2 ms·

As a community member I wholeheartedly disagree. Hacker News is one of the few places I can go and not be inundated with the political pocket sand nonsense. In

As a community member I wholeheartedly disagree. Hacker News is one of the few places I can go and not be inundated with the political pocket sand nonsense. In fact, I think this entire post is probably off topic. With respect, please get your politics out of here. From the community guidelines: On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic

4gotunameagain 2y ago
I see your point of view, but I would argue that many hackers would find interest in the fact that an idolised tech magnate made such an extreme gesture. In my (non American) point of view this transcends left vs right arguments, but this is exactly why I am curious what this community would have to say. It is an interesting topic, if only from an anthropological perspective.
- meiraleal 2y ago
  it’s kinda obvious. The people that already like him would defend it and justify the act and the people that dislike him would do the opposite. I guess he might have lost a small % of people liking him here but I would not bet it to be much
  - bwb 2y ago
    It might be a dumb question, but if HN was alive in the 1930s, at what point did it start talking about things? Is there a point in the 1930s or 1940s when it needed to voice some concern? I don't think we are anywhere near that point. I am generally curious about the question, as I struggle with this answer as a person. I hate the constant troll/media cycles we are stuck in, but at what point should I be concerned?
    - Neonlicht 2y ago
      What's the point of being concerned? If the majority want their fascist leader they will have it. If you have money look into getting a passport. Quite a few Dutch Jews found their way to the Carribbean. Or join the resistance and end up like Sophie Scholl.
      - zfg 2y ago
        > What's the point of being concerned? So you don't turn into Russia: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/how-has-state-owned-media-in-russia-shaped-public-opinion-on-ukraine https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/how-has-state-owned-media-in-russ... Authoritarian regimes rely on disengagement and nihilism to remain in power.
    - CamperBob2 2y ago
      It might be a dumb question, but if HN was alive in the 1930s, at what point did it start talking about things? Not a dumb question IMHO, but a hard one to answer. The closest thing to a 1930s-era HN might have been the classrooms and labs at places like Gottingen and Leipzig, where the 'hackers' of the day were watching the politicization of their profession nervously. At some point it would have been too late for our counterparts with Jewish ethnicity to ask whether Ferdinand Porsche gave a Nazi salute or whether Wernher von Braun was giving speeches at Goering's favorite beer hall. They were too busy struggling with questions like, "When do I have to leave, where can I afford to take my family, and who will take us in?", bearing in mind that even the United States imposed ethnic quotas on Jewish immigrants at the time. Those questions are the ones that crop up later, after polite society fails to pay enough attention to the earlier ones. The smart 'hackers' might have suspected what was coming, but it's always too soon to speak up, isn't it?
      - bwb 2y ago
        Thanks for sharing this; they are good thoughts and nail what I am struggling with. I just started reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to get a better handle on the history of things. I read a book on Mussolini last year to try to gain some perspective. They both seemed to have risen to power through flaws in those countries' democracy, which is slightly terrifying watching the USA, as it definitely has flaws. However, I am unsure if the flaws I can see are big enough to allow for a "soft coup" at some point (and I am not an expert on what can be abused).
  - fsociety 2y ago
    The effect on society and the human psyche when political discussions are stripped away from forums is chilling. Internet forums and IRC channels, in their peak, welcomed discussions like these. If you didn’t like it then you don’t click on the clearly political topics. This is hurt even more by forums being turned into feeds that pander into a single category and into businesses where profit, and agreeableness, must come at all cost.
    - meiraleal 2y ago
      the problem is when "discussions like these" have 2k comments while great technical posts receives 2, 3 comments. If it monopolizes the forum attention, it is not good.
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    Many seems to think he is some sort of Car Steve Jobs. Him being a nutty rightwinger doing nazi salutes should put at least some off. I've heard so many people kinda denying to themself what Musk is. Like some sort of cope.
zfg 2y ago
> unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon Musk performing fascist salutes at a political rally is an interesting new phenomenon: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/20/trump-elon-musk-salute https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/20/trump-elo... Like it or not, this is what's happening to the tech industry. So much of the tech sector is now precisely about politics and power. You can't run away from it. You can't ignore it. And, if you're in the tech industry, you're responsible for it. It's always best to see things as they are.

