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I believe that politics is a cancer. It demands attention, refuses to relinquish control of conversations it becomes a part of, and only very rarely does it con

I believe that politics is a cancer. It demands attention, refuses to relinquish control of conversations it becomes a part of, and only very rarely does it contribute anything beyond a lot of yelling back and forth. Once you have brought up Politics, you can rest assured that friends will become enemies, and the conversation will never turn back to the topic at hand. I understand the urge to bring politics in; the world around us seems to be falling apart because of political schemes. I simply do not care. If you really want to throw fits about capitalism and communism, or throw up a pithy quip about Trump et al., do so in a separate thread, possibly an Ask HN ("Who's your favorite liar?"). I'm going to go enjoy the fact that someone's working on mass-producing a powered exoskeleton.

s_kilk 9y ago
This is amongst the silliest things I have ever read. > I simply do not care. Right, so you live in the kind of comfort and privilege that allows you to detach from society and the political process. Acknowledge that the vast majority of people don't have the same privilege.
- dawnbreez 9y ago
  Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, instead of doing things to spite a talking head on the TV who says mean things? It's a real problem that the political systems of the world are broken at best, but quite frankly I haven't got time or money enough to fix it, and my resources are better spent trying to build interesting things and watching others build interesting things. I cannot save the World; I can absolutely make my own life better, and help others around me.
  - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
    >Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, No, but for many of us, that road can be blocked because of politics.
    - dawnbreez 9y ago
      How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. That isn't to say it never comes into play, or that it never becomes a big enough problem to interrupt your actual goals. However, in my (~20 years) of experience in this world, what the President is saying has nothing to do with me. Indeed, the vast, vast majority of 'politics' (i.e., the things that catch your attention in news shows and blog posts) is pointless yelling, and has nothing to do with either of us, or any of the people who angrily demand action and strut back and forth in the comments. Recently, the same people who wage war in comment sections started warring in the streets, and it has only gotten worse. These are all reasons why I dislike politics, and why I advocate for separating politics from everything else. There is no point in trying to find a political statement in the games I'm trying to create. At best, you'd get to feel like a hero because you trashed someone's work over some supposed connection to Hitler. Similarly, I have no reason to go around waving guns and demanding that Hacker News ban all commies, or declaring anybody who doesn't use my exact combination of pronouns to be part of the new Reich. I would have nothing but a false sense of purpose to gain from these things, and I'd rather have the real sense of purpose from creating something people enjoy.
      - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
        >How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. I have friends who are graduate students, and I used to be one. Doubling taxes on everyone working in a specific field is... well, it's cutting off people's livelihood out of pure political spite. As it is, labor law has a daily effect on all of us who work for a living, and recent Congressional efforts in healthcare policy have basically constituted stochastic terrorism against the population at large. Threats of war, loss of healthcare, loss of Social Security, doublings of taxes -- these things affect people's lives.
- ameister14 9y ago
  Almost everyone has that privilege. We aren't required to vote in the United States and never have been, and detaching ones-self from society in some ways is part of the fabric of the US - the journey west is one such example, but the idea of the nuclear family is actually another.
dragontamer 9y ago
Unfortunately, if you don't discuss politics, then politics comes to you. The social power structure of the USA implies that politics is in the hands of the people. At very least, that's the aspiration of the US Political system (even if its got some issues in practice). So convincing other people on a day-to-day basis is one of the more effective ways of causing political change. If politics is ignored, then you begin to lose in politics. Not only do people affect laws, but laws also affect people. Ignoring this fact will cause the laws to potentially shift away from your favor.
- beaconstudios 9y ago
  the thing is, the rift between your average Republican and Democrat is wide enough that most will barely see each other, let alone interact on such a politically skewed site as HN. The urban/rural split is part of it but it seems in every other way Americans are divided into 2 nations - there was an interesting article that talked about it the other week.
  - dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    >most will barely see each other, let alone interact on such a politically skewed site as HN Or whoever is less represented (local to a given site/subsite) will just shut up because they don't want to fight a 10:1 losing battle with people who can't be convinced to see their side of things (subreddits are a good example). There's also probably a bunch of people from rural areas in your downtown office who think you're crazy. The foreigners probably think the same thing. Neither group will tell you about it though. It's just not worth saying anything in those settings.
    - crush-n-spread 9y ago
      There's also probably a bunch of people from rural areas in your downtown office who think you're crazy. The foreigners probably think the same thing. I have found this to be true. Two disparate groups reject the narratives that dominate North American media: Male foreigners from arab and poorer countries, and whites from rural North America. The whites don't voice their opinions, because they get viciously attacked; the Arabs and immigrants from poorer areas just laugh at us.
eli_gottlieb 9y ago
>the world around us seems to be falling apart because of political schemes. I simply do not care. Then maybe go to a forum for people who don't care whether or not the world is falling apart. The rest of us, well, we live in the world, so we kinda care.

