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

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

#581

Post by spinchange »

I appreciate this effort and get the gist of the experiment. At the risk of being too philosophical, I'd just say, everything is inherently political, so drawing a line may prove to be tough in some cases. "Politics" can expressed in subtle ways and not necessarily as the central topic at hand, but imbued into it.

I'm reminded of Ted Nelson's notion that politics, loosely defined, is "clash and reconciliation of agendas" and, "If software is successful, it steers the path that many users take, and selects among many possibilities to further the creator's agenda...Suppressing the other possibilities may also be part of the agenda."

https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/video/the-politics-of-internet-soft...

In any case, I get & appreciate the practical goal here and what you're looking to accomplish. I know I specifically need a Trump-related detox, in general (although not because of anything I've seen on HN).

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

#582

Post by klagermkii »

Jemaclus wrote: post #514
tarikjn wrote: post #62

I find this experiment a bit strange/disturbing, avoiding political subjects is a way of putting the head in the sand. HN is a community of hackers and entrepreneurs and politics affects these subjects one way or another wether we want to avoid it or not, and are an important component of entrepreneurial and technical subjects. It might be fine if HN was a scientific community, but it is not the case, and even then p…

Agree. I would argue that the "don't discuss politics or religion" with family and friends is partly what got us into this mess in the first place. The United States has become a nation where you can't have reasonable political discourse, because we've been taught not to talk about it. We put our heads in the sand and repeat our same beliefs over and over without any external challenge or validation. When we try to h…

I absolutely agree with this. What may have seemed like a good idea to avoid short-term arguments, has instead allowed differences to fester to a point where people barely even agree on the terminology used.

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

#583

Post by aaronbrethorst »

ibejoeb wrote: post #545
idlewords wrote: post #380

This is a terrible decision. The tech industry has built powerful tools of social control, and runs vast databases of private data on pretty much everyone in the country. We have a golden period of forty-some days before a new administration comes to power that has shown every intent of using that information to deport people and create a national Muslim registry. We need to be talking about the political implication…

>We have a golden period of forty-some days before a new administration comes to power that has shown every intent of using that information to deport people and create a national Muslim registry. This is why I support a moratorium on politics here. This kind of assumption and hyperbole is really off-putting. I'm happy to debate these topics, but not here. Now, that said, it's going to be a little murky. For example,…

The "assumption and hyperbole" you mention is based upon things our president elect has said he will do.

I think this is exactly the place to do it as the people who would be involved in its creation are likely here. Where else would be a better place?

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

#584

Post by jc_811 »

dang wrote: post #527
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's the one I recall, it was about "how to talk to climate change deniers" or something like that. I flagged it (dang says to overflag rather than underflag in this regard anyhow). I'd have a hard time categorizing it as "not political". It's a charged political topic, the details of that conversation had nothing to do with technology, and almost entirely were about "how to argue with the people you disagree with…

> (dang says to overflag rather than underflag in this regard anyhow) But only for this week. After that, maybe the other way around.

To my point though, couldn't any topic in the world be linked back to politics one way or another? I could understand if the guidelines were don't talk about political parties, politicians, policy, etc. However having a blanket "no political topics" opens the door to flag anything

If I post about the rising cost of computers, is that political since costs could be influenced by tariffs or gov policy?

I've always felt the HN community as a whole was respectful to political points and now seeing this be censored is a bit of a downer.

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

#585

Post by idlewords »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #579
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem like most people on HN want to be politically active here. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm here to learn new things. And yet, teaching people new things tends to affect the world more than political discussion ever could. I'm happy that HN exists as a solace from the political storm the rest of the world is wrapped up in. Of course politics will affect each of us. But as tptacek is fond of sayi…

>It's more important to preserve the spirit of the site than to affect change. Who is the deity that gets to determine what the "spirit of the site" is? Is that spirit not simply made up of the collective users and dynamic by nature?

The 'sitegeist', if you will.

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

#586

Post by ajamesm »

ibejoeb wrote: post #545
idlewords wrote: post #380

This is a terrible decision. The tech industry has built powerful tools of social control, and runs vast databases of private data on pretty much everyone in the country. We have a golden period of forty-some days before a new administration comes to power that has shown every intent of using that information to deport people and create a national Muslim registry. We need to be talking about the political implication…

>We have a golden period of forty-some days before a new administration comes to power that has shown every intent of using that information to deport people and create a national Muslim registry. This is why I support a moratorium on politics here. This kind of assumption and hyperbole is really off-putting. I'm happy to debate these topics, but not here. Now, that said, it's going to be a little murky. For example,…

How is it "assumption and hyperbole" to take statements at face value? The incoming administration is on the record with their intents.

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

#588

Post by tripzilch »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #278
mattnewton wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rub is, a lot of difficult conversations lead to what are effectively political answers. Take the amazon go which is on the front page right now. We need to be able to have a conversation about job displacing technologies, and hacker news has been a good venue for smart, civilized discussion on the topic. I'm all for flagging uncivilized discussions, but eliminating discussions outright because they might make pe…

Is political discourse in HN comment threads ever actually "effective", though? What actually results from having those discussions here that couldn't be accomplished just as easily in a forum where it's explicitly on-topic, e.g. /r/politics or similar? It's not as though policymakers or voters are looking to the HN comments section for guidance.

Because they're political comments on tech issues. They have given me new insights on numerous occasions. And I love all counterarguments, especially when they go against beliefs I hold dearly.

And it's not just about finding out that I'm completely wrong. Sometimes it's just a new light, and sometimes it's just the reminder that really smart people too believe some things that I didn't think were possible for a "reasonable smart person" to believe (if you don't think you need constant reminding of this, ... well ... haha ;-) )

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

#589

Post by JeremyBanks »

"A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said. The man told police he had come to the restaurant to “self-investigate” a false election-related conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton that spread online during her presidential campaign."

YC company Reddit is significantly responsible for fostering this and other dangerous conspiracy theories. It's no wonder you don't want to talk about politics: you have become complicit in terrible things and nobody involved shows any indications that things are going to change.

Enjoy growing your community of libertarian psychopaths.

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

#590

Post by drivingmenuts »

I already did my detox. Deleted my bookmarks to political news sites, unfriended some IMHO toxic people on FB and have generally refrained from commenting on politics, of any kind, since the election.

Kind of plan on staying that course.

Keep the political links, discussions, etc. It's not like I have to read them or comment on them if they appear.

And neither do you.

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