Comment by calcifer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by calcifer | Hacker News Reader

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> Haven't read the article

Wow, so you are complaining about, and asking questions to the author of, an article based purely on your perception of its title?

> I don't care about reasons why you don't like Milo. I'm suggesting they're a person with different opinions, respect that

Just a cursory search into who Milo is, what he says and does will show you he is a deeply, virulently intolerant person. And in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance [1].

> It's been getting obnoxious that platforms have been used to push political stances.

It's the personal opinion column of a journalist. I also don't see anything wrong with her "pushing political stances". Unbiased journalism is a myth. People who call for it are either looking for journalism they already agree with or stuff that is so mundanely unimportant that couldn't possibly contain any stance and therefore news value.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

> Wow, so you are complaining about, and asking questions to the author of, an article based purely on your perception of its title?

He's talking about The Guardian and how he doesn't read it anymore. He didn't attribute the author specifically. It doesn't matter whether it was the original author or Guardian's editors guilty of publishing the offensive content.

As I stated before: I don't care about why you don't like Milo.

What is important and what the news should be covering: Why are people taking a liking to him. (And do so in an impartial way without trying to fill the article with 80% hit-pieces) What is he saying and doing is catching a lot of attention? Why are his speeches resonating? How is he in existence? (Is his actions/his character in response to others)

> the society must be intolerant of intolerance

Intolerant towards intolerant extreme actions, yes. In an open society, you must be aware that people have different stances and prejudices. Closed societies can't tolerate the "intolerance". (I.e. Some countries you can't criticize the government)

> "pushing political stances"

Given this stance: I should be given the right to have my stances published in the paper. I operate the "Church of Not Wearing Pants" it is a religious organization, the article is about how the government should respect our religious existence by making pants illegal. Should that be published? It's as equally absurd as calling for a protest for someone you don't like.

> Unbiased journalism

I agree with you 100% neutral journalism doesn't happen. My problem is that unchecked journalism has given us an extreme selection of what is presented and the bias is injected into the news story from the author themselves.

> Why are people taking a liking to him. (And do so in an impartial way without trying to fill the article with 80% hit-pieces) What is he saying and doing is catching a lot of attention? Why are his speeches resonating? How is he in existence? (Is his actions/his character in response to others)

You mean exactly what they did [1] on many [2], many occasions?

> I operate the "Church of Not Wearing Pants" [...] should that be published? It's as equally absurd as calling for a protest for someone you don't like.

If the paper you send it to considers this newsworthy or something the public should consider, of course. If not, you have many other avenues available to you, including self publishing.

> My problem is that unchecked journalism has given us an extreme selection of what is presented and the bias is injected into the news story from the author themselves.

I'm not sure I understand what "unchecked journalism" is, but I don't see a problem here.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/06/my-travels-i...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/13/donald-trump...

You don't seem to grasp the difference between news articles and opinion pieces. The latter is by definition subjective, and is featured to provide an outlet for subjective views, as opposed to the former that is supposed to at least strive to be neutral, objective, and fact-based.

The article you started your rant with is an opinion piece and is clearly marked as such. It is not a news story.

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