s_kilk 9y ago

This is amongst the silliest things I have ever read. > I simply do not care. Right, so you live in the kind of comfort and privilege that allows you to detach from society and the political process. Acknowledge that the vast majority of people don't have the same privilege.

dawnbreez 9y ago
Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, instead of doing things to spite a talking head on the TV who says mean things? It's a real problem that the political systems of the world are broken at best, but quite frankly I haven't got time or money enough to fix it, and my resources are better spent trying to build interesting things and watching others build interesting things. I cannot save the World; I can absolutely make my own life better, and help others around me.
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
  >Is it really that silly to want to do things for the sake of enjoyment or benefiting others, No, but for many of us, that road can be blocked because of politics.
  - dawnbreez 9y ago
    How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. That isn't to say it never comes into play, or that it never becomes a big enough problem to interrupt your actual goals. However, in my (~20 years) of experience in this world, what the President is saying has nothing to do with me. Indeed, the vast, vast majority of 'politics' (i.e., the things that catch your attention in news shows and blog posts) is pointless yelling, and has nothing to do with either of us, or any of the people who angrily demand action and strut back and forth in the comments. Recently, the same people who wage war in comment sections started warring in the streets, and it has only gotten worse. These are all reasons why I dislike politics, and why I advocate for separating politics from everything else. There is no point in trying to find a political statement in the games I'm trying to create. At best, you'd get to feel like a hero because you trashed someone's work over some supposed connection to Hitler. Similarly, I have no reason to go around waving guns and demanding that Hacker News ban all commies, or declaring anybody who doesn't use my exact combination of pronouns to be part of the new Reich. I would have nothing but a false sense of purpose to gain from these things, and I'd rather have the real sense of purpose from creating something people enjoy.
    - eli_gottlieb 9y ago
      >How is it blocked? Programming is not illegal. Neither is art. Unless your aspirations are politics, political decisions only rarely enter into the equation. I have friends who are graduate students, and I used to be one. Doubling taxes on everyone working in a specific field is... well, it's cutting off people's livelihood out of pure political spite. As it is, labor law has a daily effect on all of us who work for a living, and recent Congressional efforts in healthcare policy have basically constituted stochastic terrorism against the population at large. Threats of war, loss of healthcare, loss of Social Security, doublings of taxes -- these things affect people's lives.
ameister14 9y ago
Almost everyone has that privilege. We aren't required to vote in the United States and never have been, and detaching ones-self from society in some ways is part of the fabric of the US - the journey west is one such example, but the idea of the nuclear family is actually another.

dragontamer 9y ago

Unfortunately, if you don't discuss politics, then politics comes to you. The social power structure of the USA implies that politics is in the hands of the people. At very least, that's the aspiration of the US Political system (even if its got some issues in practice). So convincing other people on a day-to-day basis is one of the more effective ways of causing political change. If politics is ignored, then you begin to lose in politics. Not only do people affect laws, but laws also affect people. Ignoring this fact will cause the laws to potentially shift away from your favor.

beaconstudios 9y ago
the thing is, the rift between your average Republican and Democrat is wide enough that most will barely see each other, let alone interact on such a politically skewed site as HN. The urban/rural split is part of it but it seems in every other way Americans are divided into 2 nations - there was an interesting article that talked about it the other week.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  >most will barely see each other, let alone interact on such a politically skewed site as HN Or whoever is less represented (local to a given site/subsite) will just shut up because they don't want to fight a 10:1 losing battle with people who can't be convinced to see their side of things (subreddits are a good example). There's also probably a bunch of people from rural areas in your downtown office who think you're crazy. The foreigners probably think the same thing. Neither group will tell you about it though. It's just not worth saying anything in those settings.
  - crush-n-spread 9y ago
    There's also probably a bunch of people from rural areas in your downtown office who think you're crazy. The foreigners probably think the same thing. I have found this to be true. Two disparate groups reject the narratives that dominate North American media: Male foreigners from arab and poorer countries, and whites from rural North America. The whites don't voice their opinions, because they get viciously attacked; the Arabs and immigrants from poorer areas just laugh at us.

eli_gottlieb 9y ago

>the world around us seems to be falling apart because of political schemes. I simply do not care. Then maybe go to a forum for people who don't care whether or not the world is falling apart. The rest of us, well, we live in the world, so we kinda care.