Comment by jacquesm
10 hours ago
Either way, we won't be talking about it on HN, this got flagged so hard it is on page 4. We don't do politics. By the way, here is some new nonsense built with an LLM.
10 hours ago
Either way, we won't be talking about it on HN, this got flagged so hard it is on page 4. We don't do politics. By the way, here is some new nonsense built with an LLM.
Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of genocidal fascist-enablers on Hacker News. Even 10% is probably enough to flag every story into oblivion.
I know that this has been discussed several times, but I wish that the HN moderators would do more to unflag these stories. Yes, they will lead to flame wars and whatnot, but the collapse of the rule-based international order and repeated genocide by some Western nations is too big to ignore.
If WOIII happens, HN would still only be "How agents cooked my dinner" and "HN company This Is Fine raises 2B from a16z". How intellectually poor.
Garry Tan believes that democracy is bad and that we should have fiefdoms run by CEO kings. The rot is at the top.
To me, the problem isn't politics per se. It's the zealots, ideologues, and shills that it brings out. What I wish the moderators would do is go through the comments carefully and wield the ban hammer vigorously.
Even having a curated list of people that are not allowed to post on political-adjacent stories would help.
And no, I'm not a hypocrite, that list would help the quality of discussion here even if I am put on it. Now I won't like that, but, frankly, my contributions to the discussion on such topics are not all that vital.
We can flag those comments just fine.
A threat to destroy a civilization isn’t politics
An unempowered individual (a John Doe) threatening to destroy a civilization might be an unhinged individual, a terrorist, or a nusiance.
A President of a significant world power threatening to destroy a civilization is politics in its ultimate form: the power to f** over anyone it wants to.
Any subsequent backtracking/negotiation/etc is also part of politicking.
It's the uncomfortable underbelly of some societal structures.
No, obviously it is not, but, Trump is for bad or for worse the US government in persona so this is somewhat political. Since I posted the link above I'm obviously of the impression that this is something that might interest us but apparently the subject is too uncomfortable/too mainstream/too 'not HN' for discussion.
Once I do find out about something major that's "trending" on mainstream media, I wouldn't want it to take over HN. I just wouldn't want it to be absent altogether. Anywhere you go some things will be controversial no matter what.
What you can't get anywhere else is the insight from the thoughtful commentators drawn from the unique and diverse corners of technology and business, with all the adjacent domain expertise, all in one place. Usually more informative than a number of other accomplished sources.
The occasional outlier having a gentleman's appearance and a Trump-like character is nothing new, about as old as the hills.
One of the most revealing things when it comes to digital tech and SV in particular, was the pop-up reversal where so many turned out to sheepishly start following the dumb money all of a sudden. Just because there wasn't any "smart money" to follow right that minute was no excuse.
That might be one of the things that too many frequent flagrant flaggers would rather not have serious commentary about. For some of the biggest capitalists it could be very embarrassing when things emphasize any glaring deficiencies in character judgment they might harbor, that can only be undeniable after falling behind Trump. When now the simple math can give an idea how much further their money would have gone if they backed the Democrats instead. And it's still early :(
Sure, the Democrats weren't that great but at least they weren't as abysmal as they could be.
I know how I would feel if I was a bright young college innovator having dreams of backing from a successful benevolent capitalist someday. And before you have your chance, you find out that so many of the capitalists you have been admiring and looking up to, are not actually that good with money instinctively, and can't even tell the difference between an honest person and a Trump.
smh
>Trump is for bad or for worse the US government in persona
This is what makes me ashamed and embarrassed about for quite some time to come. Along with the vast majority of Americans (too bad they didn't vote) and the entire rest of the world.
I've recognized this before, but every single day there is more emphasis from Trump himself showing why Obama was the final US President sophisticated enough to carry forward the hard-earned tradition of being the "leader of the free world."
I would have liked it if Obama did a better job, but Trump couldn't even pick up the torch.
Whoa whoa there Jacques, We talk about politics here all the time.
'Uh, what kind of politics do you usually have here?'
'Oh we got both kinds -- Bay area zoning and Bay area homelessness.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS-zEH8YmiM
I know that clip without clicking.
But yes, you're right. If there is an issue with BART it has 500 upvotes and stays on the homepage for at least a day.