HN Explorer

Nothing on HN about the protests is disappointing

30 points by bendergarcia ↗ HN
The lack of content and discussion on HN on the topic has been disappointing. I understand this is a tech community but why aren’t we using tech to help with protests to help with understanding the problem and finding solutions to fix it. If I’m missing content and posts i apologize. But I need to see that this community cares about more than just the best JavaScript library or the downfall of we work. Again if I’m missing these I apologize. I mostly a lurker rarely commenting.

Edit: I don't want to be accusatory and i'm sorry about that. I want to have discussions and mobilize this community. I'm lucky to be a part of it and that I engage and get to be in it.

So please, let's throw ideas out there that help with 1. fixing the current issue today 2. fix the future issue.

It can be anything, but I want to hear peoples thoughts and ideas.

Update: I see this has been flagged maybe I’d ask moderators to consider a different way for users to engage in discussions like this while still maintaining the current community happy. Maybe difficult but thanks to those who did engage.

28 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 64.8 ms ] thread
nonsapreiche
What the monitoring is telling?
bendergarcia
That we need to put pressure on police leadership and stand with our people. There are people on the ground putting their lives and livelihoods on the line. People are losing businesses to send a message to the state that this needs a solution. To the country. People are donating money and doing personal fund matching. And that whatever we are doing is not enough and we can’t let up.
blackrock
Sorry to inform you. But nothing will change.

They’ll get this to quiet down. Then it’s back to business as usual.

The oligarchs have too much power over the plebs. And they have the heavy weapons to enforce it.

We all knew it, but the virus exposed, how predatory, capitalism truly is.

I must admit though, the protesters are very brave. The cops are just running people down now, if you get in front of their patrol car.

bendergarcia
I hear you on how daunting the problems feel. And the pandemic has shown what many have suspected about the ugliness of capitalism. Thanks for your comment it helps me engage better with the broader community.
smt88
I feel the opposite. I find that social discussions here always turn toxic quickly and teach me nothing.

I agree it's helpful for US residents to all be reading about and discussing the protests, but I don't see a reason it should be here. It's all over every other social medium.

bendergarcia
Not everyone here is on social media and not everyone here has a connection to someone who is Directly connected and is making a request for action. I agree with your assessment, things can turn toxic but if there’s some action on positivity where there was non before then it’s good.

Thoughts?

sloaken
I feel if you want that type of discussion you should go to a 'social media' site to get it. Not expect this forum to turn into a social media site.
[dead] effingwewt
Oh sweet, Summer Child. HN is most certainly social media, the first message boards were as well.

If HN was the bastion for civil discourse we all pretend it is, there would be no issue having these discussions.

Rules here are bent constantly, not to blame dang, it needs to be done, but when rules are bent for Trump threads and they get ugly, we deal with it, but we are told George Floyd being murdered is 'too hot to handle'.

Yes, users flag but as Dan has said repeatedly they can adjust flagging weight and/or stop them from removing posts from top/active.

SpicyLemonZest
I think it's inherently toxic to have a norm that, if something important is going on, everyone in every space needs to start talking about it. It means that people who have legitimate reasons to not want to talk about it - maybe they have intense personal trauma on the topics of police brutality or rioting - have to completely disconnect themselves from the public discourse.

This is especially true right now, when many people's normal avenues of disengagement are banned due to shelter in place.

effingwewt
So don't read the post/comments? If you or someone has their own issues with something that's fine, disengage. You don't get to squash discourse on something because it makes someone uncomfortable, or we will never speak of anything ever.
SpicyLemonZest
I’m not saying it should be squashed. The OP here said it’s not fine to disengage, that it’s “disappointing” and we have a duty to participate. That’s the attitude I think is toxic.
gus_massa
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23349294 | 516 points | 1 day ago | 346 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23352785 | 391 points | 22 hours ago | 419 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23355572 |192 points | 18 hours ago | 160 comments

And a few more with less traction https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

antman
Indeed, the correct statement is that although there are highly upvoted posts about the protests, they are forced out of the front page by posts with less votes.
adrianN
This happens to all posts about controversial topics (I guess because they also attract lots of flags). It's the same for posts about climate change for example.
antman
Also this post has been flagged and I can't seem to be able to vouch for it.
falcolas
You can only vouch for [dead] posts and comments.
seesawtron
Representative bias - You only know what you see!
WheelsAtLarge
Most people here want to belive that the world revolves around tech as opposed to tech being a tool that is used in our everyday world to make it better. So I'm not surprised there is nothing posted here.
runawaybottle
Well I think we want to apply insight from the tech world to a variety of topics.

This is one of those things we’re having difficulty applying insight into because it’s a systemic issue within the Police department that revolves around power dynamics, accentuated by race (or an issue around race, accentuated by power dynamics).

If we had to frame the discussion for optimal discourse here, we should try to find the parallels in power dynamics within our field. Otherwise this topic is better off on Reddit, where no particular lens is applied other than the general human experience.

babesh
It’s self selecting because previous social posts rarely make it to the top of Hacker News. I don’t know if it is due to the population or the moderation. However it means that people who would otherwise post are less likely to due to past results.
babesh
See. Gone from the first page already. Looks like it got flagged this time. The moderators don’t want social discussions.
bendergarcia
I wasn’t aware of the heavy moderation happening. This is good to know because it helps me understand why certain things are discussed. Thank you.
cmsonger
I'm not sure. I come here to read about technology and technology related issues. There is some overlap -- specifically, I think Twitter's choice to start policing misinformation from POTUS is good. But I don't feel like the protests are technology related.
bendergarcia
I appreciate your comment and I agree that maybe people come here as an escape. That is definitely something to consider.
smacktoward
This post has also been flagged, which is both disappointing and unsurprising.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
gregjor
Maybe if you offered something specific and actionable HN readers could do. There’s no single simple “problem” to understand, no easy tech “fix.” Posts that generate comment flame wars are not helping anything, those aren’t mobilizing or engaging anyone towards a solution.

Protest peacefully if you think that will help. Vote. Join the police force and set an example. Call out racism when you hear or see it, don’t go home and write some self-righteous indignant post on HN.

This has nothing to do with the “tech community,” we don’t have any special insight as nerds to solve deep human and cultural problems.