> There is already precedent for criminalizing dissent -- Turkey, for example, No need to reach so far. New York just made it illegal to advocate boycotting Israel[0]. [0] http://www.salon.com/2016/06/05/ny_gov_cuomo_signing_unconst...
From the article you cited, it appears that the law in question prohibits investment by the State of New York, not by individuals: > WHEREAS, the State of New York will not permit its own investment activity to further the BDS campaign in any way, shape or form, whether directly or indirectly; Is there more to it than what the article mentions?
For the people who claim they'll never take action on trivial stupid tweets: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16810312 > The 26-year-old bar manager wrote a message to a friend on the micro-blogging service, saying: "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America." > Mr Bryan told the newspaper that he was questioned for five hours about his Twitter messages. "All" that happened to him was…
so crazy. more so when "destroy" can have all kinds of completely innocent meanings. it's bad judgment, but not something for which a five hour delay plus rejection seems appropriate. how much did we pay for that interrogation, in border security salary?
And if we were at risk, who'd have slipped through while the agents played tough-guy?
Just like you can opt out of the body scan, which induces them to yell, in front of everyone, "OPT OUT!" and then you get to stand in a little roped off area and wait for a while. So, I agree, they'll make it as painful as possible to decline.
The funny part about this "painful" experience is that the TSA has effectively sewn a crisp, clean, machine-embroidered "KICK ME" placard onto the backs of their own uniforms. They're such a blatantly incompetent pack of busybodies that it's actually become fun to mess with them by accepting their repeated invitation to gum up the works by opting out. -- All I have to do is stand here and grin, while you lot stumble…
if more of us opted out more of the time, the system would become unworkable, and it would have to change.
You're saying it's workable now? While you and I are standing over there waiting for our groping, feeling smug about how we're sticking it to the man with our civil disobedience, the lines continue to back further and further out because they cut the number of agents. We're not sticking it to the man when the man himself is over there with a much bigger stick than we'll ever carry.
> The fact is that US military are in fact terrorists, as is the citizenry that supports this terrorist regime with tax money. Please don't post shrill ideological denunciations to HN. It's not what this site is for, there's no substantive argument that requires it, and one needn't be a militarist to know that.
dang/mod account, you host many political threads and then frequently censor viewpoints contrary to yours. Deleting off topic comments, spam and abuse is appropriate. Attacking and censoring all who are reasonably critical of the american military's torture and surveillance state, its illegitimate wars, and its harm to civilians, in the context of related discussion, is not appropriate. To maintain the credibility of…
I am very critical of America's torture, surveillance apparatus, wars and all the things you list. However, it cheapens the discussion you and I have against it. Terrorism is fundamentally very different from an invading and occupying force. The nature of the soldiers, their funding, purpose, propaganda used to send them off, as well as their very mission and goals all differ to such an extent. Calling this terrorism cheapens the word (terrorism), and makes it easy to ignore your somewhat valid points. I think there is a place for discussing the merits, drawbacks, and issues associated with America's unreasonable middle east adventures, but this is not it. It is also unreasonable to cry 'Censorship!' Whenever one strays and veers far off the OP topic. Please, do put up a thread, a blog, a news article and we can discuss, debate, and learn together about which is which, and why. But not here, and not in a way that cheapens the wonderful site that this is. Let us do all we can to not become reddit.
The funny part about this "painful" experience is that the TSA has effectively sewn a crisp, clean, machine-embroidered "KICK ME" placard onto the backs of their own uniforms. They're such a blatantly incompetent pack of busybodies that it's actually become fun to mess with them by accepting their repeated invitation to gum up the works by opting out. -- All I have to do is stand here and grin, while you lot stumble…
if more of us opted out more of the time, the system would become unworkable, and it would have to change. You're saying it's workable now? While you and I are standing over there waiting for our groping, feeling smug about how we're sticking it to the man with our civil disobedience, the lines continue to back further and further out because they cut the number of agents. We're not sticking it to the man when the ma…
Well, what else have we got? "Make it expensive" seems to be the only tool that works in this case, since they don't seem to actually care what we think about any of this.
I don't think one needs to support the invasion of Iraq to know how deeply uncool a comment like this is on HN. No more political flamebait, please. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11984942 and marked it off-topic.
Dang, why does your mod account repeatedly promote certain certain political ideologies and censor polite and reasonable comments from viewpoints contrary to those. In particular, please state for the record whether the actions of your mod account represent the official viewpoints and policies of the ycombinator board members. Also please identify clearly and specifically which ycombinator staff controls the dang cen…
This information is all public, and was published at the time dang became a full time moderator as opposed to merely a highly valued user. Please feel free to go and read the already existing official information that answers your questions.
> The fact is that US military are in fact terrorists, as is the citizenry that supports this terrorist regime with tax money. Please don't post shrill ideological denunciations to HN. It's not what this site is for, there's no substantive argument that requires it, and one needn't be a militarist to know that.
dang/mod account, you host many political threads and then frequently censor viewpoints contrary to yours. Deleting off topic comments, spam and abuse is appropriate. Attacking and censoring all who are reasonably critical of the american military's torture and surveillance state, its illegitimate wars, and its harm to civilians, in the context of related discussion, is not appropriate. To maintain the credibility of…
You've sidestepped the issue with your comment in a way that unfortunately just confirms it. But let me try to answer these concerns.
As I said, there's no defense of militarism in asking people not to post ideological rants here. If that weren't true, it would mean there is no civil way to state your view. That would be a rather strong refutation of said view.
Re my personal opinions: you're assuming that you know what they are and then getting angry at your assumption. That's a self-referential activity.
I know how tempting it is to conclude, when we moderate X on HN, that our politics must be anti-X. But even perfectly apolitical moderation, if it were possible, would generate the same reactions—more of them, actually, because there would be more Xs. So that feeling is not to be trusted. It's too easily explained by the simpler theory that none of us likes it when our own statements, or ones we agree with, get criticized.
I don't think one needs to support the invasion of Iraq to know how deeply uncool a comment like this is on HN. No more political flamebait, please. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11984942 and marked it off-topic.
Dang, why does your mod account repeatedly promote certain certain political ideologies and censor polite and reasonable comments from viewpoints contrary to those. In particular, please state for the record whether the actions of your mod account represent the official viewpoints and policies of the ycombinator board members. Also please identify clearly and specifically which ycombinator staff controls the dang cen…
We try to do our job professionally and not moderate HN in favor of any specific politics. I can't claim we've overcome bias—most bias is unconscious, so that would be silly—but we work hard to mitigate it, and have probably gotten better with practice.
Pretty sure your factual claims here are way off base, so it's hard to take this comment as anything other than an expression of how strongly you hold your views. That tends to go along with expressing oneself uncivilly. That's natural, I've done it, I still do it; but it's something we're all asked to contain here.
Edgy. But really, your comment just cheapens the discussion.
I disagree with you that his comment cheapens the discussion. I do think that your comment cheapens it. His point that the US military, with its illegitimate wars, torture practices, and widespread murder of civilians, is reasonably considered to be a terrorist organization is a reasonable and good comment which advances the discussion intelligently and productively. The fact is that US military are in fact terrorist…
Almost by definition, a terrorist is on the other side of the conflict. Therefore, relative to the US, they are not terrorists.