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by throwaway0a5e 1735 days ago
>That a comment is flagged or at -4 is useful signal

Knowing that something is a) spot on but ideologically inconvenient b) wrong doesn't really help if you don't have the subject matter familiarity to already know what's right and wrong. It just reduces your options to a binary choice.
2 comments
qsort 1735 days ago
"ideologically inconvenient" is indistinguishable from "incoherent nonsense" if you put yourself in the shoes of someone who disagrees with said ideology.

It's typical of people knee-deep in weird politics to fall into "with us or against us" type of thinking.

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a1369209993 1735 days ago
> "ideologically inconvenient" is indistinguishable from "incoherent nonsense" if

No it's not. Counterexample (which is inconvenient to a wide variety of different ideologies):

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." - H. L. Mencken

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JasonFruit 1735 days ago
It does a good job of saying, "That comment isn't a good fit for this community." You may decide you don't care; you may decide to adjust your tone or approach; you may decide HN isn't for you. But it provides useful information.
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