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> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. No one is floo
by nromiun 6y ago
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
No one is flooding HN. A lot of us are non-American and programmers who understand what the recent events will mean in geopolitics. Everyone can see that GP was talking about what this move will mean in general terms. Don't assume we are trolls just because you don't like our comments.
- imtringued 6y agoThe article is about government censorship. However, if you read the comments people are interpreting the title as if Google and Apple did something wrong. They make up random theories about the economic benefits of internet firewalls, the "evil" desire of western corporations to influence Ugandan politics and just the general idea of sharing culture among Uganda and the rest of the world being a net negative for Uganda. People who know about Ugandan history are acutely aware of how deep in a pit they started off and how much of it was purely internal. It was similar to China suppressing their Muslim population except it was against political enemies and the Ugandan government wasn't afraid to kill someone (100s of thousands) on a whim. Comparing this type of suffering with Google's and Apple's worst crimes is just laughable.
- nromiun 6y agoTrue, the article is about govt censorship. But my (and others) point is that this type of censorship is going to increase. And its partly because of western corporations' willingness to censor anyone they want. Recently Twitter and Facebook (two of the biggest Western corporations in the world) abruptly cut off the biggest politician in the world. It was the first page headline for several days all over the world. Do you think govts are going to just ignore that? And to be clear, I am not talking about any crimes. I am talking about censorship and power. It is now clear that Twitter and Facebook will censor anyone they want and that is a clear threat to the power of govts all over the world. (For example SWIFT network alternatives developed by Russia and China for similar reasons.)
- permo-w 6y agoDo you think that inciting a government insurrection, then expressing your love for the perpetrators, shouldn't be a bannable offense?
- nromiun 6y agoYes, it should be. Do you think govts will tolerate Western corporations having the power to ban any politician?
- permo-w 6y agoand do you think that politicians should have to follow the same rules as everyone else? I'll answer your q when you've answered mine
- nromiun 6y agoI fail to see how can I be any clearer. It's yes to both your questions. I am not saying anything about what should be done. My only question is, do you think govts will tolerate Western corporations having the power to ban any politician? A simple yes or no will suffice. Here is a real life example of what I was talking about in my original comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25714824 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25714824
- permo-w 6y agoYou quoted > Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. then assumed my comment was calling you a troll. That looks to me like a particularly potent mix of hypocrisy and self-victimisation
- nromiun 6y ago> Even though I know it’ll just cement their viewpoints even further, I’m hoping the mods do something about it Maybe troll was a strong word. But calling for censorship by HN mods to suppress a perfectly reasonable comment is a very strong position to take as well.