> Saving grace is most are probably too stupid to read hacker news.
I wouldn’t make this assumption. I have seen plenty of modern conservative opinion around here, and some of it really does align with ideas of white male supremacy and support for fascist authoritarian leadership. It’s easier to find on “new” on posts that aren’t strictly technology related. They are definitely here.
Of course, people are entitled to their opinions. 99.9% of normal liberal or conservative Americans aren’t going to get violent or take part in an insurrection. Nothing wrong with a having and expressing opinions.
But to me, the concern here isn’t even what happened a few days ago at the Capitol. My concern is the mass radicalization of the right wing of politics, and therefore people, in America. This radicalization is mainstream because the media outlets pushing the ideas are themselves mainstream, more mainstream than you think.
E.g. my family members, who are not deep down anything truly radical like the Q rabbit hole, but still believe it’s okay for Trump to be “joking” about 12 more years, running contrary to elementary school civics lessons that were supposed to be universal common ground. They got these ideas from America’s number one cable news channel, not some obscure Internet forum.