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As a long-time observer of HN, I have noticed that many people resort to pedantry when attempting to respond to comments that they have no real way to argue wit

by throwaway2021_2 6y ago

As a long-time observer of HN, I have noticed that many people resort to pedantry when attempting to respond to comments that they have no real way to argue with, but want to argue with them anyway. Whether the number is 150 or 75 million, it's slightly less than 1/2 of the voting public. Do you think it's a good idea to attempt to silence 40-45% of the voting public in a country as large as the United States?

dragonwriter 6y ago
> Whether the number is 150 or 75 million, it’s slightly less than 1/2 of the voting public. No, its not. Its not even the 21% of voters who actively support the storming of the Capitol [0]. Its just the even smaller group actively advocating new and further political violence. https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/01/06/US-capitol-trump-poll https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/20...
- throwaway2021_2 6y ago
  Really? More pedantry? We aren't talking about silencing those that "support storming of the capital". We are talking about silencing an entire party of people. Donald Trump received approximately 46.8% of the popular vote. Is that not slightly less than half of the voting public? 46.8% of the people who care about this stuff are being told that they no longer have the right to speak on platforms where it would matter. That's a very serious problem.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > We aren’t talking about silencing those that “support storming of the capital”. Yes, as I said we are talking about a much smaller group than even that. Nor are we actually talking about silencing them, we're talking about certain forums not serving as megaphones for them. > We are talking about silencing an entire party of people. No, we aren’t. I mean, not with any connection to reality, we aren’t. > Donald Trump received approximately 46.8% of the popular vote. Yes, but no major platform is adopting a rule that would cutoff access to people who voted for Donald Trump, so that’s not relevant. > Is that not slightly less than half of the voting public? Yes, but no one is talking about silencing people based on membership in that group. > You’re talking about silencing slightly less than 1/2 of the the people who care about this stuff. No, literally no one is talking about doing that.
    - throwaway2021_2 6y ago
      It appears that this entire comment and all of its replies have been hidden from public view. Oh the irony! We are the only ones discussing this now lol.
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
        Shows up fine for me in a non-logged-in session, confirming my suspicion that we are literally posting from different realities.
        throwaway2021_2 6y ago
        Just checked, it's not showing up for me in a logged out session. It's not surprising though!
        nawgz 6y ago
        It shows up fine for everyone. You might actually be delusional, in the medical sense.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - nawgz 6y ago
    Can you tell me how they're being silenced? Supporting Donald Trump is not the same as inciting violence against the state, so it should be clear to you that punitive reactions against those who aimed to incite violence against the state can only be taken as an action against supporters of Donald Trump if you think supporting Donald Trump is the same as supporting violence against the state.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Whether the number is 150 or 75 million, it’s slightly less than 1/2 of the voting public. No, its not. Its not even the 21% of voters who actively support the storming of the Capitol [0]. Its just the even smaller group actively advocating new and further political violence. https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/01/06/US-capitol-trump-poll https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/20...

throwaway2021_2 6y ago
Really? More pedantry? We aren't talking about silencing those that "support storming of the capital". We are talking about silencing an entire party of people. Donald Trump received approximately 46.8% of the popular vote. Is that not slightly less than half of the voting public? 46.8% of the people who care about this stuff are being told that they no longer have the right to speak on platforms where it would matter. That's a very serious problem.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > We aren’t talking about silencing those that “support storming of the capital”. Yes, as I said we are talking about a much smaller group than even that. Nor are we actually talking about silencing them, we're talking about certain forums not serving as megaphones for them. > We are talking about silencing an entire party of people. No, we aren’t. I mean, not with any connection to reality, we aren’t. > Donald Trump received approximately 46.8% of the popular vote. Yes, but no major platform is adopting a rule that would cutoff access to people who voted for Donald Trump, so that’s not relevant. > Is that not slightly less than half of the voting public? Yes, but no one is talking about silencing people based on membership in that group. > You’re talking about silencing slightly less than 1/2 of the the people who care about this stuff. No, literally no one is talking about doing that.
  - throwaway2021_2 6y ago
    It appears that this entire comment and all of its replies have been hidden from public view. Oh the irony! We are the only ones discussing this now lol.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      Shows up fine for me in a non-logged-in session, confirming my suspicion that we are literally posting from different realities.
      - throwaway2021_2 6y ago
        Just checked, it's not showing up for me in a logged out session. It's not surprising though!
        nawgz 6y ago
        It shows up fine for everyone. You might actually be delusional, in the medical sense.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
- nawgz 6y ago
  Can you tell me how they're being silenced? Supporting Donald Trump is not the same as inciting violence against the state, so it should be clear to you that punitive reactions against those who aimed to incite violence against the state can only be taken as an action against supporters of Donald Trump if you think supporting Donald Trump is the same as supporting violence against the state.