5 ms·

Every decision is inherently "political"

by guipsp 4y ago

andrew_ 4y ago
I often see this sentiment associated with those who wish to regulate political speech they find offensive. It's convenient if everything is political so that everything said can be regulated.
- krapp 4y ago
  Regulating political speech for whatever reason (including offense), should be considered a legitimate exercise of moderation. It happens on Hacker News all the time - political speech is only considered on topic if and when it contains evidence of a "new or interesting phenomenon," and even then, users will mod down anything they don't like. And given the quality of most political threads here, I don't think many people here would prefer it if that were allowed to run amok. If I'm running a car forum, I should be able to ban pro-Nazi rhetoric if I want, regardless of whether I find it offensive or merely technically off topic. Not every space on the internet needs to be /pol/.
  - andrew_ 4y ago
  - MiddleEndian 4y ago
    Yeah, internet content laws are becoming increasingly conflicting. On one hand, you have places that are making it more difficult to legally moderate websites. On the other, you have legislation like SESTA and FOSTA where websites are being held legally responsible for content that others may post on the website. Section 230 was an unusually great piece of internet legislation, and it's not great to see it start to crumble with these new changes. Just let every site be its own site.
- SamoyedFurFluff 4y ago
  I think quite literally lots of things are political. This discussion is political. Anything to talk about h1b visa is political. Immigration is political. The most offensive speech is arguably political speech, such as advocating for genocide.
  - luckylion 4y ago
    There's a bit of a gap between "everything" and "lots of things" though. I agree with you that lots of things are political, but everything?
    - bombcar 4y ago
      If you want to sell X to group Y which coincides mostly with party Z and has little overlap with the opposite party, it is worth your while to make buying X a political activity, however you can go about doing that.
    - o_1 4y ago
      I think the only thing that is clearly not political is people sharing pictures of pets. Everything else including Insta Thotts and what have you have been co-opted.
    - BlueTemplar 4y ago
      Using the widest definition, "affairs of the citizens", it's literally about everything outside of your private home. The twist though, is that since pretty much everything has consequences (including inaction), you are not safe from eventually having an outside impact even there. As the meme goes, "we live in a society". (Also why you should want to keep good relations with the other citizens...)
Kamq 4y ago
Perhaps in the technical definition of political, but not in the layman's definition of political. The definition of political used by the populace is almost always the narrow subset of societal/cultural fights that are actively being argued. Generally speaking these arguments are headed by politicians. There is also a space in the definition for arguments directly impact the structure/scope of the government. Although this may be separate enough that it may warrant being considered a second definition instead of an additional category within the first definition.
Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
Exactly, grey zones can happen really quickly. For example if someone says "I think Candidate X from Party Y is a total a-hole." Is that a political statement or a cesspool comment? I see legitimate arguments for either.
- intrasight 4y ago
  And this is why the us supreme court will throw out this appellate ruling. They really don't like grey zones.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  > For example if someone says "I think Candidate X from Party Y is a total a-hole." Is that a political statement or a cesspool comment? That's not even remotely gray, it's both a political statement and a "cesspool comment"; you're suggesting a false dichotomy.
dotnet00 4y ago
Whether or not pineapple on pizza is acceptable can technically be brought to a political argument but anyone not turned into a rage monster by current social media can tell that it isn't a political debate in the current environment.

Every decision is inherently "political"

by guipsp 4y ago

Every decision is inherently "political"

I often see this sentiment associated with those who wish to regulate political speech they find offensive. It's convenient if everything is political so that everything said can be regulated.

krapp 4y ago
Regulating political speech for whatever reason (including offense), should be considered a legitimate exercise of moderation. It happens on Hacker News all the time - political speech is only considered on topic if and when it contains evidence of a "new or interesting phenomenon," and even then, users will mod down anything they don't like. And given the quality of most political threads here, I don't think many people here would prefer it if that were allowed to run amok. If I'm running a car forum, I should be able to ban pro-Nazi rhetoric if I want, regardless of whether I find it offensive or merely technically off topic. Not every space on the internet needs to be /pol/.
- andrew_ 4y ago
- MiddleEndian 4y ago
  Yeah, internet content laws are becoming increasingly conflicting. On one hand, you have places that are making it more difficult to legally moderate websites. On the other, you have legislation like SESTA and FOSTA where websites are being held legally responsible for content that others may post on the website. Section 230 was an unusually great piece of internet legislation, and it's not great to see it start to crumble with these new changes. Just let every site be its own site.
SamoyedFurFluff 4y ago
I think quite literally lots of things are political. This discussion is political. Anything to talk about h1b visa is political. Immigration is political. The most offensive speech is arguably political speech, such as advocating for genocide.
- luckylion 4y ago
  There's a bit of a gap between "everything" and "lots of things" though. I agree with you that lots of things are political, but everything?
  - bombcar 4y ago
    If you want to sell X to group Y which coincides mostly with party Z and has little overlap with the opposite party, it is worth your while to make buying X a political activity, however you can go about doing that.
  - o_1 4y ago
    I think the only thing that is clearly not political is people sharing pictures of pets. Everything else including Insta Thotts and what have you have been co-opted.
  - BlueTemplar 4y ago
    Using the widest definition, "affairs of the citizens", it's literally about everything outside of your private home. The twist though, is that since pretty much everything has consequences (including inaction), you are not safe from eventually having an outside impact even there. As the meme goes, "we live in a society". (Also why you should want to keep good relations with the other citizens...)

Kamq 4y ago

Perhaps in the technical definition of political, but not in the layman's definition of political. The definition of political used by the populace is almost always the narrow subset of societal/cultural fights that are actively being argued. Generally speaking these arguments are headed by politicians. There is also a space in the definition for arguments directly impact the structure/scope of the government. Although this may be separate enough that it may warrant being considered a second definition instead of an additional category within the first definition.

Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago

Exactly, grey zones can happen really quickly. For example if someone says "I think Candidate X from Party Y is a total a-hole." Is that a political statement or a cesspool comment? I see legitimate arguments for either.

intrasight 4y ago
And this is why the us supreme court will throw out this appellate ruling. They really don't like grey zones.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
> For example if someone says "I think Candidate X from Party Y is a total a-hole." Is that a political statement or a cesspool comment? That's not even remotely gray, it's both a political statement and a "cesspool comment"; you're suggesting a false dichotomy.

dotnet00 4y ago

Whether or not pineapple on pizza is acceptable can technically be brought to a political argument but anyone not turned into a rage monster by current social media can tell that it isn't a political debate in the current environment.