> Note that David never actually addresses the “far right” label on its merits — he just pivots to calling it overused, trying to direct your attention elsewhere like a magician distracting the audience as he performs a trick.
I'm not sure he's bringing it up for that reason. He thinks the label is losing its power because it really is losing power over him, because he's becoming more comfortable with it and beginning to accept it. Keep an eye out for if he starts to call himself a fascist "ironically".
DHH feels like a mini-Elon. Extremely problematic but somehow great at selling to whoever is interviewing him.
The last time I felt DHH deserved headlines was in the early 2000s. Since then I think we're just forced to hear from him because he's good at soundbites.
I've heard this "Elon is great at selling" thing a few times and I simply don't understand it. The guy stumbles over his words frequently, is often awkward, and always attempts to appear smart but often inadvertently reveals his lack of knowledge in whatever topic he's discussing. Clearly not great at selling to me. What am I missing?
You don't have enough credulity of wealthy people. Just imagine you didn't know anything about what he is talking about and you believe people's success is a good barometer of their expertise. Now what he's saying is amazing! You won't have to drive or do chores in a few years, actually a few years ago even! His stumbling over his words is just his big brain thinking of too many things at once
> DHH’s politics are not normal. Maybe they used to be, I don’t know, but as of right now the dude is way the fuck outside of what most people would consider moral or acceptable.
Only a person deeply ensconced in an information bubble could assert this. DHH’s opinions are only surprising and disquieting to a tiny minority of social justice fundamentalists.
The reason this is so uncomfortable for them is because it’s a clear signal that normal middle-of-the-road opinions are (thankfully) becoming normalized once again after the socjus fundies held everyone hostage for over a decade.
The fever is breaking, though, and such people are being revealed for what they actually are: a tiny group of rather unhinged extremists. The rest of us normies are relieved to just be getting back to regular life again.
Like I said in the article: a high-signal indicator that someone knows their views are extreme and unpopular is when they use this sort of rhetoric. There's a reason you're sort of gesturing vaguely at "DHH's opinions" rather than just plainly stating what you mean.
No, this is completely wrong. The DHH article that people are referring to here is straight up white nationalist propaganda. It's not even being coy or beating around the bush about it. White nationalism has always been a fringe belief, and is clearly not a "normal middle-of-the-road" opinion.
It's funny to me that those who tend to jump to calling out "information bubbles" seem to be the ones most ensconced in them. It's not just you; for example, the most recent DHH blog ("We've all had enough of this nonsense") ranting about how people are trying to "cancel me from Rails" contains a sentence full of links calling the outpouring of support overwhelming, and every single link is a link to a Twitter post. It's equivalent to a pro-LGBT candidate boasting that they have overwhelming public support because they polled everyone at the Pride parade.
I'm actually convinced that many people who claim "that normal middle-of-the-road opinions are becoming normalized once again" believe this _solely_ because of the overwhelmingly hard-rightward shift of political beliefs on Twitter. These people don't seem to understand that Twitter is not real life.
> DHH’s politics are not normal. Maybe they used to be, I don’t know, but as of right now the dude is way the fuck outside of what most people would consider moral or acceptable.
Is being vaguely anti-immigrant actually that far outside of what people people consider moral or acceptable these days? Like, I am shocked how much gets said on HN when H1B's are brought up.
I don't agree with with any of the points in DHH's linked article. But like, DHH acknowledging Tommy Robinson's march existed probably shouldn't subject him to every criticism of Tommy Robinson.
A large portion of DHH's article is dedicated to Tommy Robinson and the march. It's almost a common thread that ties it together, weaving in callbacks throughout. He is romanticising TR and the march. It's beyond merely acknowledging its existence. There's definitely an air of admiration.
As for Tommy, if you are not familiar with it's worth looking at his Wikipedia entry. He is a violent thug and career criminal. He has been convicted of: fraud, possession intent to supply drugs, assaulting a police officer (whom he kicked in the head while on the floor), entering the US on a false passport, stalking and harassing journalists, contempt of court on multiple occasions (one of which he seriously jeopardised the court trial of some paedophiles) This is not an exhaustive list. And without getting into his foul politics. Lending any credence whatsoever to this man is very telling
DHH was specifically romanticising and defending the marches. (Although he did reference a tweet from TR as a source - that's a worse look.)
