Startup CEO from Europe here. How am I supposed to turn a blind eye to the risk that the dependency from the US has become lately?

"Not talking about politics" is one of the most profoundly political things you can do.

> Could we avoid politics on the tech scene?

In the situation we are in currently? It's almost impossible unfortunately due to our political leaders.

It's up to us, the users, to flag the political content. It seems like we're losing the battle, there's more and more political stuff allowed on the front page every month. As it keeps increasing, people like me will give up on the site and go elsewhere, and then there's fewer users flagging political stuff, and it takes over. Either we nip it in the bud now or it's all downhill from here.

Is it avoidable?

Tech is directly affected by policy. Hell, any mention of OSS is eminently political by definition.

The imminent trade wars that the current US administration is set to start will dramatically affect the tech sector. Discussion of region-based alternatives are not only relevant, but important in the current moment.

Buying from local vendors doesn't have to do anything with politics. From groceries to software it makes perfect sense to me to buying locally. The money i spend in my town or country will have much bigger effect here again than when i spend it in a different country or even a continent

> Could we avoid politics on the tech scene?

We can't avoid politics in any sphere of life, that's what makes it so important.

> I think we're all better than that, and we know the tech scene thrives through collaboration, not isolationism.

And there you go, it doesn't matter what we know because the US government is going over our heads and taking isolationist measures. Even when we're "better than that" the reality is that our lives are shaped by the world around us as much as by our own initiatives.

Tech is partially, some would say even mostly, responsible for the current political atmosphere and climate, so no, neither we are any better than this, nor should it be avoided.

No, because politics are essential. Yes, they are annoying. Yes, they are difficult at time, but they are important.

"avoiding politics" favours the most aggressively dishonest party.

I remember hearing a talk of a tech guy who say why do techies like to talk about politics so much, and he said it's because tech-inclined people can see what the technology can do, and how it can be abused, and some want to warn the rest of the public.

Imagine if East Germany's state security service have the surveillance tech of China. Aha oops, I guess you don't need to imagine, you just have to look at China.

All software is inherently political, whether it's possible to ignore this fact or not is up for debate and your personal situation. Much like a gun, if you look at it in complete isolation from everything else in existence, you might be able to make the case that it's just an object with no meaning attached. But just like guns, software does not live in isolation. In the same way that producing guns, access to guns, buying and selling guns, etc is deeply political, so is software. Pretending that it isn't is only hiding your head under the sand in the hopes that the world won't come knocking.

We need to accept this fact as an industry and take responsibility for our work. Whether it's tracking people online, facial recognition at protests, aggregate cellular data used to deanonymize or etc, all of this software was built by people and claiming it's just a tool with no harm no foul is trying to shed responsibility we should bear.

Could you tell that to Peter Thiel or Elon Musk, please?

Only up to a point.

At some point "politics" becomes real and life changing, and ignoring it just becomes naive and spineless.

Is avoiding politics what Zuckerberg did when he rolled back fact-checking?

Since when has the hypercapitalist Silicon Valley ever avoided politics?