I've been involved with other sites where the political discussions overwhelmed the core topic, and the audience just collapsed in a tailspin of high emotions.
I hope Hacker News doesn't go that route.
I'm pretty new here, but I enjoy reading about the future of programming languages alongside posts about Marcus Aurelius' writings. It just seems that it's mostly content about being the best you that you can be and having a broad range of knowledge.
I worded that carefully. I don't want to draw out sides on that thread topic, just whether it contributed to an educational atmosphere and meaningful discussion on HN.
I like a good balance of topics, keeps things interesting (and more importantly, continues to get me interested in other subjects / topics).
To me all politics is off-topic - I'm interested in the technology discussions.