Seeing my home country at the top of Hacker News is surreal. While I'm glad it’s finally getting some coverage, watching this unfold feels almost hopeless. The previous war in Tigray cost an estimated 600,000 lives, and this new escalation threatens to be even bloodier. It’s heading toward a complete catastrophe
> Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".
"Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. "
And the comment really had nothing to do with the article. Just a opinion shouted in to the room without backing up besides mentioning "random yt videos" as the source.
It's called the zeitgeist. A prevailing opinion or perception that creeps into everything, earned through momentum.
You may suppress it but you can't avoid it. It'd be like expecting people not to mention AI today on a topic related to any technology even if doesn't directly involve AI.
Like soapboxing "historical european meddling", right?
Cause while it is of course entirely possible that this really did occur to you fully independently over the years, it requires quite a bit of suspended disbelief to entertain, given how prominently this has been trending recently within certain political "fringes".
Just watch or read anything about the Congo: A country/region BIGGER than many European countries COMBINED, literally just handed over to a SINGLE European dude!
And not just Africa; I've been traveling around Asia recently, and whenever I think about catching up on any particular country, like 8 or 9 out of 10 times, guess what?
True, but... when they themselves say that they didn't read the article, and post a random opinion that is contrary to the article, then "maybe you should actually read it" is at least somewhat called for.
OP edited their comment. I think the original said something to the effect of "I didn't read it but I bet it says..."
At least, that was my understanding of the comment that I replied to. Normally I wouldn't say "Did you even read the article" when responding to a thought or opinion
Fights were probably smaller and between tribes and not two monolithic groups? Also not quite sure about Ethiopia but the weapons were probably less bangy and more stabby pre colonization?
Ethiopia has a brief Italian intervention but did not form part of a European empire. In fact, before the Communists got in under Mengistu, it was ruled by an Emperor
That’s a reductive take. It assumes African Christians only hold their faith because of colonizers and denies us our own agency. Ethiopia, for example, adopted Christianity as a state religion in the 4th century, long before European colonization. Millions of Africans choose their faith consciously
Where you are born and your ethnicity largely determines your beliefs, conversion is rare. But agency over ones beliefs is becoming more prevalent as religion holds less influence as it once did (at least in some parts of the world).
Seeing my home country at the top of Hacker News is surreal. While I'm glad it’s finally getting some coverage, watching this unfold feels almost hopeless. The previous war in Tigray cost an estimated 600,000 lives, and this new escalation threatens to be even bloodier. It’s heading toward a complete catastrophe
So many comments sound apocalyptic when they face inconveniences like inflation. See this recent post by a Polish guy:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905487
Meanwhile, the Tigray war in Ethiopia may have killed as many as 600k, yet it barely registered in our public conversation. The same goes for Sudan.
Attention is a weird beast.
[dead]
[flagged]
I’m guessing Western countries have no stake in wars probably.
It seems US is backing china's stake in Iran and houthis at the moment
[flagged]
More likely belt and road shenanigans these days
Oh yeah that too now
Imagine the shit we're gonna see in 2100 caused from that..
But than that too could be arguably traced back to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
Maybe you should read the article before posting something like this
This is exactly the sort of comment the guidelines explicitly say not to write.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".
It also says this:
"Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. "
And the comment really had nothing to do with the article. Just a opinion shouted in to the room without backing up besides mentioning "random yt videos" as the source.
It's called the zeitgeist. A prevailing opinion or perception that creeps into everything, earned through momentum.
You may suppress it but you can't avoid it. It'd be like expecting people not to mention AI today on a topic related to any technology even if doesn't directly involve AI.
Like soapboxing "historical european meddling", right?
Cause while it is of course entirely possible that this really did occur to you fully independently over the years, it requires quite a bit of suspended disbelief to entertain, given how prominently this has been trending recently within certain political "fringes".
Just watch or read anything about the Congo: A country/region BIGGER than many European countries COMBINED, literally just handed over to a SINGLE European dude!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvYRifKrS24 — The World's Most Ignored War Explained - Johnny Harris (first and only video I watched from that guy, seems neutral?)
And not just Africa; I've been traveling around Asia recently, and whenever I think about catching up on any particular country, like 8 or 9 out of 10 times, guess what?
Yep. Europeans :)
[dead]
True, but... when they themselves say that they didn't read the article, and post a random opinion that is contrary to the article, then "maybe you should actually read it" is at least somewhat called for.
OP edited their comment. I think the original said something to the effect of "I didn't read it but I bet it says..."
At least, that was my understanding of the comment that I replied to. Normally I wouldn't say "Did you even read the article" when responding to a thought or opinion
[dead]
[flagged]
Same answer as always, because people upvoted it and so far not enough flagged it. But judging current momentum, only a question of time.
But I think, the article does have the potential for a interesting debate, though.
Despite what you might think, Hacker News isn't just a place for technical content.
For once, we also cared about wars in Africa, instead of ignoring them and talking about Gaza. I think this is a good development
[flagged]
There are multiple major factors driving the tigray conflict. Politics, ideology, ethnonationalism, etc. Religion isn't one of them.
Hmm. You are right, first thing my white colonial mind is put to is a nice cuppa, followed by manipulating the natives to war amongst themselves.
Come on.
Ethiopia was never colonized.
So why were they fighting before Islam and Christianity?
Fights were probably smaller and between tribes and not two monolithic groups? Also not quite sure about Ethiopia but the weapons were probably less bangy and more stabby pre colonization?
[dead]
Ethiopia has a brief Italian intervention but did not form part of a European empire. In fact, before the Communists got in under Mengistu, it was ruled by an Emperor
That’s a reductive take. It assumes African Christians only hold their faith because of colonizers and denies us our own agency. Ethiopia, for example, adopted Christianity as a state religion in the 4th century, long before European colonization. Millions of Africans choose their faith consciously
Most everyone is indoctrinated into their faith as children. "Choice" doesn't really describe cultural programming.
>It assumes African Christians only hold their faith because of colonizers and denies us our own agency.
And they would be correct. Most people never "chose" their beliefs. It was systematically embedded by people who have had power over them.
Slightly nonsensical to apply modern discourse about European colonisation to events of 1,700 years ago, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum#Religion
You choose your religion on a daily basis or we wouldn’t see anyone ever convert from one to the other.
People have agency.
Where you are born and your ethnicity largely determines your beliefs, conversion is rare. But agency over ones beliefs is becoming more prevalent as religion holds less influence as it once did (at least in some parts of the world).
Ethiopia was Christian before a lot of northern Europe was...
[dead]
[dead]