5 ms·

A genocide against the Rohingya may be looming

56 points by apsec112 9y ago

dingo_bat 9y ago
Key point: Government of Myanmar is responding to a terrorist attack. This is no more a "genocide" than USA's war in Afghanistan.
- apsec112 9y ago
  Responding to a terrorist attack clearly doesn't justify the deliberate massacre of civilians, either legally or morally. Most people don't exonerate Bashar al-Assad's crimes against civilians because the Syrian government suffered terrorist attacks (which it very much has).
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    I agree, but most news outlets are painting this whole thing as a sudden genocidal action from Myanmar without any rhyme or reason. In reality it is response to a terror attack. There is no excuse for brutality on innocents, but there is no excuse for bad journalism too.
- manduz 9y ago
  the only terrorist here is the government that is terrorizing a minority group for defending themselves against a larger group that is protected by the government itself. it is well known that Buddhists there are burning and raping muslims and once muslims defend themselves the government intervene to support the buddhists to commit more of their crimes. the way this is going is shameful and i am really annoyed how people justify such crimes.
- rafi_kamal 9y ago
  “They burned houses and tried to shoot us. They killed my husband by bullet.” - I don't think this is in any way similar to the Afghanistan war.
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    Yeah I agree, the atrocities committed in Afghanistan were much worse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0
- abhishivsaxena 9y ago
  Totally agree. And much of the violence being attributed to Burmese forces is just hearsay attributed to Islamists. Western media/NGOs seems to buy it at face value and support these said Islamist, but hey they also supported ISIS affiliates in Syria against secular Asad regime so that's not surprising to me at all. This apart from the fact that anyone from subcontinent will tell you that these are not Rohingyas, but Bengalis speaking Bangladeshis who have flooded rakhine and made ethnic rakhines a minority in a few decades.
  - junkculture 9y ago
    They are Bangladeshi Muslims, much like the "Assamese" flooding the labor market in South India right now. Get ready for your comment to be down voted into oblivion, the usual reaction by ignorant SJWs. This place is getting to be as toxic as Reddit.
    - dang 9y ago
      We've banned this account for violating the HN guidelines, which state that this site is not to be used for political or ideological battles—let alone national and racial ones. If you want to commit to keeping such poison off this site in the future, you're welcome to email us at hn@ycombinator.com.
      - junkculture 9y ago
        Go fuck yourself. The truth is the truth whether you like it or not.
- slim 9y ago
  The terrorist attack was in response to decades of persecution and genocide. In 2013 they've been described by UN as "the most persecuted population on earth" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_people https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_people
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    Is this the same UN whose human rights council chair is Saudi Arabia? Because that totally invalidates any such description.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
dharma1 9y ago
this was a fairly balanced assessment of the situation - https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/273914.htm https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/273914.htm
rumcajz 9y ago
Dispatch Blue Helmets?
junkculture 9y ago
Anyone who understand Bengali should listen to the "Rohingya" language. The similarities are unmistakable, even if you can't understand either. If they really have been in that area since the 8th century - an assertion made by Soros' HRW, and mindlessly repeated by the media - you'd expect the language to diverge a lot more. They are clearly not native to Myanmar. Also, it's conveniently forgotten that they triggered the latest spurt of violence by attacking Buddhist and Hindu citizens. It's odd how suddenly this is the latest humanitarian crisis. Nothing to do with oil and gas pipelines, I'm sure. Unlike Syria, Iraq, Libya and so on. Call me cynical but I don't see the international community - code for US interests - caring about people in resource poor regions. Wonder what would happen if NK suddenly was found to have oil fields ...
- apsec112 9y ago
  That's a very weak argument. Eg., the Catalan language is more closely related to French than Spanish (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Romance_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Romance_languages). But the Catalans are certainly "native" to Spain, in that they've lived within the current Spanish borders since before Spain existed. And obviously, someone not being "native" to an area doesn't justify killing or terrorizing them.
  - junkculture 9y ago
    Clearly you haven't lived in close proximity to these people. They trickle in, respect no boundaries and no laws. Now if they integrated and contributed to the regions culture and economy, that would go a long way towards their acceptance. But that's against the tenents of their religion/culture/ideology and it's demonstrated by their violence. I'd quote Karl Popper on tolerating the intolerant, but it would be another "weak argument." You can't drag people who insist on living by pre-medieval norms into the 21st century.
