Statements like this are exactly the reason why I have always been hesitant about having a relationship with Y Combinator. Reminders to be courteous are welcome, but a ban of political "stories" is completely inappropriate especially at a time when minority voices are already consistently silenced.
Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
601–610 of 1001 posts
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#602Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#603My biggest concern is the question of what is politics? Surely partisan political issues are politics, but is the position of women in tech also politics? Is climate science? I can see good arguments in either direction. The problem, then, is that it places too much power in the hands of those who answer the question of whether something is politics or not.
HN is already pretty bad at silencing opinions outside the groupthink common wisdom; I think this would just make it worse.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#604Life is politics here's 2 from the current front page : 8 - Silicon Valley’s Culture, Not Its Companies, Dominates in China (nytimes.com) 21 - Russian deaths from malnutrition rate 5x lower than in the US (worldlifeexpectancy.com)
Just have more vodka, it kills the microbes :)
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#605I 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…
I fully support this detox week. As someone whose political views don't align with the average HN reader, I often feel marginalized by unfair downvoting in political discussion, even though I have made my points in an informed and respectful way. It often feels like there is one prevailing slant on this site and those of the majority are free to push their views while the rest of us must either read it and ignore it…
> I'd rather see HN go politics-free forever. Political discussions do not enjoy the same level of objectivity that technical and business discussions do...
Sure, why not. They are useless.
But, those "discussions" on Apple, Linux, Microsoft, FOSS and FSF, Vim, Emacs, IDEs, JS frameworks, programming languages, etc--they are so objective and fruitful...
Truth is, between the overton window and the commonly accepted fictions of the world there is only subjectivity, if you think you can be objective about anything you are delusional. And for someone who are not a believer in the common myths and accepted fallacies of this world--this is so much easier to fathom.
If your opinion is outside of the norm matrix you'll be downvoted, tough shit. Fair? Are your feelings hurt? This is not directed at you personally: if downvotes bother you, then don't partake in online discussions.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#606I appreciate the sentiment but I fear a slippery slope. What counts as "politics"?
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#607When "politics" is treated as "things that affect other people that we opine about", this decision makes sense. But this decision is the epitome of privilege. To enter a space thinking "I'm not going to think about politics" is to be someone whose sheer existence in that space isn't a political statement in and of itself. And for many, such a space is "The United States", "The Tech Community", "HN", or whatnot. Sayin…
Can't you expand this argument until it completely fills your reality? Is it exercising privilege to order a coffee or a sandwich without discussing politics? If so, simply pretend that's what you're doing here, except instead of a sandwich you've ordered some technology news and discourse.
The issues will still be there to fight when you're done, just in a more appropriate forum.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#608This 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…
Imagine HN banning crypto-related discussion for a week after the Snowden revelations, because it was too hard to deal with.
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#609Earlier quoted context omitted.
Back when I was a kid, there was a saying. "I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death, your right to say it". Of course, now many on the left rejoice in the censoring of all sorts of speech. I find the prevalence and acceptance of these 'crybully' tactics to be much more frightening then the terrible atrocity of actually enforcing existing immigration laws which you appear to fear so much.
I agree with much of what you said, but the use of the word 'crybully' is why I'd have downvoted you. Also the comment on the -3 points being against the guidelines. If you clean out some of the more inflammatory words, you make a decent point. I agree that censorship should be avoided, and I see a push on the left for censorship. EDIT: I initially said I agree with the tone but that was poor editing on my part.
"Crybully" is a particularly odious piece of political signalling masquerading as an argument, at least in my opinion. The person using it is of course also claiming to be victimized as a way of shutting up their political opponents, except that it doesn't count because everyone knows that only the "regressive left" are "crybullies".
Re: Tell HN: Political Detox Week – No politics on HN for one week
#610So I love Condorcet's works .... on voting. Nothing politics ... just maths.
So I love Plato's work on SiFi hypothesis : what it means to be invsible and the implication on moralilty (cf privacy) ... just philosophy.
So I love Jeremy Bentham nerdy works of architecture on how to build perfect jails where the one in power can watch everything the others do without being watched ... just architecture.
Finally, I love Gary Gigax (D&D) quote : evil (or politic) is in the eye of the beholder!