undecided on who to vote for then they aren't an Independent, they're simply a Republican that's socially aware enough to understand that calling themselves a Republican comes with more baggage than they want to take on.