    - dang 9y ago
      > You can't drag people who insist on living by pre-medieval norms Please don't use HN to fight ideological, national, or racial battles. That's definitely not what this site is for: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
andrewclunn 9y ago
Leave it to the Buddhists to show us how you deal with Islam.
pknerd 9y ago
Thanks for bringing this up on this forum. There's another conspiracy theory circulating in the region that the devil Noble winner is doing this on instructions of US because the area Rohingyans live is enriched with valuable minerals including Jade stones. The locals are being killed and pushed away from the area, Americans will land and then keep an eye on China. China on other hand trying best not to give US or UN a chance enter here by any excuse. In all cases, Muslims are being used as bait
- dang 9y ago
  > the devil Noble winner That sort of name-calling is not allowed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. All: please don't use this site to fight ideological, national, or racial battles.
  - pknerd 9y ago
    OK I should call her an angel then to comply with guidelines.
    - dang 9y ago
      Sarcastic swipes don't help. I'm sure you feel strongly about defending your group, but so does everybody else. That's why we don't allow people to lash out at others when commenting here—it's a short path from there to internet hell. So if want to keep posting to HN, please control this impulse. We ask the same of everybody: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
      - pknerd 9y ago
        > defending your group, but so does everybody else Alright no issue. Agreed. PS: I did not defend because of their faith rather because they are my biological brothers.
archagon 9y ago
The amount of pro-genocide comments here, on Reddit, etc. makes me lose my faith in humanity. Decades down the line, people will wonder how such nominally reasonable and interconnected people could develop such hateful, vile opinions.
- abhishivsaxena 9y ago
  Genocide is very strong term, the fact that you use it in such a light way for a law and order situation seems to suggest something else. > Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves [1] Worst you can call is mass expulsion from Rakhine. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
  - dang 9y ago
    Since you seem to be using HN primarily to fight national/racial/political causes, we've banned this account. If you want to commit to following the rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html in the future, you're welcome to email us at hn@ycombinator.com.
- aaron695 9y ago
  Currently there are only 18 comments. So how you can say this early thread represents HN is pretty disgenious.
  - archagon 9y ago
    When participating in online discussions, do you not get a sense of what opinions are OK to express even before the conversation gets going? The current zeitgeist in many public forums is very “fuck Muslims at all costs”, and even if those comments do eventually get downvoted, people still feel safe to post them over and over again. In some forums, they even float to the top with frightening regularity; see /r/news et al. In other words, I already knew what I would be seeing as soon as I stepped into this thread. Even 1% of a population speaking out in favor of genocide is a fucking travesty.
mirimir 9y ago
This is indeed horrible. And sadly enough, it's not unique to Myanmar. Conflict between Hindus/Buddhists and Muslims is pervasive in South and Southeast Asia. Also, with global climate change, there will be more refugees from Bangladesh etc.
eimg 9y ago
The Truth About Myanmar’s Rohingya Issue - http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/the-truth-about-myanmars-rohingya-issue/ http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/the-truth-about-myanmars-rohi... "On all issues, the people of Myanmar are with you. But on the Rohingya issue, the people will never be with you. What is at the heart of this huge gap between perspectives of the majority of Burmese and the international community, and how does this inform making progress on alleviating the genuine humanitarian crisis facing the Rakhine Muslims in Sittwe?" "On the other side of the political tension in Rakhine state ... are Rakhine Buddhists who are genuinely afraid of a (false) Muslim takeover." "For Aung San Suu Kyi to retain legitimacy where it matters most, it is understandable that she is not outspoken on an issue that could spark even more violence."
eimg 9y ago
Bias on the Rohigya issue - https://goo.gl/1h4vav https://goo.gl/1h4vav "Though the Rohingya armed groups carried out attacks on security forces and civilians on 9 October 2016 in which nine policemen were killed and on 25 August 2017 in which 30 police outposts were attacked leading to the death of 10 police officers, one soldier and one immigration officer, the [UN] Special Rapporteur Lee failed to name the Rohingya armed opposition groups."
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- throwawaybeta 9y ago
