If you like the old school bulletinBoards + standardized protocol, then you may like LemmyBB. An homage to the classic forums with the reach of activitypub protocol: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmyBB
This is a brilliant idea! If you think the problem is bad in the US, you haven't stepped into spaces like Asia. This is a path that can help the world, not just EU/US scenarios.
May I also suggest you consider the network layer centralization. When you mentioned Github+Stackoverflow, I got the point even before I visited your site.
However, even as you think about an alternative on how we publish, consider that technical questions can have significant political consequences. I am of the view that centralized networks are a major contribution to the situation we find ourselves in today. Distributed/Decentralized/Federated options like ActivityPub may help in your journey in what surely is a great idea. Check Lemmy, for example, on a real stackoverflow option - https://join-lemmy.org/ and Gitea already working on a federated "Github".
Monitoring Public Facebook pages? A very painful process. Facebook requires a login to view a public pages -- and most public offices like governments post content exclusively on Facebook so as things stand, you have to have an account on Facebook to access government communication, which is plain sad.
I do not remember any good tool to access Facebook pages. If you get one (rss-hub), it breaks in a week after Facebook changes their API endpoints.
Which is why I think alternatives like Lemmy[0] ought to up their UX/UI and mobile applications because on the backend, they offer much respectful design and since they are not after money, operate under less duress. Such alternatives offer real possibilities to challenge Reddit but they have a long way to go on user interface.
From a social perspective, identities make us just as we make them. One is born in identities outside of their control. And it is not possible to separate yourself from an identity as easily as the author argues. But people can agree on clear rules of engagement, evidence, and interpretation, for a _better_ interaction.
I agree with your observation that reduction to single 'causal factor' is delusional.
You may want to check chapter 1 of Lisa Lowe's
_The Intimacies of Four Continents_ where a possible answer to why US and Australia v African colonies differ is presented -- that you cannot understand colonialism and imperialism as atomic parts scattered around the world. They are all intimate, organized around ideologies of hierachies.