Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week

But I think it goes like this: there's a difference between not caring about something for a week and not talking about it. If, as you assume, for most of HN politics is "things that affect other people", then the primary objective of political discussions on HN should be to convince those people - not, say, to make the minority which is affected feel validated. My impression is that when people who are affected by something go and read a ton of Very Strong Opinions put forward by people who aren't, the result is usually more invalidating than validating; validation is important but is a purpose better served by more focused communities. Now, when it comes to convincing people, a constant barrage of discussions on the same topic is probably more unhelpful than helpful; at worst, pausing discussions for a week (which gives them time to reflect) is unlikely to be very harmful.

Notwithstanding that, some people may perceive the idea of taking a break as invalidating, because it reminds them of a generalization about the community (not affected) which does not apply to them. However, so far as it's an accurate generalization, this seems like it can't be helped. I suppose you could argue that it seems more accurate than it really is, since marginalized people are present but silenced…

Anyway, I think "things that affect other people" is an oversimplification to start with. A lot of the specific political topics people like to discuss on this site, like encryption/surveillance, have fairly little direct impact on pretty much any of us; others, like the economy, affect all of us to some extent, albeit some more than others.

The actual quote is "war is the continuation of politics by other means". So according to that Prussian general from two centuries ago, when the politics stop, war begins.

> political emotions

It's actually political thought - an intellectual endeavour that is not only honourable and rewarding, but it is a sign of maturity. Getting involved in the administration of the society you live in is what separates adults from children.

> these harsher patterns can spread through the rest of the culture, threatening the community as a whole

What culture would that be? The one which censored a suicidal Ian Murdock because he had the audacity to type "nigger" in a tweet? The one which turned its collective back to a man in need, only to pat itself on the back afterwards because there was nothing that could be done?

> What Hacker News is: a place for stories that gratify intellectual curiosity and civil, substantive comments.

AKA: politics that you agree with. There's no escaping politics because there's no escaping conflict. You're imposing your side of the "gratifying" story through censorship and you rejoice in the civility of your echo chamber. May all your critics be hellbanned and all your opinions unchallenged!

It's often pretty obvious from the ensuing conversation what kind of post it is: are people discussing the politics, or the technical thing that's kind of related?