  Your only two comments are biased against the Rohingya's plight. You're also Burmese. Bias on your side too.
fractallyte 9y ago
The problem is that application of the term 'genocide' is subject to endless, recursive, despicable politics at the UN. I wish there was (forcible) injection of ideas from computer science and mathematics into politics. An example, for this case: a subset of general language that could describe a political or humanitarian situation in unambiguous terms, so that there could be no 'wriggle room' for politicians to shirk their duties. (Herbert's Dune featured a 'battle' language.) And signatories to the UN should be compelled to adhere to a set of clearly defined moral principles, to open the way for action to be taken immediately against violators. Sure, I've been criticized many times for such 'simplistic' ideas, but why shouldn't it be this simple?? Here's some other genocidal activity taking place right now: Turkey against the Kurds, Russia against the Caucasian peoples (Chechnya, Dagestan, etc.). Incidentally, Stallone's most recent Rambo movie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo_(2008_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo_(2008_film)) addressed the brutality of the Burmese regime. He wasn't afraid to speak out, 9 years ago.
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  > And signatories to the UN should be compelled to adhere to a set of clearly defined moral principles, to open the way for action to be taken immediately against violators. You mean like a legal system?
  - fractallyte 9y ago
    Exactly! International Law is great when there's some incident between nation states, but there's a dire need for intra-national law, where nations can poke their noses into the affairs of an aggressor government. Case in point: Russian actions in Chechnya back in the early 2000s. When there were murmurs of disapproval, Russia basically just told everyone: "Go away, it's an internal problem." And, shamefully, everyone did just that.
pmontra 9y ago
Interesting: this was number 2 on the home page. Time to read the comments and it disappeared from the site. It's not in the first 300 posts of HN. It's left only in the New section (page 2 now) and Search. Was it flagged by too many people or removed by administrators?
- grzm 9y ago
  Likely both. The "overheated discussion detector" may have kicked in as well. From the FAQ[0]: > How are stories ranked? > The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in comment threads are ranked the same way. > Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which downweights overheated discussions, and moderator intervention. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html To everyone in discussion here, please ask yourself: what is your goal? It pays to revisit the guidelines, particularly on hot, divisive topics. Are you trying to understand the others you're talking with? To express your opinion? To convince the "other side"? If you're not here for useful, constructive, civil, and respectful discussion, please just refrain from commenting. As the mods repeatedly point out, HN is not the place for ideological flamewars. There are places elsewhere on the internet for that.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - synicalx 9y ago
    > HN is not the place for ideological flamewars To be fair though, they do happen here all the time and often without any mod intervention. IMO the problem is most opinions on HN seem to just get stated as fact and if they happen to be popular opinions then there's no possibility for them every to be discussed because any contrary opinions just get brigaded into oblivion.
    - grzm 9y ago
      > To be fair though, they do happen here all the time and often without any mod intervention. Yup. The mods are limited in number and readily admit that they don't see everything. If you see something particularly egregious, use the Contact link in the footer to email them and let them know. > IMO the problem is most opinions on HN seem to just get stated as fact Also very much agree, and often apparently with very little reflection on the part of the submitter that others may reasonably hold other positions (in that you can follow their logic even if you think it's flawed or disagree with it)—and that some things are often just a matter of taste. > and if they happen to be popular opinions then there's no possibility for them every to be discussed because any contrary opinions just get brigaded into oblivion. Compound this with the inherent bias everyone has to tend to notice where their opinion is being attacked and not see where it's being supported, everyone has a tendency to think that theirs is a minority or attacked position. It's tough. None of this negates that goal of reducing the frequency and intensity of ideological flame wars on HN. One of the reasons I pipe up with comments like this is that I think it's the community's responsibility as a whole to encourage this, not just the mods'.
calvinbhai 9y ago
Its not surprising to see this. Its one Nobel Prize Winner (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) who is pro Burmese vs an another (Malala) who is pro Rohingyas. IMO, There's more to it that what seems. Just because someone (like the author of the article) says "genocide", doesn't mean it is the fact.

