Sad seeing people not recognizing that this is actually the kind of topics that HN is not shy about. The site is for "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity", so critiquing someone for using the knowledge that come from that pursue, to weaponize it must be discussed. As the other commenter points out, Girard's tesis is used for political convenience. Also, if anyone saw Girad's work as apolitical, I don't think the understanding of the work was acquired.
Thiel actively attributes his entrepreneurial success to Girard’s ideas. I don’t disagree it would be nice to have less explicitly political topics but the reality is that the ideas of those who historically are the discussion of HN, Silicon Valley, and tech in general are ascendant in politics. It doesn’t strike me as off topic to critically evaluate those ideas.
How can this be avoided when the tech companies themselves, as well as their founders, are engaging in political agitprop? Of course Peter Thiel has been very active in politics for a long time. In fact the whole "PayPal mafia" is now. Elon Musk was the largest campaign contributor in the 2024 elections and has become a political appointee of sorts in the US government. Not to mention his acquisition of Twitter. Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post and has undermined its editorial independence. There are many other examples I could list.
The days of obscure geeks are long gone. The "geeks" have inherited the Earth. Tech has eaten the world. With great power comes great responsibility... or irresponsibility, as the case may be.