this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Most of the time when people say they have an unpopular opinion, it turns out it's actually pretty popular.

Do you have some that's really unpopular and most likely will get you downvoted?

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[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ironically I foreshadowed one of these on one of my recently previous comments. The Greeks/Spartans are wayyyy overrated as far as history goes, as in I couldn't not understate how overrated they are. None of their claims to fame are wholly true in the least. For example, they were said to have invented democracy, but every two rulers was a tyrant who justified their tyranny with the fact Zeus himself was a tyrant. He and the other gods were always justified in that "they're the gods, they can do what they want", which would make sense if they were creator gods, but legend has it Zeus fought the creator god... and ate him... for power, and then presided over the gods for eternity, because apparently the democratic process (which didn't include women, immigrants, or non-home-owners anyways) does not befit the gods and so you have a mentally ill, Typhon-obsessed role model at the helm. They spend their days indulging themselves at the expense of others in such an extreme way that they make it sound like asexuality didn't exist, because it was the Greek view that human nature was the same for everyone. And this tyranny they tried spreading all over the world because they thought it was what democracy was, which brings us to Alexander the Great, the world's most undeserving "great" conqueror. Imagine trying to enact revenge for a conquest on your land that happened more than two hundred years ago, having the historical records lie to inflate you, and once you get even with your enemies, decide that while you're at it you should conquer people further East, all while being unable to actually properly care for the lands you conquered.

I am currently taking history and get tired of seeing people say "the Greeks were the best". When the Ottomans invaded Greece, the love was so great that people volunteered from random nations to travel to Greece to fight the Ottomans. I don't care for the Ottomans, but where was this love for, say, Iceland, who had a better democracy? Or the Iroquois who also had an actual democracy? Online and in movies, Greece gets all the exposure.

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[–] gamey@feddit.rocks 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not sure how it is here but lemmy.world absolutely loves their atomic reactors, I tried to point out flaws and while noone debunked a single one of them it seemed VERY unpopular, I just ended up blocking theur Technology community...

[–] MstrDialUp@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

While I don't want to necessarily sign myself up for a debate and I don't think nuclear energy is perfect, I think pound for pound it's a better alternative for large scale power production than fossil fuels. Any issue that nuclear energy has, fossil fuels have as well, and usually worse on a per kWH basis. We've just lived with those ramifications for so long that we're more comfortable dealing with it. A great example is nuclear waste. Yes, it's a problem that needs to be dealt with, but so is coal waste. We just already have infrastructure in place already for coal waste, and coal waste is much more abundant. Per kWH, the nuclear waste generated is on the order of grams while the waste generated by coal power plants per kWH is on the order of kilograms. And coal fired power plants create radioactive waste as well, usually from incidental uranium and thorium, so we already have to take that into account. So yes it's an issue, but the amount of waste that needs to be dealt with is much lower overall.

[–] gamey@feddit.rocks 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

While I fundamentally agree but you realky downplay nuclear waste, we don't have any way to dispose of that btond theory, just temporary "solutions" and while coal also generates highly toxic waste the "just so few grams" part isn't great if you ask me! Don't get me wrong, in our current situation coal is about the worse wnergy source we can use but atomic power most likely won't be "the future" like almost everyone in that thread claimed ether and if it's just because we don't even have enough urainium supply the world energy consumption for more than a few year. Another fast that really worries me are the rising natural disasters, that's about the only way a modern reactor can truly cause damage and we will need a lot stronger rules around the areas we place those in, a earth quake area like Fukushima for example is a awful place for them! Another argument against it is that the real price of nuclear energy is by FAR higher than any other kind but currently paied by taxes rather than those companies or peoples energy bills and that won't improve considering we have to store the shit for millions of years and don't even know how yet. I am open to arguments on the topic but if all I get are downvotes and "that's not what I read" without any source and no matter what I write that's simply not a community I want to participate in.

[–] gamey@feddit.rocks 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or in short, my unpopular take is that we can call nuclear energy green (nature loves environmentes without humans) calling it sustainable or technology of the future isn't much smarter than bridging with fossile gass when you are far too late to the party already!

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Nuclear is sustainable though, we can sustain it for the forseeable future - many generations. Fossil fuels are not sustainable, their supply is more limited and the consequences of pollution too severe.

Nuclear is not renewable, but it is sustainable and not polluting so it fits into the category of "green".

However, nuclear is not quick. Like you say, we're already late to the party when it comes to fixing things. Using money and resources for nuclear over renewables may end up taking longer to get to net zero than just going hard on renewables and transmission first (although the specific circumstances do vary widely by region/nation).

[–] ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How is the waste of the reactors not considered polution? Especially when you consider that if people would really decide to make a swing for nuclear power there will be a lot more waste.

[–] mlc894@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Doesn’t β€œpollution” refer to material that is released into the environment? We could make an argument about uranium mining being polluting (because it is), but operating a nuclear plant does not create pollution during operation.

[–] ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

Do you trust every single country / political part on earth to store the waste for thousands of years responsibly and safe?

[–] ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The nuclear power industry is known for astroturfing. Just enter something like "nuclear power pros and cons" and you will find dozens of websites which only exist to advertise nuclear power.

Most of them seem to be legit enough at a first glance, but when you dig through their impressums or otherwise look up who owns the website they often belong to some group that's associate with the nuclear power industry.

I believe at least some of the die hard fans of nuclear power perhaps were convinced on these one-sided websites.

Another reason why you find so many fanboys is because on Lemmy (and similar platforms) everything considered "hard science" is cool. Even if they don't really understand it. Having reservations against or be careful with, what these people deem, technological advancement, shows that you are at least unintelligent and probably "too green".

Also, a lot of conservatives are into nuclear power reactors and they seem to have a general tendency to be extreme in their opinions.

[–] nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is honestly an equal amount of astroturfing in the opposite direction to.

[–] ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

That doesn't make a lot of sense since no one monetarily benefits from being against nuclear power reactors.

[–] ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

I think people don't even want to discuss options for surveillance online and offline because they never were and don't actually fear to be victims of violent crimes.

I also think people who say surveillance and police need to be abolished believe (subconsciously) in the "just world" hypothesis or they have main character syndrome and think that bad stuff only happens to people who somehow deserve it.

[–] knobbysideup@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People are judged more on their behavior than their gender identity or race.

[–] ErwinLottemann@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

That's why I generally divide people into two groups: assholes and not assholes.

[–] Stefh@programming.dev 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hate motorbikes and big dogs. Motorbikes because the engine is too noisy. Big dogs because are dangerous (and kill people) and they bark too much.

[–] ErwinLottemann@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

Small dogs are annoying, too, in terms of barking.

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