YSK: On the internet you can just freely say what you really think even if you know it's unpopular.

won't be fired or ostracized for it.
Wanna bet?

Of course you can. You're not free from consequences of what you said though. The internet remembers EVERYTHING. Especially on federated platforms like lemmy. Some of my first messages on newsgroups in the 1990's are still floating around the internet.
- Although, what are the odds someone goes to the length to match writing style and personal details that you let slip while using a pseudonymous account against an online presence where you are identifiable?
  I’m sure it’s possible, especially if there’s a reason you might be targeted, but I imagine it’s still pretty challenging and time consuming
  
  That's old style thinking. If that type of matching isn't already automated and running, it will be soon. They'll click a button and find you everywhere if you've left enough breadcrumbs, so there won't be any lengths to go to. And as someone who has gone through the cybersec exercises of hardening browsers against fingerprinting, knows what VPN can do and more importantly what it CAN'T do, etc, I can say there are precious few people in the world going to the lengths required to stay truly anonymous. It basically has to become your top priority and constant focus if you want to be successful.
- As is what you up voted.

Never say anything you aren't willing to stand behind. Because it won't go away. And with authoritarian regimes coming to power... you gotta be cognizant of the potential consequences
But generally, I agree with you. The further we get away from groupthink the better we are for it. When we self-censor out of fear of disapproval we are perpetuating the cycle and making it more likely the next person doesn't speak their mind.
Just because everyone believes something is right, does not mean it is. The majority has been wrong in the past and it will be wrong in the future.
- For the past 10 years or so I've pretty much assumed that at some point a superintelligent AI or similar will be able to find everyone's online profiles and link them to the actual person behind them. Then we'll all be held accountable for the things we've said in the past. That's why I never lie or say something I don't actually believe in. I'm not proud of every comment I've posted but those are my actual beliefs and what ever people will be able to dig up I can stand behind and explain reasoning.
  
  thats why I lie and obfuscate all the time and I don't all the time as well. I do try to curtail my sarcastic inclinations as the internet is just getting wierd. You gotta take everything from the internet with a grain of salt. Fact is in a free society there should be no criminal consequence to speech. So guy shoots guy and yes criminal system gets involved but someone says hey thats a great thing then no it should not and if it does then yeah the shooting makes a super a lot of sense.

You can be fired for what you say if it is linked back to you. That actually happens pretty regularly
- Well, sure if you're posting with your own name but not when you're posting as MrPoopbutt.
  
  Your anonymity will only hold until you have pissed of someone dedicated to track you down.
  And some people do not need much information to do just that. Stories online include finding a location based on the reflection in someones eye or finding a address in London based on a single picture of the window taken from the inside.
  Of course you can just not post real pictures and be careful with any details but just the topics you talk on and the hours you are active can give you away.
  In the end it doesn’t matter how much actual effort you put in obscuring your real identity, one slip up being found is enough to get the ball rolling. And if people hate you they will gladly keep it rolling.
  
  This is often patently false
  
  Don't make fun of him, it's a family name.

On the internet you can just freely say what you really think even if you know it's unpopular.
This advice is SUPER dependent on where you live. People in the Middle East have been executed for saying the wrong thing on the Internet. People in the UK have been imprisoned for saying the wrong thing online. Criticize social policy or Government in China and its quite possible you'll be off to prison.
Even in the good Ol' USA there's limits to how free your speech can be online.
- in minecraft
  
  That will not save you.

If people are saying something you disagree with you can just say it and you won’t be fired or ostracized for it.
But you can be banned which is pretty much the online equivalent to being fired or kicked out of school.
- Also ostracized...
  I literally just blocked another troll before seeing this post, that's literally ostracizing.
  It was a 4 day old account too, so in all likelihood they were ostracized before, it was a negative consequence, and if it continues to happen. Maybe someday they won't immediately be a troll on a new account.
  But if normal people do that, the trolls only get replies from each other and that's not fun for them.
  
  So many assumptions in this one just lol
  
  Individual users blocking other users isn't what I mean by being ostracized. If the majority of users did then maybe so but that basically never happens no matter what you say. Being blocked by someone comes at no cost to the person getting blocked. They won't even know.
- And then because it's lemmy, you can make a new account on a different instance. Just pretend to be someone else.
  
  On lemmy, you don't even need to pretend to be be someone else.
  
  Egg shells hate this one simple trick
  
  Or the same instance. You can also import your settings and continue from where you left.

Lol sounda like it bro's first time online
- I’d rather be new and decent than experienced and dismissive - thank you for the perspective.

On the other hand, no one is obligated to listen to you, and freedom of speech does not equal freedom from the consequences of said speech. If you voice an unpopular opinion, be prepared to not be popular.
- Absolutely. In-fact I'd say most people aren't blocking enough. If someone thinks of free speech as freedom to be an asshole then they should be blocked by everyone and left to shout into the void. However, I don't think the unpopularity follows you outside the thread you were saying unpopular things at. The vast majority of people wont remember you.

Ironic to find someone saying this on Lemmy. It's a miserable echo chamber here.
- That's why I'm saying it. I often feel like I'm in the minority of people willing to speak up and get dogpiled for it. I posted this for the handful of people who upvote those comments.
- I can't see down votes so I have nothing to lose!

