[sillysaurus3]

It's possible to comment civilly on difficult topics. It just requires that you choose to.

HN is a place to gratify one's intellectual curiosity. Part of the fabric of the community is that we engage in a civil, substantive way. There are various topics that don't always make that easy, but it's important that we try.

[friendlygrammar]

I just have to ask, at what point does praise becomes uncivil? Is it when you praise Fidel who has stifled freedom of speech and condemned his people to a life of economic stagnation? What about Chavez who has condemned his people to starvation? Or is it praising Kim Jong Un? Or is it praising Hitler? Or is it praising Stalin? Or is it praising the KKK?

There is only 1 ideology responsible for killing more than 100 million people in the existence of human civilization. Try considering that for a second.

We will likely not understand what Fidel has done to the Cuban people for a few more decades but I will take the role of oracle and tell you. 100 years from now Cuba will still be poor and it will still be an inexpensive tourist destination for rich white people from Canada and Europe.

[sillysaurus3]

I sense good intentions from you. Thank you for that. Let me try to explain.

If you're curious about the philosophy here, have a look at https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

The decisive difference between HN and other sites is that here, it almost doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you express your beliefs in a thoughtful and constructive way. You can still challenge beliefs you disagree with. But if you're looking to express outrage or if you're showing up to do ideological battle, you should be aware that it won't be tolerated here.

Please understand, HN has been around for about a decade. The community is the sole distinction between here and other sites. And as soon as the community consists of people commenting in anger rather than in thoughtful critique, the more thoughtful people will move elsewhere. We have to make it a priority to defend ourselves from that outcome.

Try to have the spirit of being among trusted friends, searching for the truth in a topic. It's not easy, especially when someone says something controversial. But HN is all about good conversation. That doesn't mean you have to be nice, but it means you have to be thoughtful and substantive. It's almost always better to say nothing than to convey anger.

[booleandilemma]

Comments like yours are why I leave showdead on.

[ifdefdebug]

Not being a communist myself, I recognize this as utter anticommunist propaganda not based on facts but on believes.

[friendlygrammar]

Anticommunist propaganda? You realize that the man killed thousands, imprisoned tens of thousands for their beliefs and condemned the entire island to poverty.

What is misleading about anything I've just stated? Because that is one of the requirements for something to be propaganda.

[mynameisvlad]

I think what the parent commenter is referring to is your insistence on staying on the same 4 or so talking points without actually listening to others and their opinions.

HN is a place for discussions. That means being open to people having ideas other than your own, and acknowledging that those ideas may have merit. You don't have to agree with them; I don't agree with everything said on HN. That said, you do have to be open to accepting that others have different viewpoints and that they're not crazy for doing so.

That's why there's policies in place for civil commenting, and the like. To foster a discussion between people with potentially opposing viewpoints without devolving into a personally-charged argument.

[thesimpsons1022]

if your so tired of silicon valley you're free to leave. kinda sad how people just hear the word "communism" and can't think logically and start frothing at the mouth with anger and hate.