Tech for Palestine

Its certainly telling that this post got "flagged". Exactly what the opening lines of the article describe: "we don’t have the right to show humanity towards Palestine".

Re: Tech for Palestine

#7

Post by dang » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 12:14 AM UTC

helixfelix wrote: post #6

Its certainly telling that this post got "flagged". Exactly what the opening lines of the article describe: "we don’t have the right to show humanity towards Palestine".

I don't think that's what's happening here. The flags are coming from users (as explained in https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html). We can only guess why users flag things, but when I looked at the flagging histories, they didn't seem focused on this issue; rather they were the most common type of flag, from users who don't want to see flamewars or too much politics on HN. For example, here are other submissions flagged by the same users:

In L.A., a new vision of incarceration proves rehabilitation works - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38844740

The Myth of Meritocracy Runs Deep in American History - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38844240

Psychopathic men have more children, study finds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38824962

Brexit has failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons – poll - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38817190

Losing weight without any stress - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38815866

Florida health care can now be denied based on moral, ethical, religious beliefs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35941427

I'm not mentioning these to start arguments about whether or not they are on-topic for HN—some are, some not—but rather to give the flavor of what the user flags look like.

We sometimes turn off flags, and I've done so several times on this topic and posted quite a bit about why. However, HN is not a current affairs site, and it is a site that gets damaged when threads turn into flamewars. So we have to be careful about which threads to turn off flags on, and I don't think an outright advocacy piece is the best choice for that. It's all relative; there's no way to avoid flamewars on a topic like this; but some go to the inner circles of hell faster than others.

Re: Tech for Palestine

#8

Post by xk_id » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 12:23 AM UTC

helixfelix wrote: post #6

Its certainly telling that this post got "flagged". Exactly what the opening lines of the article describe: "we don’t have the right to show humanity towards Palestine".

perhaps Palestine's majority support of the October 7th violent attack has something to do with the reason why it became a contentious topic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Hamas-led_attack_on_Israe...

Re: Tech for Palestine

#9

Post by nonviol » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 12:29 AM UTC

xk_id wrote: post #8

helixfelix wrote: post #6

Its certainly telling that this post got "flagged". Exactly what the opening lines of the article describe: "we don’t have the right to show humanity towards Palestine".

perhaps Palestine's majority support of the October 7th violent attack has something to do with the reason why it became a contentious topic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Hamas-led_attack_on_Israe...

That doesn't justify inflicting mass slaughter, starvation, and now preventable disease on an entire population, which is what's happening. We can argue about whether it's genocide, but unquestionably it's collective punishment, and that's a war crime: https://opiniojuris.org/2023/10/24/a-short-history-of-the-wa...

I'm sorry to bring this up, but did you know that children are now having limbs amputated without anesthetic there? How is it possible to know that and not want it to stop?

Re: Tech for Palestine

#10

Post by helixfelix » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 1:00 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #7

helixfelix wrote: post #6

Its certainly telling that this post got "flagged". Exactly what the opening lines of the article describe: "we don’t have the right to show humanity towards Palestine".

I don't think that's what's happening here. The flags are coming from users (as explained in https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html ). We can only guess why users flag things, but when I looked at the flagging histories, they didn't seem focused on this issue; rather they were the most common type of flag, from users who don't want to see flamewars or too much politics on HN. For example, here are other submission…

Thank you for your thoughtful reply and explanation. Makes sense. It is an emotional topic indeed and most threads devolve into flamewars without careful moderation. Really appreciate all you do for HN!