56 points by apsec112 9y ago

Key point: Government of Myanmar is responding to a terrorist attack. This is no more a "genocide" than USA's war in Afghanistan.

apsec112 9y ago
Responding to a terrorist attack clearly doesn't justify the deliberate massacre of civilians, either legally or morally. Most people don't exonerate Bashar al-Assad's crimes against civilians because the Syrian government suffered terrorist attacks (which it very much has).
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  I agree, but most news outlets are painting this whole thing as a sudden genocidal action from Myanmar without any rhyme or reason. In reality it is response to a terror attack. There is no excuse for brutality on innocents, but there is no excuse for bad journalism too.
manduz 9y ago
the only terrorist here is the government that is terrorizing a minority group for defending themselves against a larger group that is protected by the government itself. it is well known that Buddhists there are burning and raping muslims and once muslims defend themselves the government intervene to support the buddhists to commit more of their crimes. the way this is going is shameful and i am really annoyed how people justify such crimes.
rafi_kamal 9y ago
“They burned houses and tried to shoot us. They killed my husband by bullet.” - I don't think this is in any way similar to the Afghanistan war.
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  Yeah I agree, the atrocities committed in Afghanistan were much worse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0
abhishivsaxena 9y ago
Totally agree. And much of the violence being attributed to Burmese forces is just hearsay attributed to Islamists. Western media/NGOs seems to buy it at face value and support these said Islamist, but hey they also supported ISIS affiliates in Syria against secular Asad regime so that's not surprising to me at all. This apart from the fact that anyone from subcontinent will tell you that these are not Rohingyas, but Bengalis speaking Bangladeshis who have flooded rakhine and made ethnic rakhines a minority in a few decades.
- junkculture 9y ago
  They are Bangladeshi Muslims, much like the "Assamese" flooding the labor market in South India right now. Get ready for your comment to be down voted into oblivion, the usual reaction by ignorant SJWs. This place is getting to be as toxic as Reddit.
  - dang 9y ago
    We've banned this account for violating the HN guidelines, which state that this site is not to be used for political or ideological battles—let alone national and racial ones. If you want to commit to keeping such poison off this site in the future, you're welcome to email us at hn@ycombinator.com.
    - junkculture 9y ago
      Go fuck yourself. The truth is the truth whether you like it or not.
slim 9y ago
The terrorist attack was in response to decades of persecution and genocide. In 2013 they've been described by UN as "the most persecuted population on earth" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_people https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_people
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  Is this the same UN whose human rights council chair is Saudi Arabia? Because that totally invalidates any such description.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

dharma1 9y ago

this was a fairly balanced assessment of the situation - https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/273914.htm https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/273914.htm

rumcajz 9y ago

Dispatch Blue Helmets?

junkculture 9y ago

Anyone who understand Bengali should listen to the "Rohingya" language. The similarities are unmistakable, even if you can't understand either. If they really have been in that area since the 8th century - an assertion made by Soros' HRW, and mindlessly repeated by the media - you'd expect the language to diverge a lot more. They are clearly not native to Myanmar. Also, it's conveniently forgotten that they triggered the latest spurt of violence by attacking Buddhist and Hindu citizens. It's odd how suddenly this is the latest humanitarian crisis. Nothing to do with oil and gas pipelines, I'm sure. Unlike Syria, Iraq, Libya and so on. Call me cynical but I don't see the international community - code for US interests - caring about people in resource poor regions. Wonder what would happen if NK suddenly was found to have oil fields ...

apsec112 9y ago
That's a very weak argument. Eg., the Catalan language is more closely related to French than Spanish (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Romance_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Romance_languages). But the Catalans are certainly "native" to Spain, in that they've lived within the current Spanish borders since before Spain existed. And obviously, someone not being "native" to an area doesn't justify killing or terrorizing them.
- junkculture 9y ago
  Clearly you haven't lived in close proximity to these people. They trickle in, respect no boundaries and no laws. Now if they integrated and contributed to the regions culture and economy, that would go a long way towards their acceptance. But that's against the tenents of their religion/culture/ideology and it's demonstrated by their violence. I'd quote Karl Popper on tolerating the intolerant, but it would be another "weak argument." You can't drag people who insist on living by pre-medieval norms into the 21st century.
  - dang 9y ago
    > You can't drag people who insist on living by pre-medieval norms Please don't use HN to fight ideological, national, or racial battles. That's definitely not what this site is for: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

andrewclunn 9y ago

Leave it to the Buddhists to show us how you deal with Islam.

