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I didn't think Hacker News needed an explicit "calls for violence are bad" guideline but the comments here have shown otherwise.
by minimaxir 7mo ago
I didn't think Hacker News needed an explicit "calls for violence are bad" guideline but the comments here have shown otherwise.
- Teever 7mo agoDo you feel the same way about comments that support the US military action in Iran? Why or why not?
- johnisgood 7mo agoIt is unnecessary, and it was an obvious offense, not defense. Of course it is "bad". We (Trump) need(s) to stop creating wars and fucking up the economy, while killing others. It is bad all the way down.
- chipsrafferty 7mo agoWhich one is more bad? Trump bombing hundreds of people or someone throwing a bomb at Trump because he keeps bombing hundreds of people?
- vizzier 7mo agoPeople think the trolley problem is easy.
- stavros 7mo agoAre calls for violence bad when you're calling for throwing a molotov cocktail at a child? At an adult? At a serial killer? At someone who's about to shoot you unprovoked? At someone who murdered your family? At someone who's about to? If you said "yes" to all of the above, I'd love to know your reasoning.
- lostlogin 7mo agoThe general tone here is that freedom of speech is absolute and nothing should curtail that. Not my personal view.
- what 7mo agoI’d like to know your reasoning for answering “no” to all of the above.
- stavros 7mo agoI guess we'll just have to find someone who answers no to all of that and ask them!
- what 7mo agoI think my point was obvious. What is your justification for answering no to any of them?
- stavros 7mo agoAlright, I'll explain. I don't think violence is bad against someone who's about to kill my family, because: * I care about my family more than I care about a stranger. * I care about people who don't kill people unprovoked more than I care about people who kill people unprovoked. * My family are more than one person, versus the one killer. That's why I answer no to that one.
- what 7mo agoSure, I care about certain people more than others and I’d be willing to use violence to defend myself or my family. But that’s not the same as cheering on or advocating for an attack on someone else that may or may not have done something to harm someone totally unrelated to you.
- stavros 7mo agoIt gets much more complicated when the person being harmed is someone who made and sold AI targeting systems that might be used against my country.
- empthought 7mo agoYes. If you want a molotov cocktail thrown so badly, throw it yourself. Don't put it on other people to do it for you.
- stavros 7mo agoAre the two choices "accept that violence is unconditionally bad" and "throw a molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's house"? Because that dichotomy seems a bit... false?
- empthought 7mo agoYour question was about calling for violence.
- lovich 7mo agoIf you grind people into a paste long enough, eventually some of them may object in one manner or another.
- sneak 7mo agoI agree with the idea that calls for violence are bad; however most people in the world are more than happy to support both violence and calls for same against people and organizations they believe to be sufficiently significant threats. Are calls for violence against Hitler during WW2 bad? How about the Japanese imperial navy? How about calls for violence against Putin during his war of aggression? This isn’t rhetoric; I’m just pointing out that it isn’t as black and white as people seem to make it. (It is black and white for me, as I’m with Asimov on the matter, but it isn’t for most humans.)
- deaux 7mo agoIf you can't think of a single occurrence in history that directly disproves your proposed guideline, it's time to drop whatever you're doing and study history. If you can think of one, then you shouldn't be proposing introduction of guidelines that are blatantly false. Or would you like a "1+1 is not 2" guideline to accompany it?
- hax0ron3 7mo agoIt would be extremely difficult to have politics discussion without condoning violence. Deciding what sorts of violence is ok is an inherent part of politics. In practice, there's no way to ban calls for violence without banning the discussion of wide swaths of political topics.