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(off-topic/meta) This feels like a very unique HN thread. I can't recall seeing people actually attempting to defend something like this before on HN.

mercer 7y ago
Specifically concerning the camps in China, every single thread I've seen has a number of people defending it. It appears to be mostly commenters who greatly fear islam and/or Chinese individuals who support the current regime.
- dang 7y ago
  It's more complex than that. Like any sufficiently large population sample (5M readers a month in HN's case), HN is divided on every topic where society is divided. Or rather, societies, because many countries are represented here. This story is embedded in the complicated and intensifying geopolitical controversy around China vis-à-vis the West, and can't be abstracted from it. This leaves people arguing with each other for all sorts of reasons, not all of which are obvious, and which opponents tend to view in too reductionist a way. The worst reductionist way is accusing each other of being shills or spies, which fortunately you didn't do! From an HN point of view, how do we support intellectual curiosity while at the same time holding a place for the people—all people—whose lives are affected by this? I don't know. For the time being, the only thing I know to do is keep calling people back to the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. According to the guidelines, saying things like "I can't believe you support concentration camps" is not ok on HN, regardless of how strongly one feels about the topic. That's not a direct quote of anyone, but it's the sentiment the most aggressive commenters are jumping to when this story comes up, which it has frequently lately.
originldirgibl 7y ago
Look at the last few threads on this topic, you'll see the same pattern.

mercer 7y ago

Specifically concerning the camps in China, every single thread I've seen has a number of people defending it. It appears to be mostly commenters who greatly fear islam and/or Chinese individuals who support the current regime.

dang 7y ago
It's more complex than that. Like any sufficiently large population sample (5M readers a month in HN's case), HN is divided on every topic where society is divided. Or rather, societies, because many countries are represented here. This story is embedded in the complicated and intensifying geopolitical controversy around China vis-à-vis the West, and can't be abstracted from it. This leaves people arguing with each other for all sorts of reasons, not all of which are obvious, and which opponents tend to view in too reductionist a way. The worst reductionist way is accusing each other of being shills or spies, which fortunately you didn't do! From an HN point of view, how do we support intellectual curiosity while at the same time holding a place for the people—all people—whose lives are affected by this? I don't know. For the time being, the only thing I know to do is keep calling people back to the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. According to the guidelines, saying things like "I can't believe you support concentration camps" is not ok on HN, regardless of how strongly one feels about the topic. That's not a direct quote of anyone, but it's the sentiment the most aggressive commenters are jumping to when this story comes up, which it has frequently lately.

originldirgibl 7y ago

Look at the last few threads on this topic, you'll see the same pattern.