3 ms·

I've noticed a TON of conversation on HN lately about how emotional/hysterical anti-Trump people are. Aside from the obvious fallacy (being emotional doesn't ma

by hsod 9y ago

I've noticed a TON of conversation on HN lately about how emotional/hysterical anti-Trump people are. Aside from the obvious fallacy (being emotional doesn't make you wrong), I think it's part of the anti-anti-Trump phenomenon: most people can't bring themselves to actually defend Trump but they are so annoyed by liberals that they devote their political energy to mocking and minimizing his critics. My take: bad things are bad, and other people overstating their badness does not make them good.

whipoodle 9y ago
Well said
pc86 9y ago
No, but overstating their badness is itself bad. That is the issue. I didn't vote for Trump, I don't agree with the vast majority of things he's done, and I will vote for anyone running against him. But the astoundingly lengths of hyperbole people will go to would lead you to believe he is literally a reincarnation of Stalin and that if we don't act now the US will sink into a sea of flames, such as this gem[0] from someone who won't even use their real account, but uses a throwaway: "You might need a little emotional maturity. Crying isn't there[sic] end of the world, an idiot with nukes is." I don't know how much more hyperbolic you can get than saying Trump is literally going to end the world. There is plenty of real things to criticize him about, you gain nothing by overstating things to the state of idiocy. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15493189 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15493189
trgv 9y ago
It's not always "anti-anti-Trump." I'm anti-Trump but I'm also anti-politics-at-work. There's no contradiction there.
forgottenpass 9y ago
The phenomenon you describe is something I see in multiple different political directions depending on the context. It's basically just frustration that the status-quo opinion is held to less rigor. -- I don't mean that the positions are bad, but the way people voice them assume that more and more is solved "offscreen." Trump might be president, but in the Valley tech bubble, Anti-Trump is status quo. And politics in a bubble isn't like doing math homework, you only have to show how you got your answer if you want to disagree with the "obviously" correct positions. The anti-Trump rhetoric is stronger than the old anti-Republician rhetoric. So the people annoyed by empty arguments are going to be louder too.

by hsod 9y ago

whipoodle 9y ago

Well said

pc86 9y ago

No, but overstating their badness is itself bad. That is the issue. I didn't vote for Trump, I don't agree with the vast majority of things he's done, and I will vote for anyone running against him. But the astoundingly lengths of hyperbole people will go to would lead you to believe he is literally a reincarnation of Stalin and that if we don't act now the US will sink into a sea of flames, such as this gem[0] from someone who won't even use their real account, but uses a throwaway: "You might need a little emotional maturity. Crying isn't there[sic] end of the world, an idiot with nukes is." I don't know how much more hyperbolic you can get than saying Trump is literally going to end the world. There is plenty of real things to criticize him about, you gain nothing by overstating things to the state of idiocy. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15493189 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15493189

trgv 9y ago

It's not always "anti-anti-Trump." I'm anti-Trump but I'm also anti-politics-at-work. There's no contradiction there.

forgottenpass 9y ago

The phenomenon you describe is something I see in multiple different political directions depending on the context. It's basically just frustration that the status-quo opinion is held to less rigor. -- I don't mean that the positions are bad, but the way people voice them assume that more and more is solved "offscreen." Trump might be president, but in the Valley tech bubble, Anti-Trump is status quo. And politics in a bubble isn't like doing math homework, you only have to show how you got your answer if you want to disagree with the "obviously" correct positions. The anti-Trump rhetoric is stronger than the old anti-Republician rhetoric. So the people annoyed by empty arguments are going to be louder too.