I don't know if there is any way to protect against bots these days (other than something Worldcoin-like), which is a pity as I think HN is now overrun with them trying to inject anger and negativity into its Western-leaning audience's thoughts.
Yes and yes, but honestly commenting etiquette has always been poor when it came to political topics.
I feel like it used to be better. But in this case this isn't even a political topic; a bunch of people just decided to bring up politics anyway.
Unfortunately anything involving _certain people_ instantly becomes political these days
Agreed. I think it might be prudent to just start downvoting comments about Elon Musk's politics on threads that are just about his companies and have no direct connection to him personally.
“Eschew flamebait, unless it’s more of the usual, trite progressive talking points”
The founder of a health tech company is currently helming a likely-illegal effort to “delete” consumer safety regulations and government-provided health services that will directly lead to possibly hundreds of thousands of deaths. Given that trust and regulation are critical parts of providing healthcare, it seems pretty relevant.
The founder has also demonstrated he doesn't believe in government oversight, not have any empathy for disabled people dependant on social services. From it's leadership this is not a benevolent corporation whose goal is to help disabled people.