Am I the only one on HN who actively avoids every political discussion or post as much as humanly possible? Or are there others like that out there too?
I was raised to think that politics and religion are not appropriate subjects for polite company; and even that raising either topic outside narrow situations is impolite. I have since grown to think the sentiment is wrong and destructive. Assuming others in your cohort feel similarly, It leaves those discussions to only those people who are willing to breach decorum, or you simply don't have them. The results are that we tend to hear more often from zealots than we do more moderate people, we also leave ourselves ill-equipped to discuss contentious subjects and resolve conflict amicably, and worst of all we make important decisions on matters that affect everyone using poor information and without the benefit of the perspectives of our peers.
In the past, when I myself was undecided on these two things, I'd agreed with you. Since then I've concluded that Catholicism is the correct religion, and that our current political systems are completely and hopelessly broken. At this point, there's nothing for me to change in these areas, and my job isn't to convince anyone else of my positions on either of these. (If they want to know more of why I believe what I believe in either area, I will gladly point them to some resources.) So it's absolutely useless for me to discuss them with anyone else.
Politics is the name of the technology that we have worked out to prevent war. It's not a very good technology, and it needs lots of improvement, but it is better than war.
Why would you actively avoid every political discussion? The reality is politics affects many aspects of our lives especially with more and more legislation affecting the very technology we work with on a daily basis. Having a rational conversation and listening to other views can help move discussion forward and broaden awareness.
Actually, the HN guidelines say that most stories about politics are off-topic, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon (which isn't really the case here). There is a general bias against political posts and discussion here.
Talking about the FCC chair is definitely relevant content, as opposed to a general politics post. Wheeler is the FCC chair, and the FCC impacts the tech industry in about a billion and a half different ways, maybe more than any other single federal agency.
