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Comment by lolinder | Hacker News Reader

Facing it in this way isn't helping, it's just cementing the battle lines that were already in place and furthering the polarization and hatred which got Trump elected in the first place. We're not getting anywhere by spiraling into despair and anger—the kind of discussion that's been HN's staple recently is just serving to persuade people that democracy was doomed to fail after all because 50% of people are ignorant and hateful.

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I disagree -- it's more important than ever to talk about these topics in the few communities, like HN, where people on both sides of the battle lines actually intermingle.

They don't intermingle any more. HN used to be a place for that kind of discussion, but it hasn't been that way in recent months. Perspectives that even sort of smell like they're right leaning get downvoted or flagged very quickly, leaving the discussion to be entirely a bunch of terrified left wingers resonating off each other, building their mutual fear and anger.

Something has shifted dramatically in the discourse the last two months, and HN isn't working the way it used to.

That's not my experience. If you look at my post history you'll see I've recently engaged in several long-winded back-and-forths with people here that have stayed civil and substantive. I don't find that in many other places, yet I still find it here.

I think one thing that has shifted dramatically in the last two months is that it's become clear many people who had a more moderated outlook on the current administration have turned out to be flat wrong about who these people are and what their intended course of action is. A "mask drop" moment. That's going to cause people to disengage, stick their hands, and even become irrationally angry.

Nonetheless I find this is still a place where you can talk to people on the "other side" in a rational way.

No. Lines being drawn is fine. It's fine to see the faces painted exactly as they are. The Left actually doesn't need to win back any voter from the Right. They just need to passionately show the faces of those on the Right, and the larger demographic of the Left will emerge.

When you see the corruption allowing, greedy tax obsessed Republican, when you see their true face, it's the greatest rallying call for a blowout midterms.

Just cut the tall grass to see the critters in the field.

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