I was mostly referring to the Less Wrong community's tendency to err in the side of caution when mentioning anything politically-loaded, for fear that it might be mind-killing to our own, inflame passions better left dormant, and cause unnecessary, inextricable conflict. That, and, well, many Lesswrongers being libertarians or fiscally conservative, I thought they might be unwelcoming to the works of a man such as Orwell. But, upon further reading, it turns out that this essay is politically neutral almost to a fault, and that the only side it takes is the side of truth, freedom, and the Democratic way. Which is a political stance in itself, but not one that would be subject to controversy here, I hope.

The charitable interpretation is that Orwell is known first and foremost as a political thinker, and there's evidence that his 'nationalist' biases were present on the things he cared about. So if "politics is the mind-killer" can cash out as "we shouldn't quote Hitler because that will lead to problems" it can also cash out as "we shouldn't quote Orwell because that will lead to problems." But I don't think that's how "politics is the mind-killer" does or should cash out. It's reasonable to be concerned about that possibility, but the answer to the concern is "nope, it's not an issue."