You can discuss politics without engaging in it 24/7. There is nothing wrong with going to something like reddit or Lemmy and not wanting to add it to the list of places where all you see is politics. It’s easier on reddit, because the sheer volume of content, but it can be done here too.

I don’t personally care here on Lemmy, it’s a better format for discussion than some places (not that I discuss it, though I’ll read it). But in my case, I used to go to imgur all the time. For me it was a place to share memes and other jokes, you got a bit of community, it was smaller than reddit, Twitter, and all that. But it got to be non stop politics. They even added filters you could toggle on to the site, including a political one. It helped but even then the stuff still got through. Over time I stopped using the site and eventually deleted the app as it wasn’t my funny little meme site anymore.

And i largely agreed with the overall community, like most places it was a circle jerk most of the time. But being like this didn’t accomplish anything (as we all can see). At best, maybe some people there didn’t “switch sides” when Donald showed up.

Maybe the poster just wants a place where they can get a break but still be social. They’re not getting at X or bluesky, they’re definitely not getting it on Facebook or threads. Reels, TikToks, and shorts are dependent on the almighty algorithm and aren’t very social for most users. Mastodon, yeah i guess, but i know i find it’s harder to find communities than on Lemmy (plus your points, which are valid, apply there too). Where should they go.