"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon."

It's hard to argue that thoughtful articles like this one don't pertain to an interesting new phenomenon. This concept is, of course, highly subjective. But I've seen countless articles on HN that existed in this space without being flagged. Why should this article, which garnered such high volume of feedback - without flaming - be treated differently?