cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47584733
Trita Parsi May 18, 2026
We should first recognize that restarting the war amounts to an admission that Trump’s previous escalatory gambit — the blockade of the blockade — has failed. That, in turn, was itself an admission that the war had failed. Which was an admission that the threats of war in January had failed. As I have argued before on my Substack, this relentless search for an escalatory silver bullet capable of bringing Iran to its knees is not unique to Trump; it has become a defining pathology of American Iran policy for decades.
Although negotiators have made meaningful progress on several fronts, talks have thus far failed to produce an agreement, largely because of irreconcilable differences over Tehran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile. And as Washington has come to realize that the blockade is backfiring, a new and dangerous dynamic has emerged: both sides now believe another round of fighting will strengthen their hand in the negotiations that follow.
I think you wildly overestimate “leftist infighting” as a reason people wouldn’t join.
It’s peripheral drama at worst. Just here for the memes. I just want to grill for God’s sake!
Every month or so I see a post such as https://tarte.nuage-libre.fr/c/fediverse/p/198468/do-we-need-more-users discussing this topic. I barely look at Reddit myself anymore, but this is what people say that Redditors (and people on Bluesky, and even X) say about us here. Which also matches my own experiences too - although yeah if you personally block it all, then your experiences will ofc differ. I’m talking more about what someone who has no account would see, by default, as they just check us out.
Here’s another relevant discussion post: https://piefed.social/c/fediverse/p/1897818/how-to-sucesfully-post-about-piefed-on-reddit, with links to actual discussions that took place on Reddit about us here, if anyone wants to read primary source material.
Whenever people speak so broadly about social media platforms, describing the prototypical user… it’s pretty bizarre. Most people post NOTHING, a handful post some, and then like 0.01% of users post like 50% of the total content. The “vibe”, even the discussion about the vibes, are made by a very small percentage of the users.
PugJesus, ThePicardManeuver, and SatansMaggityCumFart do a LOT of the heavy lifting in terms of setting a tone/vibe/discussion etc. Just those 3 accounts.
In short, making inferences about users based on platform is pretty sketchy at best. I GET that human tribalism inclines us to form strong opinions about “the other”, and to then apply those overly broadly… so im not blaming anyone.
I’m just suggesting stepping back and recognizing that a bunch of what you (and others) are thinking on the subject is informed by:
A faulty assumption that the median content of a social media platform is evenly contributed to by the platform population as a whole (it isn’t, not even clise)
An out-of-time instinct to “otherize” groups which isn’t super valuable anymore.
It all reeks of any other immigration discussion. Immigrants who insist they were the last good ones. Ranking which are the shithole countries. Grandstanding about how many generations one has been “here”. I’m hesitant to even call it a “parallel”, because it’s honestly the exact same thing and the exact same arguments get made.
Just instead of people trying to like… live … they just want some memes. Build a fucking wall and make Reddit pay for it. Drama for dramas sake. A complete and utter waste of energy.