pknerd 9y ago

Thanks for bringing this up on this forum. There's another conspiracy theory circulating in the region that the devil Noble winner is doing this on instructions of US because the area Rohingyans live is enriched with valuable minerals including Jade stones. The locals are being killed and pushed away from the area, Americans will land and then keep an eye on China. China on other hand trying best not to give US or UN a chance enter here by any excuse. In all cases, Muslims are being used as bait

dang 9y ago
> the devil Noble winner That sort of name-calling is not allowed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. All: please don't use this site to fight ideological, national, or racial battles.
- pknerd 9y ago
  OK I should call her an angel then to comply with guidelines.
  - dang 9y ago
    Sarcastic swipes don't help. I'm sure you feel strongly about defending your group, but so does everybody else. That's why we don't allow people to lash out at others when commenting here—it's a short path from there to internet hell. So if want to keep posting to HN, please control this impulse. We ask the same of everybody: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
    - pknerd 9y ago
      > defending your group, but so does everybody else Alright no issue. Agreed. PS: I did not defend because of their faith rather because they are my biological brothers.

archagon 9y ago

The amount of pro-genocide comments here, on Reddit, etc. makes me lose my faith in humanity. Decades down the line, people will wonder how such nominally reasonable and interconnected people could develop such hateful, vile opinions.

abhishivsaxena 9y ago
Genocide is very strong term, the fact that you use it in such a light way for a law and order situation seems to suggest something else. > Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves [1] Worst you can call is mass expulsion from Rakhine. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
- dang 9y ago
  Since you seem to be using HN primarily to fight national/racial/political causes, we've banned this account. If you want to commit to following the rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html in the future, you're welcome to email us at hn@ycombinator.com.
aaron695 9y ago
Currently there are only 18 comments. So how you can say this early thread represents HN is pretty disgenious.
- archagon 9y ago
  When participating in online discussions, do you not get a sense of what opinions are OK to express even before the conversation gets going? The current zeitgeist in many public forums is very “fuck Muslims at all costs”, and even if those comments do eventually get downvoted, people still feel safe to post them over and over again. In some forums, they even float to the top with frightening regularity; see /r/news et al. In other words, I already knew what I would be seeing as soon as I stepped into this thread. Even 1% of a population speaking out in favor of genocide is a fucking travesty.

mirimir 9y ago

This is indeed horrible. And sadly enough, it's not unique to Myanmar. Conflict between Hindus/Buddhists and Muslims is pervasive in South and Southeast Asia. Also, with global climate change, there will be more refugees from Bangladesh etc.

eimg 9y ago

The Truth About Myanmar’s Rohingya Issue - http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/the-truth-about-myanmars-rohingya-issue/ http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/the-truth-about-myanmars-rohi... "On all issues, the people of Myanmar are with you. But on the Rohingya issue, the people will never be with you. What is at the heart of this huge gap between perspectives of the majority of Burmese and the international community, and how does this inform making progress on alleviating the genuine humanitarian crisis facing the Rakhine Muslims in Sittwe?" "On the other side of the political tension in Rakhine state ... are Rakhine Buddhists who are genuinely afraid of a (false) Muslim takeover." "For Aung San Suu Kyi to retain legitimacy where it matters most, it is understandable that she is not outspoken on an issue that could spark even more violence."

eimg 9y ago

Bias on the Rohigya issue - https://goo.gl/1h4vav https://goo.gl/1h4vav "Though the Rohingya armed groups carried out attacks on security forces and civilians on 9 October 2016 in which nine policemen were killed and on 25 August 2017 in which 30 police outposts were attacked leading to the death of 10 police officers, one soldier and one immigration officer, the [UN] Special Rapporteur Lee failed to name the Rohingya armed opposition groups."

