I think an important distinction has to be made between personal values and opinions, and politics, both in the confines of this discussion and generally in society.

I think the lack of this distinction has led to much, and very painful and bitter online discussion, whereas people in a tribalist political mindset try to pigeonhole others based on a throwaway statement into either a friendly or enemy camp.

I broadly agree with the value that competence is more important in politeness or vibes, especially in people who build critical infrastructure - in fact it is a very very welcome property of these people that they care about things on a level that seems unreasonable to me.

This is true basically of everything critically important in life. One example is security. Everyone enjoys the privilege of using a web browser to visit any website and not have their PC compromised thanks to a variety of measures created by people who care intensely about these things.

If the crash testing on my car was done by people who sought out some amicable middle ground so as to not upset engineers who have to redo the frame of the car after a test gone horribly wrong, and accounting, who gets the bill for it, I would be sweating bullets every time I had to drive anywhere.

Politics imo is the worst sort of tribalism - the idea that people must be sorted into totally disjunct groups who are the bitter enemies of each other - thankfully doesn't translate into practice. Two people might root for sports teams that are eternal rivals, one person's favorite food might be hated by the other, they might disagree on what the important issues are, or what should be done about them, but thankfully that doesn't necessarily stop them from being the best of friends.

That's why there's a blanket ban on discussing politics in every place where people are expected to maintain amicable civility towards each other - family dinners, the workplace, gatherings with friends and acquaintances etc., with everyone usually getting antsy whenever 'politics' is brought up.

You made the statement that Blow doesn’t get political in an attempt to refute someone else’s comment.

Other people have proven he does.

So either you must concede that your initial rebuke was based on insufficient information, in which case why try and act like he has said nothing of concern.

Or his world views fit within your own view and are thus deemed neutral.

His comments are not a matter of opinion. And opinion that extends to affecting the lives of others , including supporting those who affect the lives of others, is very much politics.

So your favourite food is not politics but if you try and affect change that affects someone else’s favourite food, it is inherently political. If you support someone who starts affecting my favourite food, that too is political.

> Politics imo is the worst sort of tribalism

No it's not. Politics is the negotiation between two or more people who want conflicting outcomes.

> they might disagree on what the important issues are, or what should be done about them, but thankfully that doesn't necessarily stop them from being the best of friends.

The Republicans are led by white supremacists and they hate me for being transgender. Please stop carrying water for them. Politics matters and shouldn't be dismissed as "sports" or "tribalism"

> competence is more important in politeness or vibes,

I've been a professional programmer for about fifteen years. You could stand to be more polite.

I am not from the US. I don't have a horse in this race. Please do not imply I am somehow 'carrying water' for the Republicans, whatever might that mean. I do not have any negative feelings toward you for who you are, and I assume you're a competent individual, although I would prefer if we were having a technical debate instead of whatever this is.

I apologize if I come across as impolite, but I assure you that has not been my intention. Please understand that that there is no hidden meaning behind my posts.

In fact I enjoy the fact that Blow can talk shop about things he disagrees with (such as enterprise software with call stacks 50 levels deep).

> Please do not imply I am somehow 'carrying water' for the Republicans, whatever might that mean.

The implication was pretty clear to me, in that by reducing politics down to being things reasonable people can always disagree over, you're giving actual bad actors in the space too much credit.

It's possible (and true) that non-white Republican demographics have been growing and that the Republicans are currently being led by white supremacists, with the latter being demonstrated by the words and actions of Trump, Miller, Noem, Hegseth, Musk, etc.

And it's just as possible (and actually TRUE) that your interpretation of their words is a mis-representation their POV.

Their "POV" is irrelevant. Their actions speak for themselves.

Your POV of their actions is different than their POV of their actions.

Simple example: They want ot fund the police

Their POV: make everyone safer

Another POV: fund bad people

Their POV isn't wrong, it's just different.

Sure, on the other hand sometimes people take a with-us-or-against-us position, and trying to remain neutral means you have become political.

I don’t know which of the two happened here, maybe both, but if we’re mentioning one let’s also mention the other.

Edit: just read some tweets and I think I know which one it is XD you were underselling it.

Do people really believe that opinions on interpersonal communication count as politics now? I'm asking sincerely.

How is it not? Respect and how youre trying to influence someone to behave is exerting power. Telling someone how they should exert their power is political.

That's not what people are talking about when they're speaking of Jon Blow's politics. Most likely they are referring to his weird takes on COVID or his MAGA tweets.