4gotunameagain 2y ago

I see your point of view, but I would argue that many hackers would find interest in the fact that an idolised tech magnate made such an extreme gesture. In my (non American) point of view this transcends left vs right arguments, but this is exactly why I am curious what this community would have to say. It is an interesting topic, if only from an anthropological perspective.

meiraleal 2y ago
it’s kinda obvious. The people that already like him would defend it and justify the act and the people that dislike him would do the opposite. I guess he might have lost a small % of people liking him here but I would not bet it to be much
- bwb 2y ago
  It might be a dumb question, but if HN was alive in the 1930s, at what point did it start talking about things? Is there a point in the 1930s or 1940s when it needed to voice some concern? I don't think we are anywhere near that point. I am generally curious about the question, as I struggle with this answer as a person. I hate the constant troll/media cycles we are stuck in, but at what point should I be concerned?
  - Neonlicht 2y ago
    What's the point of being concerned? If the majority want their fascist leader they will have it. If you have money look into getting a passport. Quite a few Dutch Jews found their way to the Carribbean. Or join the resistance and end up like Sophie Scholl.
    - zfg 2y ago
      > What's the point of being concerned? So you don't turn into Russia: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/how-has-state-owned-media-in-russia-shaped-public-opinion-on-ukraine https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/how-has-state-owned-media-in-russ... Authoritarian regimes rely on disengagement and nihilism to remain in power.
  - CamperBob2 2y ago
    It might be a dumb question, but if HN was alive in the 1930s, at what point did it start talking about things? Not a dumb question IMHO, but a hard one to answer. The closest thing to a 1930s-era HN might have been the classrooms and labs at places like Gottingen and Leipzig, where the 'hackers' of the day were watching the politicization of their profession nervously. At some point it would have been too late for our counterparts with Jewish ethnicity to ask whether Ferdinand Porsche gave a Nazi salute or whether Wernher von Braun was giving speeches at Goering's favorite beer hall. They were too busy struggling with questions like, "When do I have to leave, where can I afford to take my family, and who will take us in?", bearing in mind that even the United States imposed ethnic quotas on Jewish immigrants at the time. Those questions are the ones that crop up later, after polite society fails to pay enough attention to the earlier ones. The smart 'hackers' might have suspected what was coming, but it's always too soon to speak up, isn't it?
    - bwb 2y ago
      Thanks for sharing this; they are good thoughts and nail what I am struggling with. I just started reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to get a better handle on the history of things. I read a book on Mussolini last year to try to gain some perspective. They both seemed to have risen to power through flaws in those countries' democracy, which is slightly terrifying watching the USA, as it definitely has flaws. However, I am unsure if the flaws I can see are big enough to allow for a "soft coup" at some point (and I am not an expert on what can be abused).
- fsociety 2y ago
  The effect on society and the human psyche when political discussions are stripped away from forums is chilling. Internet forums and IRC channels, in their peak, welcomed discussions like these. If you didn’t like it then you don’t click on the clearly political topics. This is hurt even more by forums being turned into feeds that pander into a single category and into businesses where profit, and agreeableness, must come at all cost.
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    the problem is when "discussions like these" have 2k comments while great technical posts receives 2, 3 comments. If it monopolizes the forum attention, it is not good.
- rightbyte 2y ago
  Many seems to think he is some sort of Car Steve Jobs. Him being a nutty rightwinger doing nazi salutes should put at least some off. I've heard so many people kinda denying to themself what Musk is. Like some sort of cope.

zfg 2y ago

> unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon Musk performing fascist salutes at a political rally is an interesting new phenomenon: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/20/trump-elon-musk-salute https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/20/trump-elo... Like it or not, this is what's happening to the tech industry. So much of the tech sector is now precisely about politics and power. You can't run away from it. You can't ignore it. And, if you're in the tech industry, you're responsible for it. It's always best to see things as they are.