[Kiro]

I barely know who Kissinger is but the fact that the author admits it's controversial (in contrast to say calling Hitler a war criminal) is enough for me to avoid this guy's books at all cost.

If I read a technical book I presume the examples are objective. If I would have read it without knowing anything beforehand I would take it literally and all of a sudden become a Kissinger hater without realizing it's actually a subjective political opinion.

[shoo]

I think perhaps you may be conflating "non-controversial" opinions with "objective" opinions. As the author writes:

> The Hidden and Prevailing Ideology

> I believe that just about every technical book comes with a body of politics, an ideology that governs and usually restricts its example set. We don't notice the political slant because it reflects the dominant viewpoint in our society and is thus invisible.

Or more generally -- the status quo is highly political. If you choose to follow a mainstream or establishment viewpoint, it does not logically follow that this mainstream viewpoint is objective or true or correct or laudable, although in some cases it may be. It gets more worrying when you don't consciously realise you've made a choice.

But yes, perhaps accidentally absorbing and signalling non-mainstream subjective political opinions could be hazardous to your career / participation in society / life , but that has nothing to do with the truth or otherwise of those political opinions.

[Kiro]

You are right. However, know I made a choice and I have no problem admitting that I think Hitler is a more obvious war criminal than Kissinger, even if it's possible it's all just a construct by the mainstream establishment. Call me a sheep if you want.

[alien_at_work]

Both are very obviously war criminals. Hitler's actions were obviously more egregious but war criminal is just a person who commits one or more war crimes (regarless of scope), which they both (amoung many, many others) did.

[ndh2]

Really? You become a "Kissinger hater" from reading an insert statement in a textbook?

[musage]

Other things you have to avoid at all costs include Monty Python, they wrote a song about Kissinger. Imagine laughing at some silly physical slapstick one moment and becoming a war criminal hater the next.