Yeah, people will probably get angry and say mean things to you but those are just words which can be ignored. Offence is taken, not given.
This is naïve. The no one likes being insulted and downvoted for expressing their views. Sure, it doesn’t bother some people as much as others, but it’s not a conscious choice to “just ignore it,” as though that will prevent any negative feelings. The reality is that people with unpopular views stay silent to avoid these consequences, and that’s an entirely rational choice. You would do better to spend your time chastising people who attack those with unpopular views than to try to convince those with unpopular views to willingly expose themselves to online abuse.
- I agree. I didn't quite mean it as "you can just ignore it" but rather that "understand it's just words and you can learn to not take it personally"
  I say plenty of unpopular things here myself and though I have downvotes disabled I can still feel the pain when being dogpiled on despite having years of experience with it. No one is immune to it - we just have different levels of tolerance.

I've often been banned, blocked, or mass downvoted for saying something unpopular.
- Downvotes mean pretty much nothing
  
  And that's why I tag users lol (sorry, wouldn't normally share this, but enjoyed the irony of it being in this thread).
  
  True, but the first two don't.
- Join an instance with downvotes disabled :p
  
  Downvotes can also be disabled in the settings.
- Just like you're free to say it, others are free to not listen. If an user blocks you then so be it - I'm sure you've blocked people as well. Downvotes on the other hand are equivalent to mean comments; it can just be ignored. Getting banned is a real risk though, I'll give you that, but then again, you can just make a new account.

YSK too that not everything that's said has equal value or merit.
This is important for both expressing and hearing/reading opinions.

That's patently false.
Ironically one of the first comments I saw in this post was "deleted by a moderator." I guess that person doesn't get to say whatever they want.
Lemmy is only pseudonymous and is a bit of an echo chamber. Lots of things you write or otherwise share on the Internet (here or elsewhere) can come back to haunt you.
- They did get to say what they wanted to, tho. Then it was deleted by someone else. I could say something that breaks the rules if I really wanted to. I would just have my comment removed and get banned 🤷🏻‍♂️

I heard op of this post is the actual shooter in the murder of the Brian Thompson case. Sources say he went mad after his claim to be turned into a cat e girl was denied by united
Source-trust me bro

It's just words on a screen. Easy enough to scroll on by without commenting. On my screen, upvote usually means 'thanks for sharing' rather then agreement.

Nice try FBI
- During the Bush jr years, I told a coworker that I'd realized that I better start being more mindful about what I posted online. They replied that free speech was their primary marker of liberty and I felt kinda silly.
  As we go into a new Trump admin, I am again reminded that I should be mindful what I post because now it's really gonna go to shit. That asshole plans to weaponize everything. Hence, why I plan on emigrating to a better society.
  I do note that OP spelled "offence" the British way. They have less risk of being targeted by lunatics. I'm somewhat hyperbolic is suggesting that I'm moving for safety, but there were also a bunch of people who left Germany and didn't end up dead. And because I'm not unaware of what I'm saying: see also, Godwin's law.

If people are saying something you disagree with you can just say it and you won't be fired or ostracized for it. Yeah, people will probably get angry and say mean things to you but those are just words which can be ignored.
What is the purpose, then? If I can't ignore others, others can ignore you. This only lead to useless, unsatisfactory, unproductive and dumb arguments with random people on internet.
- Freedom to speak doesn't imply freedom to be heard. People are free to ignore you even when you're saying popular things. If you don't want to speak unless everyone is listening, then don't.
  
  Fair point, totally agree.
- I would probably argue the opposite. What is the purpose of a community where no actual discussions are had, and people just look at and upvote memes?
  
  You can always find a community where respectful discussion is allowed and encourage, and if you can't, you can create it. Not all places are mean to debate.
  And people just really like memes.

If people are saying something you disagree with you can just say it
sure 😁 👍 💯
and you won’t be fired or ostracized for it
🤦 WAT, how do you know that?
Sorry, but you don't get to set the expectations of how people will react.

Not on Lemmy though.
Also, Pro Tip:
Sometimes you can occasionally make a comment you know will be taken negatively so that you can update your block list of people who choose to leave mean replies. It helps to phrase it in a way that will create an emotional response. This is helpful for removing these people from your feed, because usually they leave negative comments like that on every reply they make. Very rarely do I find a person that is nice in most of their comments leaving a mean one, like ever. But also it is very rare I find these kind of people in the first place anymore.

Is this official permission?

But you will be canceled. There are things like fediblock and block lists. Does not reaaly harm you but you get suppressed little by little.

My favorite thing is getting downvotes with no reply. It’s like “you’re wrong! but I can’t say why!”

I think working is bad for human health. I don't get when people cheer about "creating workplaces"; that's the worst that could happen. I think that humans will be kept as workforce for the economy as long as it is needed. So, economic growth leads to new workplaces and that's a bad thing. I don't get how people cherish growth.
Apart from that, there's nothing that can be done to stop growth because growth is actually a very powerful spirit that is more powerful than human intervention, so it's not like a society "chooses to grow" - that's just an unavoidable necessity in my eyes.
Also, most human workers will (!) be replaced by AI in the next 15 years or so, and that's a good thing. We need to de-normalize working for your basic human right to life, and establish Universal Basic Income - which will only be successful if enough people see that there's not so much work to be done anymore and that creating actual social welfare programs is unavoidable. I'm mostly just waiting for this development myself because I do bad (and I mean, really bad) in the workforce of today.

No shit Sherlock. Who gives an ass about upvotes or downvotes? Just call things as you see them. If we all do the same, then eventually concensus zeitgeist will be more honest to the human condition