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
throwawaybeta 9y ago
Your only two comments are biased against the Rohingya's plight. You're also Burmese. Bias on your side too.

fractallyte 9y ago

The problem is that application of the term 'genocide' is subject to endless, recursive, despicable politics at the UN. I wish there was (forcible) injection of ideas from computer science and mathematics into politics. An example, for this case: a subset of general language that could describe a political or humanitarian situation in unambiguous terms, so that there could be no 'wriggle room' for politicians to shirk their duties. (Herbert's Dune featured a 'battle' language.) And signatories to the UN should be compelled to adhere to a set of clearly defined moral principles, to open the way for action to be taken immediately against violators. Sure, I've been criticized many times for such 'simplistic' ideas, but why shouldn't it be this simple?? Here's some other genocidal activity taking place right now: Turkey against the Kurds, Russia against the Caucasian peoples (Chechnya, Dagestan, etc.). Incidentally, Stallone's most recent Rambo movie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo_(2008_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo_(2008_film)) addressed the brutality of the Burmese regime. He wasn't afraid to speak out, 9 years ago.

dwaltrip 9y ago
> And signatories to the UN should be compelled to adhere to a set of clearly defined moral principles, to open the way for action to be taken immediately against violators. You mean like a legal system?
- fractallyte 9y ago
  Exactly! International Law is great when there's some incident between nation states, but there's a dire need for intra-national law, where nations can poke their noses into the affairs of an aggressor government. Case in point: Russian actions in Chechnya back in the early 2000s. When there were murmurs of disapproval, Russia basically just told everyone: "Go away, it's an internal problem." And, shamefully, everyone did just that.

pmontra 9y ago

Interesting: this was number 2 on the home page. Time to read the comments and it disappeared from the site. It's not in the first 300 posts of HN. It's left only in the New section (page 2 now) and Search. Was it flagged by too many people or removed by administrators?

grzm 9y ago
Likely both. The "overheated discussion detector" may have kicked in as well. From the FAQ[0]: > How are stories ranked? > The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in comment threads are ranked the same way. > Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which downweights overheated discussions, and moderator intervention. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html To everyone in discussion here, please ask yourself: what is your goal? It pays to revisit the guidelines, particularly on hot, divisive topics. Are you trying to understand the others you're talking with? To express your opinion? To convince the "other side"? If you're not here for useful, constructive, civil, and respectful discussion, please just refrain from commenting. As the mods repeatedly point out, HN is not the place for ideological flamewars. There are places elsewhere on the internet for that.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- synicalx 9y ago
  > HN is not the place for ideological flamewars To be fair though, they do happen here all the time and often without any mod intervention. IMO the problem is most opinions on HN seem to just get stated as fact and if they happen to be popular opinions then there's no possibility for them every to be discussed because any contrary opinions just get brigaded into oblivion.
  - grzm 9y ago
    > To be fair though, they do happen here all the time and often without any mod intervention. Yup. The mods are limited in number and readily admit that they don't see everything. If you see something particularly egregious, use the Contact link in the footer to email them and let them know. > IMO the problem is most opinions on HN seem to just get stated as fact Also very much agree, and often apparently with very little reflection on the part of the submitter that others may reasonably hold other positions (in that you can follow their logic even if you think it's flawed or disagree with it)—and that some things are often just a matter of taste. > and if they happen to be popular opinions then there's no possibility for them every to be discussed because any contrary opinions just get brigaded into oblivion. Compound this with the inherent bias everyone has to tend to notice where their opinion is being attacked and not see where it's being supported, everyone has a tendency to think that theirs is a minority or attacked position. It's tough. None of this negates that goal of reducing the frequency and intensity of ideological flame wars on HN. One of the reasons I pipe up with comments like this is that I think it's the community's responsibility as a whole to encourage this, not just the mods'.

calvinbhai 9y ago

Its not surprising to see this. Its one Nobel Prize Winner (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) who is pro Burmese vs an another (Malala) who is pro Rohingyas. IMO, There's more to it that what seems. Just because someone (like the author of the article) says "genocide", doesn't mean it is the fact.