zlacker

No, dang, this isn't a generic tangent. Apple is forcing women to relocate to a state that will premptively threaten doctors with jail sentences for giving these same women life-saving health care. If you don't know what I am referring to, please look up the case of Kate Cox and all of the deep reporting around it.

Apple is forcing women to move to a state that treats them like birthing vessels and second-class citizens. Calling it out is our duty. Keeping silent on it is agreeing with the State of Texas that a non-viable fetus is more important than the life of a mother of two.

>>frob+(OP)
Even if that's all true, the subthread is a generic tangent in the sense that we use the term on HN. See >>39021809 .

The GP was starting a political flamewar of the most predictable type—two types at the same time, in fact: ideological and regional. That's not a borderline call, especially given the flamewar style it was written in.

None of that means the issue isn't important; quite the contrary. But HN isn't primarily a site for hammering out the most important issues in the world—if it were, then it would be consumed by political battle, and that's the opposite of the intellectual curiosity which the site actually is for.

We have to be proactive about moderating in this way, because the default tendencies on the internet are all flameward. That means the default end state of this site is scorched earth, unless we put in a lot of energy to avoid that. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

Btw, phrases like "calling out" are usually an indication that a comment is headed further into the flames. We're mostly trying to avoid the online callout/shaming culture here. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&type=comment&dateRange=a...

>>dang+44
Please don't use dismissive language around the atrocities going on in Texas like "even if that's all true." It is true. The hell that Texas is forcing women like Kate Cox through is well documented. And Apple, a major tech player, is choosing to pressure women to move there.

This is the epitome of a relevant tech discussion. Choosing to moderate it away because it is too controversial is coming out on the side of the status quo that the state of Texas is enforcing on women's autonomy.