Vladimir_Nesov:
I completely ignore politics. What am I losing?
You will probably agree that historically there have been at least some times and places where completely ignoring politics could be very costly. Therefore, if you believe that you're not losing anything by ignoring politics at the present time and place where you live, this can be rational only if you have some evidence that the present social order you live under is not in that category. However, you cannot have any such evidence if you really ignore politics completely.
It follows that either you're being irrational, or your level of interest in politics is perhaps very low, but still above zero.
It follows that either you're being irrational, or your level of interest in politics is perhaps very low, but still above zero.
I'd ask for specific examples of the kinds of situations you are talking about (and correspondingly the intended meaning of "interest in politics" appropriate for those situations). But it's not helpful to draw a distinction between "very low level of interest, above zero" and "completely no interest" for discussing the intended meaning in the post (i.e. deciding whether to have discussions about politics of LW). So sure, I didn't make this distinction. I don't see why you would see this distinction as relevant.
There is a tendency to downvote articles and commentaries with a political subtext with a remark on how politics is the mind-killer. I completely understand that nobody wants his mind to be killed, however, I disagree on the employed methods. I don't think anybody can really afford to ignore politics. It's a fact about any group of even a handful of people. Thus instead of shunning politics I think it's better to build one's rational defenses. Understanding that politics is a problem is only the first step. If you stop there, there will always be a big part of life where you are not rational. Therefore I suggest that, as long as it doesn't get out of hands, there should always be room for political discussions if not on the main site at least in the discussion section.