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It was burying our heads in the sand at the very time when it's most critical to be aware of how we and our industry are affected and involved with politics. I

It was burying our heads in the sand at the very time when it's most critical to be aware of how we and our industry are affected and involved with politics. If someone in the tech industry who provided significant support to the incoming administration was also involved with YCombinator, the timing would almost be sketchy.

BuuQu9hu 10y ago
Are you referring to Peter Thiel? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel
ggreer 10y ago
Pretty much every political thread on HN accomplishes nothing more than to increase the net amount of frustration in the world. The same ideologues rehash the same arguments. No one's mind is changed. And each time a few people get fed-up and quit HN, causing the remaining community to be slightly more strident. The sooner these threads are dealt with, the healthier our community will be.
- wfo 10y ago
  Not the case, of course. I've changed my mind thanks to political discussion on HN. I've seen others do the same. I don't believe you that there are people quitting HN because of politics threads -- there's no evidence for that or reason to believe it. Politics can be really, really relevant to tech and vice versa. A lot of the things that have been discussed in this election are explicitly about technology and software (H1B visas, 'closing up the internet', social media to name a few). It would be ridiculous to plug our ears and pretend they don't exist -- that's how non-technical people end up making the rules about technology that we have to follow, i.e. how we got into a lot of the messes we are in today. Tech nerds like us love to pretend it doesn't matter because it's hard and it involves feelings and emotions and you can't reason your way out of it but we always, always lose big time with that approach.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
> It was burying our heads in the sand at the very time when it's most critical to be aware of how we and our industry are affected and involved with politics. That's one big problem with politics - it's a weaponized art of crying wolf. Everything, no matter how trivial, is an emergency, and "it's most critical to be aware" of it. Most of those things sort themselves out anyway, and are in fact of little real consequence.
late2part 10y ago
I agree! One thing I loved about living in India was that politics and international issues could be discussed in most any forum, at least in the social/business circle I had there. People didn't feel that differences were bad, and people talked to learn and understand each other.

BuuQu9hu 10y ago

Are you referring to Peter Thiel? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel

ggreer 10y ago

Pretty much every political thread on HN accomplishes nothing more than to increase the net amount of frustration in the world. The same ideologues rehash the same arguments. No one's mind is changed. And each time a few people get fed-up and quit HN, causing the remaining community to be slightly more strident. The sooner these threads are dealt with, the healthier our community will be.

wfo 10y ago
Not the case, of course. I've changed my mind thanks to political discussion on HN. I've seen others do the same. I don't believe you that there are people quitting HN because of politics threads -- there's no evidence for that or reason to believe it. Politics can be really, really relevant to tech and vice versa. A lot of the things that have been discussed in this election are explicitly about technology and software (H1B visas, 'closing up the internet', social media to name a few). It would be ridiculous to plug our ears and pretend they don't exist -- that's how non-technical people end up making the rules about technology that we have to follow, i.e. how we got into a lot of the messes we are in today. Tech nerds like us love to pretend it doesn't matter because it's hard and it involves feelings and emotions and you can't reason your way out of it but we always, always lose big time with that approach.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

> It was burying our heads in the sand at the very time when it's most critical to be aware of how we and our industry are affected and involved with politics. That's one big problem with politics - it's a weaponized art of crying wolf. Everything, no matter how trivial, is an emergency, and "it's most critical to be aware" of it. Most of those things sort themselves out anyway, and are in fact of little real consequence.

late2part 10y ago

I agree! One thing I loved about living in India was that politics and international issues could be discussed in most any forum, at least in the social/business circle I had there. People didn't feel that differences were bad, and people talked to learn and understand each other.