5 ms·

Half of the US has been told to not follow the news. Hacker News is a news site so I imagine little to no one on the Trump train is here.

lostlogin 6y ago
Have a read though this and other related threads. It’s been surprising to me.
- proverbialbunny 6y ago
  I'm an active reader of threads on YC, and maybe I'm just lucky but I have yet to see anyone spouting MAGA based conspiracy theories. I did get downvoted one time for saying Trump invented the term Antifa (Which is absolutely true. I did a google search by date to verify.) but that's as close as I've seen.
  - wolco5 6y ago
    The downvote might be because the Antifa fact is inaccurate according to wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States)
    - proverbialbunny 6y ago
      Just because it's not mentioned in Wikipedia doesn't make it false.
  - fl0wenol 6y ago
    I think you got downvoted because the term/group Antifa has existed in several forms since the 30s, it was a movement started in Germany in response to the rise of the SPD between WWI and WWII.
    - proverbialbunny 6y ago
      That I did not know. I just know no one was using the term online before trump started calling the BLM protestors antifa. (However, there was a single tweet with an #antifa hashtag 2 days before trump used the terminology. I figured he saw the tweet and it inspired Trump to pick up the term, but now I do not know given the historical back stop.)
      - newen 6y ago
        Three year old article [1]. It was used in leftist circles a lot for a long time and especially in the last four years. [1] https://www.theroot.com/white-supremacists-killed-more-people-in-2017-than-musl-1822193008 https://www.theroot.com/white-supremacists-killed-more-peopl... Google trends: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=antifa https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...
        proverbialbunny 6y ago
        You gotta go father back than that article.
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mschuster91 6y ago
Not in the Trump train themselves, but there are definitely a lot of libertarians on here who believe in absolute free speech - a position that is seen as borderline ridiculous from an European (specifically: German) perspective.
- throwaway45349 6y ago
  Well, I'm European and also believe in absolute free speech. Doesn't seem that ridiculous to me.
- proverbialbunny 6y ago
  That's refreshing to hear. I'm not pro manipulative speech (and manipulative news), but in the US free speech is seen as a very strong positive culturally, regardless where you are on the political spectrum.
  - d1zzy 6y ago
    We'll see if that attitude changes once the US has a one or two ethnic/cultural genocides that was preceded by a lot of hate speech against said ethnic/cultural groups. That is to say, the US attitude towards free speech is not somehow the result of some very wise collective, it simply hasn't had the history to affect its attitude towards it in the same way that European countries have.
    - jessaustin 6y ago
      We'll see... Ask a Native American (or one of dozens of other groups whose vilification enabled their oppression and murder), or maybe read a history book? We Americans aren't less experienced than Europeans; we're just more committed.
      - d1zzy 6y ago
        How many Americans today are aware they (well, their ancestors but that does carry responsibilities to younger generations) are guilty of mass murder and ethnic cleansing? And how much of that genocide was preceded of much hate speech? (how much were the free speech protections a factor in said genocide) I think you may be right that ethnic genocide alone may not be enough to change a whole population's opinions around free speech rights, that there may be additional factors required such as general awareness of how bad it was to engage in such acts and what contributed to those acts.

lostlogin 6y ago

Have a read though this and other related threads. It’s been surprising to me.

proverbialbunny 6y ago
I'm an active reader of threads on YC, and maybe I'm just lucky but I have yet to see anyone spouting MAGA based conspiracy theories. I did get downvoted one time for saying Trump invented the term Antifa (Which is absolutely true. I did a google search by date to verify.) but that's as close as I've seen.
- wolco5 6y ago
  The downvote might be because the Antifa fact is inaccurate according to wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States)
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    Just because it's not mentioned in Wikipedia doesn't make it false.
- fl0wenol 6y ago
  I think you got downvoted because the term/group Antifa has existed in several forms since the 30s, it was a movement started in Germany in response to the rise of the SPD between WWI and WWII.
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    That I did not know. I just know no one was using the term online before trump started calling the BLM protestors antifa. (However, there was a single tweet with an #antifa hashtag 2 days before trump used the terminology. I figured he saw the tweet and it inspired Trump to pick up the term, but now I do not know given the historical back stop.)
    - newen 6y ago
      Three year old article [1]. It was used in leftist circles a lot for a long time and especially in the last four years. [1] https://www.theroot.com/white-supremacists-killed-more-people-in-2017-than-musl-1822193008 https://www.theroot.com/white-supremacists-killed-more-peopl... Google trends: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=antifa https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...
      - proverbialbunny 6y ago
        You gotta go father back than that article.
- deleted 6y ago
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mschuster91 6y ago

Not in the Trump train themselves, but there are definitely a lot of libertarians on here who believe in absolute free speech - a position that is seen as borderline ridiculous from an European (specifically: German) perspective.

throwaway45349 6y ago
Well, I'm European and also believe in absolute free speech. Doesn't seem that ridiculous to me.
proverbialbunny 6y ago
That's refreshing to hear. I'm not pro manipulative speech (and manipulative news), but in the US free speech is seen as a very strong positive culturally, regardless where you are on the political spectrum.
- d1zzy 6y ago
  We'll see if that attitude changes once the US has a one or two ethnic/cultural genocides that was preceded by a lot of hate speech against said ethnic/cultural groups. That is to say, the US attitude towards free speech is not somehow the result of some very wise collective, it simply hasn't had the history to affect its attitude towards it in the same way that European countries have.
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    We'll see... Ask a Native American (or one of dozens of other groups whose vilification enabled their oppression and murder), or maybe read a history book? We Americans aren't less experienced than Europeans; we're just more committed.
    - d1zzy 6y ago
      How many Americans today are aware they (well, their ancestors but that does carry responsibilities to younger generations) are guilty of mass murder and ethnic cleansing? And how much of that genocide was preceded of much hate speech? (how much were the free speech protections a factor in said genocide) I think you may be right that ethnic genocide alone may not be enough to change a whole population's opinions around free speech rights, that there may be additional factors required such as general awareness of how bad it was to engage in such acts and what contributed to those acts.