The implications here are interesting -- that discussing with emotion is something to avoid or that it's even possible to avoid at all. We're human -- as much as doing so has been a cultural aspiration for millenia in the West, it is simply not possible to decouple ourselves from our physical and emotional experiences.
In my mind, it's far less important that we try to address these topics "without emotion" (whatever that means) and instead focus on cultivating respect and curiosity and assuming good faith. This is a bit more congruous with the spirit of the site.
There's another Western cultural aspiration involving an impossible decoupling, probably more common in American culture than European, which is to depersonalize politics. But politics is about people, and some people are much less immediately affected by political and social issues than others -- there's usually a great many layers of indirection between the articulation of a regressive point of view or support for a particular law or politician, and e.g. a minority being squished out of tech or a parent who was a victim of a hate crime or a queer person's suicide. There are probably especially many layers of indirection when it comes to a lot of tech workers, given the demographics.
In any case, when discussing politics and issues of class and race it's important to recognize that you're not talking about something abstract, but people, and their loved ones and families. Given that, it's hardly a level playing field if we start with the expectation that folks will leave emotion at the door
"Discussing with emotion" is an euphemism for "saying things that you would not normally say unless you were thrown off kilter by your reaction to what you had just read."
I think it's more of an admission that internet discussions aren't analogous to in-person discussions, and have a way of dehumanizing the person you're discussing with. Combined with modern-day tribalism, it means that most online "discussions" on a particular set of topics are more about virtue signaling and displaying tribal membership than they are about convincing others. As such, it's not unreasonable shorthand for a forum to avoid such topics en masse, as when allowed, they tend to drown out everything else.
The emotions that most commonly arise when discussing politics online are negative ones: anger, resentment, powerlessness.
If you act out on the anger or resentment, no one wins anything. At that moment, it's a good idea to make an effort to argue from a purely logical standpoint instead of just insulting the person you're arguing with. I think that's what most people mean when they say they want to discuss "without emotion".
I find the topics that are most likely to generate "heated" discussion tend to be emotional topics, but also they're more broadly important to society and just more interesting to discuss. That's why I tend to browse in /active[1]. Some JSON parsing command line toolkit re-written in Rust [4 comments]? Yawn..
>Some JSON parsing command line toolkit re-written in Rust [4 comments]? Yawn..
I imagine people come here preceisly because they are that niche that wants to deep dive into those specific technical topics. I wouldn't be surprised if a topic like that could get 100 comments here and barely get a dozen comments on reddit/4chan/etc.
current active example:
>List of APIs that require declared reasons (developer.apple.com)
> 144 points by todsacerdoti 21 hours ago | flag | 309 comments
The general topic is interesing, but the actual link and "literature" is well... a technical document for IOS developers.
While I respect your opinion, I can tell you for a certainty that you are wrong in your specific claim — I can cite myself as a counterexample (:
For instance, recently there was an interesting article about finishing projects[1], which emphasized the emotional journey involved, and I rather liked the discussion it generated.
People have core values. For some people, caring about others is a core value. I see people suffering: I experience emotion about it. I do not feel one bit ashamed to admit that.
Your comment has a whiff of cruelty. It makes me sad that there are people who enjoy cruelty. Most humans find cruelty repulsive. If you don't believe me, try posting yourself kicking a cat under your real name. See what it does for your social status.
I'm jobless, sitting on a pile of cash, enjoying a sabbatical. I'll probably get another job in my lifetime, but on the other hand I might not. Judge away.
I am secure: that's obvious to other people. I was trying to be kind to you, but I have my limits.
To put it in psychopath terms: I've retired early but you're still working, so I have higher status than you. I'm dressing you down in public, so you have lost face.
If you fail to develop empathy, you're always going to have conversations like this, and sometimes you're going to be the one who is bullied. Tiny violin.
I don’t know where you got that view, but I suspect that is very far from the truth. People just tend to speak easily about issue they feel are important. You don’t need to be jobless to write a wall of text, just to have 10 minutes to kill for one reason or another.
>If you are emotionally invested in a topic then it's probably not technical
you really haven't seen what tech nerds will argue over, have you? There can still be surprising vigor over languages, or over features within a language.
performance improvement plan: management will create this for someone not doing well at their job, often as a way of documenting poor performance before the employee is ultimately fired
I take it you haven't seen how emotional people here get talking about javascript or systemd or any number of other pedantic fence-painting "technical" subjects.
I thought things had improved regarding systemd. Now I go to Phoronix when I want to have some fun watching true zealots (on that subject) in their natural habitat. Which is entertaining for about 10 minutes every once in a while.
In my mind, it's far less important that we try to address these topics "without emotion" (whatever that means) and instead focus on cultivating respect and curiosity and assuming good faith. This is a bit more congruous with the spirit of the site.
There's another Western cultural aspiration involving an impossible decoupling, probably more common in American culture than European, which is to depersonalize politics. But politics is about people, and some people are much less immediately affected by political and social issues than others -- there's usually a great many layers of indirection between the articulation of a regressive point of view or support for a particular law or politician, and e.g. a minority being squished out of tech or a parent who was a victim of a hate crime or a queer person's suicide. There are probably especially many layers of indirection when it comes to a lot of tech workers, given the demographics.
In any case, when discussing politics and issues of class and race it's important to recognize that you're not talking about something abstract, but people, and their loved ones and families. Given that, it's hardly a level playing field if we start with the expectation that folks will leave emotion at the door