[roenxi]

> But honestly, if any term reaches the point where "Everything is X," then X is a useless term.

#2 goes directly to economics. #3 goes directly to the One Child Policy in China (one of the worlds most intense political policies!) and the intellectual underpinnings of eugenics.

#4 is a firestorm topic in the US that links directly to a current culture war, #5 goes to a major issue in the medical system which is how people die. If I bought up #7 in my family the conversation would veer into veganism as a political statement and probably get ugly because we have a practising vegan at the table.

#1, the Guinness World Records might be safe. Might. Maybe. #6 isn't directly political but I can guarantee that the term "human progress" is a risk of bringing up some very stiff argumentation if people are in a mood to quarrel. What we call "progress" is hardly at a consensus.

For someone who argues from principles, this list is extremely politically charged and is going to obliquely hit a bunch of hot-button topics. It goes to principles that are perennial features of politics at all levels of society.

If the goal is to avoid a big argument that'll need to be negotiated directly. If someone is going to argue, these topics are likely hit-and-miss for being likely to quiet people down. I would not bring up a lot of them when talking to my family, that is for sure.

[MarkPNeyer]

> For someone who argues from principles

I think this is actually what makes the last seen non-political to some people.

In lots of cases, I think people don’t have abstract principles that guide their thinking. Their political ideals are a collection of specific beliefs without a unifying set of abstractions that links the beliefs together into a coherent thesis about what is good.