[andy99]

> less coverage or discussion than a new version of jQuery

Pretty sure this is a feature not a bug. Most people aren’t here for political topics.

[pibaker]

In a corrupt and authoritarian country, it is common to have officials busted on "corruption" or "embezzlement" charges. And yet most people know they are actually not jailed for the crimes they got charged for, because there are more than enough people to fill all the prisons for breaking the exact same laws they are accused of breaking. They knew the only reason these people got jailed is because they lost some kind of power struggle within the administration, and corruption is just a convenient lie those who prevailed tell you to keep you comfortable.

You never see the "no politics please thk u" crowd when it is about protests in Iran, Chinese oppression in Hong Kong, Russian aggression on Europe or hell, when people were literally running a political campaign the EU to stop killing games. You only see people flagging political submissions when it is a particular kind of politics - just like you only see corrupt officials jailed when they are a certain kind of officials.

Connect the dots, make your own conclusions.

[jprd]

There is always going to be an intersection between tech and politics. This convo is no different than talking about Section 230, H1B visas or using vision models to sexualize people or distort the truth.

[robby_w_g]

> Most people aren’t here for political topics.

Or rather, most people aren’t here to have their preconceived notions challenged by reality.

Politics is a nebulous term for topics that affect a large number of the population. Tech intersects with politics all the time and deserves good faith discussion.

[UqWBcuFx6NV4r]

“Politics” = things that don’t directly affect the (usually highly privileged) speaker.

[HumblyTossed]

They should be aware of how tech is being used in political games though...

[RHSeeger]

This.

The government doing bad things is a political topic.

How the government is using technology to do bad things is both a political and technology topic.

[paganel]

When the computer code many of us are working on is directly shaping that politics I think that we should talk about it and stop hiding behind the bush.

[andy99]

Yeah so find a forum that’s for discussing that and discuss it there. Don’t try and force people who are discussing something else to talk about politics with you. Do you also randomly go onto GitHub issues and start talking politics because the people who are talking about repo bugs are “hiding behind a bush” and should talk about the political things you think are important instead?

[jakeydus]

Most people aren’t here to be faced with anything that challenges the status quo, you mean. They don’t want to read anything uncomfortable.

[mmcwilliams]

Preserving the status quo is a political position.

[red-iron-pine]

being neutral on a moving train, etc.

[matwood]

> Most people aren’t here for political topics.

There was a time when SV and technology eschewed politics, but that time is long gone. You only have to look at how often all the big tech CEO's end up at random Whitehouse events to see how they are intimately intertwined now.

[datsci_est_2015]

There has always been politics in SV, this is a weird rewriting of history.

Presumably there’s so much pushback now because people are quite uncomfortable having to confront the fact that they may be the bad guys (even though they were probably the bad guys years ago as well).

[ajb]

Comments like this remind me of those guys who wouldn't stop working, in the twin towers. Just didn't want to get out of their zone.

[AlecSchueler]

> Most people aren’t here for political topics.

Looking at the vote numbers on these posts before they get flagged would suggest otherwise.

Ok, I'm not "here for political topics" but I'm here to discuss things with my peers in tech. Mostly that's tech news, yes, but not always.

[DeathArrow]

>Most people aren’t here for political topics.

Still, I was down voted a lot when I said there's too much politics here.

[taurath]

It gets down to the definition of political which is basically anything that might have a human cost, including to the people here. I have many coworkers having to upend their lives, some can’t currently leave the country. This is not worthy of discussion, but an esoteric library update is. Paul Graham posts are not political topics for some reason, but H1B people is.

Technology, technology leaders, and technology companies are literally driving politics, buying elections, driving the whole US economy.

Saying what “political” topics are IS political - and it’s decidedly a right wing position. Only those with the powers protecting them get to avoid politics.

[golem14]

There is a fun German word capturing this: “Deutungshohheit”

[xpe]

Well said. Even people with a lot in common can and should disagree often. In non-authoritarian systems, politics is supposed to be about managing this disagreement in civil ways. Politics seems unsavory to some, often because they find a lot of political manifestations to be vile or insipid. [1] I get that, but in a way this revulsion is backwards. The alternatives to the sausage-making of politics is usually worse: pretending there is no disagreement, coercion, violence, gaslighting. So when someone says "I don't like politics" I like to say "disagreement is to be expected".

[1] When representatives spend something like 4+ hours a day fundraising, people have good reason to say "this is f-ed up." https://gai.georgetown.edu/an-inside-look-at-congressional-f...

[therobots927]

Yep. They’re here to bury their head in the sand and keep up to date with the latest tech trends like the good little worker bees they are.

[watty]

I don't think that's fair. I follow politics closely but prefer HN to stay technical. It shouldn't be offensive.

[xzjis]

German pastor Martin Niemöller:

"First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

[camillomiller]

You're past the time of saying that and not being seen as an enabler my friend. This isn't normal politics anymore. They are killing people in the streets. If you don't think that your tech toys have a lot to do with that, then you should grow up. This pathetic point does not apply anymore.

[saubeidl]

There is no apolitical topics. There's just politics you agree with and politics you don't agree with.

[tbossanova]

There are no interesting apolitical topics. Food tastes good sometimes, weather is doing weather stuff, yawn. I feel like we sometimes try to seek conflict out of boredom