memes

In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle East,[1] was one of the many specialties of 19th-century academic art, and Western literature was influenced by a similar interest in Oriental themes.

Critical studies

Edward Said

In his book Orientalism (1978), cultural critic Edward Said redefines the term Orientalism to describe a pervasive Western tradition—academic and artistic—of prejudiced outsider-interpretations of the Eastern world, which was shaped by the cultural attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries.[20] The thesis of Orientalism develops Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony, and Michel Foucault's theorisation of discourse (the knowledge-power relation) to criticise the scholarly tradition of Oriental studies. Said criticised contemporary scholars who perpetuated the tradition of outsider-interpretation of Arabo-Islamic cultures, especially Bernard Lewis and Fouad Ajami.[21][22] Furthermore, Said said that "The idea of representation is a theatrical one: the Orient is the stage on which the whole East is confined",[23] and that the subject of learned Orientalists "is not so much the East itself as the East made known, and therefore less fearsome, to the Western reading public".[24]

In the academy, the book Orientalism (1978) became a foundational text of post-colonial cultural studies.[22] The analyses in Said's works are of Orientalism in European literature, especially French literature, and do not analyse visual art and Orientalist painting. In that vein, the art historian Linda Nochlin applied Said's methods of critical analysis to art, "with uneven results".[25] Other scholars see Orientalist paintings as depicting a myth and a fantasy that did not often correlate with reality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism

Yeah i dont think that people saying "China is kinda based" are trying to appropriate chinese culture from the perspective of a culturally and racially superior western hegemonial empire. Quite to the contrary actually.

Fedivserse logo, thats lemmy, mastodon, sharkey, mbin and all the other decentralised social medias.

It would be nice if the Fediverse (or some apps like Sync) had a strong algorithm that you can choose to activate if you like, once you install the app.

And could pick from different algorithms, one big barrier to entry for new users is the UX just sucks compared to platforms they're used to.

Eg. Default lemmy Web UI is TERRIBLE

I mean, a software could easily do it they just don't.

Personally, I think there's room in the Fediverse for an app with a "strong algorithm" provided it's completely open ofc.

My biggest issue with algorithms isn't the fact they exist, but that they're proprietary black boxes so no one truly knows how it's being manipulated

That's what I love about the fediverse. Sure, the huge instances will struggle to maintain their identity, but new instances can be spun up for approx $15/mo USD. Pass the hat around to 100 people and you can easily cover that.

Also instances do not have to please everyone, and they don't have to push ads, or worry about being a friendly corp playground, so they can just tell people who don't fit the vibe to fuck right off.

It allows it to have a large range of content covering a variety of interests?

Gotta second this. Especially if the growth is sudden. It's very difficult to integrate newer users into the existing culture.

There are merits to being a smaller community.