Comment by DanielBMarkham

I read a lot of political commentary on the web, from all sides. Most of it consists of long arguments about why party A is good, and/or why party B is bad. At times these articles can be spun as personality pieces, analysis, or commentary on current events. You'll start reading a story on pig farming and suddenly end up inside a "Candidate X!" commercial.

I'm not seeing that here. Yes, I am seeing quite a bit of annoying hero worship, pouring over each little detail of Snowden's journey as it creeps along. But I'm not seeing calls to perform some kind of political action. (Admittedly there was a petition drive. But AFAIK it was non-partisan) Nor am I seeing emotional content structured to make one party look good and the other bad.

I want to be respectful as well, because nobody wants another reddit. Startups and news of interest to hackers is why I'm here. I can get politics anywhere. If I wanted a political rally, I'd go elsewhere.

Having said that, we're in a bit of an odd spot with these latest stories. We're like a bunch of guys who make ceremonial swords, gushing over the details of how to construct a hilt, how to hone a blade, and so forth. People are now bringing us stories of these swords being used to behead people. Many of us are adamantly refusing to admit any connection between what we do and what is going on in the world.

For a long time, I was happy enough with the bit about "That's all politics. We don't do that." But at some point, you have to realize these stories are about us -- about other hackers. Snowden, for whatever else he is, is a hacker. Wouldn't surprise me if he didn't spend a bit of time here. As was Aaron Swartz. These aren't stories about what kind of politics we should choose for ourselves, these are stories about how the technology we create and the jobs we have are actively affecting (and in many cases doing great harm to) other people in the world.

So I'm not so sure the lines are as clear cut as some would like. For instance, out of the current front page, I see one Snowden-only post, one post about Google handing over chat records, one post about Chomsky prattling on about something or another, and 2-3 posts about how secrecy works in general in the U.S. That doesn't look like "Six Degrees of Separation" That looks like stuff hackers would be interested in. But, of course, others may disagree.

More in-depth argument here: http://freedom-or-safety.com/blog/techologists-role-in-oppre...