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Having seen many articles on this topic show up on HN, and this one in particular recur like a comet every year, I’d like to note a trend I feel like I see in t
by Uehreka 7y ago
Having seen many articles on this topic show up on HN, and this one in particular recur like a comet every year, I’d like to note a trend I feel like I see in the HN comments every time.
First I see a highly upvoted top-level comment talking about how tragic it is that thoughtcrime is such a capital offense these days, and lamenting that surely the HN thought police will be coming for their head, but they still feel the need to speak their mind about this because it’s true despite the surely inevitable downvoting.
The most upvoted reply concurs with the GP, adding a corollary about how the current social justice climate is particularly nasty because of “X”, and of course this miasma is so thick in the Bay Area that you simply can’t escape it. Then their most upvoted reply is also someone shaking their head about how no one is willing to question the SJW status quo.
Soon, a crystalline structure emerges: layers upon layers of contrarians agreeing with each other, reflecting forlorn looks and awaiting the scythe of politically correct criticism that is surely coming any minute.
Folks, let’s take a breath.
To be sure, there exist people on HN who hold liberal or leftist beliefs, and there exist similar people in the Bay Area. But you know who else lives in the Bay Area? Paul Graham, the guy who wrote TFA! Peter Thiel! A veritable army of libertarian crypto enthusiasts!
I won’t deny that political conflict exists on HN, in the valley or elsewhere. I just wish people would stop acting like no one agrees with them.
- hollerith 7y ago>sure, there exist people on HN who hold liberal or leftist beliefs, and there exist similar people in the Bay Area. But you know who else lives in the Bay Area? . . . Peter Thiel! Uh, he moved to LA " — a move his camp describes as a bid to escape the political hegemony of the San Francisco Bay Area": https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-peter-thiel-20180215-story.html https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-peter-thiel-20180215-...
- Uehreka 7y agoWomp, fair enough. That part notwithstanding though, I think the overall point stands.
- ecuzzillo 7y agoPG moved to England, afaik.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chrisdhoover 7y agoYet we are governed by a clown posse of low intellect and corrupt officials. Sherriffs who sell Concealed carry permits, legislators who outright run guns, senators that grease their family businesses, a board of supervisors that ignores real issues in favor of voting on symbolic gestures, and a governor who not surprisingly slept with his best friend’s wife. Somehow i was unable to squeeze in the current senator running for president who got ahead through blowjobs and being the venal-worst human through zealous prosecution of anything she didn't like or anything she thought would move her personal career forward in the sentence above. We may a few free thinkers and intellectuals but increasingly it seems we live in a bad and watered down version of “The Death of Stalin.”
- yourbandsucks 7y agoIt's possible that such comments are popular here specifically because there are a lot of people who feel they can't say it at work. Catharsis behind pseudonymity.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoBut you know who doesn't live in the Bay Area? Most of HN. The site has a global audience now.