Listen - you don't have to sell me on not liking Robinson. But plenty of people participate in political moments without fulling endorsing their progenitors (plenty of iconic activists have problematic pasts), so it seems fair to at least give DHH the benefit of the doubt when it comes to associations. Lest we all be judged by the same standard.
Author here — I mentioned this in the article but if someone waxes poetic about a march while conveniently omitting the fact that seemingly every speech there was insane and bigoted, [1] they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
I really implore you to reconsider this position. Our world is wrapped up in injustice and political violence because everyone is jumping to extremist positions. And the last thing we need is declaring people guilty merely by association or poor attempts at empathy.
From a good faith reading of DHH's article, it's pretty clear he is expressing empathy for the feelings of the marchers (and even TR) without much care to the particulars (it doesn't sound like he himself marched or was personally witness to them). In the same way we allow for people to feel empathy for Luigi Mangione's motives without accusing them of also being homicidal.
You would be better off digging into DHH's actual problematic idea that he is trying to put forward: that the UK, or more specifically London, should fetishize and emulate the policy of anti-immigration countries. His actual thesis is bad enough and easily debunked without trying to pick apart "dog-whistles" and subtexts.
DHH is expressing a terrible idea, but in good faith. To maybe prove his point for him in an ironic way - Denmark can have actual harmful, racist, anti-immigrant legislation - but because no one cared about the rhetoric that was used they got it done.
He is the one who chose to use the march as an example, and he's the one who chose to lie by omission about what actually went down there. I'm not declaring him guilty by association, I just refuse to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who's clearly playing in my face.
Yes of course you don't need to fully endorse someone's politics in these situations. Though _not fully endorsing_ usually implies a disagreement on a minority of points. But here, for any reasonable person, it would be quite the opposite - you have to entirely ignore TR's storied violent criminal past, because you're fond of a march.
And as the article linked points out, the speakers at this march were quite extreme. So it's not as if the march is even defensible in isolation. I think DHH is too smart to be ignorant to any of this.
(I will say I don't condemn everyone who attended the march, I imagine many went with good intentions)
Why was this flagged and removed from the front page? Is HN complicit in furthering these racist ideas?
Why isn't this on the front page already? Did a mod step in?
I can't answer the second question, but to the first, it may have been "flagged" by multiple users. That tends to push items off the front page.
It was previously posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45451467
> Note that David never actually addresses the “far right” label on its merits — he just pivots to calling it overused, trying to direct your attention elsewhere like a magician distracting the audience as he performs a trick.
I'm not sure he's bringing it up for that reason. He thinks the label is losing its power because it really is losing power over him, because he's becoming more comfortable with it and beginning to accept it. Keep an eye out for if he starts to call himself a fascist "ironically".
I have bad news: https://nitter.net/dhh/status/1973621011590553927
DHH feels like a mini-Elon. Extremely problematic but somehow great at selling to whoever is interviewing him.
The last time I felt DHH deserved headlines was in the early 2000s. Since then I think we're just forced to hear from him because he's good at soundbites.
I've heard this "Elon is great at selling" thing a few times and I simply don't understand it. The guy stumbles over his words frequently, is often awkward, and always attempts to appear smart but often inadvertently reveals his lack of knowledge in whatever topic he's discussing. Clearly not great at selling to me. What am I missing?
You don't have enough credulity of wealthy people. Just imagine you didn't know anything about what he is talking about and you believe people's success is a good barometer of their expertise. Now what he's saying is amazing! You won't have to drive or do chores in a few years, actually a few years ago even! His stumbling over his words is just his big brain thinking of too many things at once
Also extremely prolific author, software engineer, and entrepreneur.
> extremely prolific author,
prolific self-published author of free things on the internet sometimes also sold as books
> software engineer
along with many others who wrote great things in 2005! but what lately? the setup script called omarachy?
> entrepreneur
again, we're two decades from anything I'd call entrepreneurial
babies have born and can vote since the last major wave DHH made, but he's great at soundbites and attention cycles
I mean, Rails was good and all 20 years ago but it is not as if 37signals products are as great as the his interviews and books pictured them.
> DHH’s politics are not normal. Maybe they used to be, I don’t know, but as of right now the dude is way the fuck outside of what most people would consider moral or acceptable.
Only a person deeply ensconced in an information bubble could assert this. DHH’s opinions are only surprising and disquieting to a tiny minority of social justice fundamentalists.
The reason this is so uncomfortable for them is because it’s a clear signal that normal middle-of-the-road opinions are (thankfully) becoming normalized once again after the socjus fundies held everyone hostage for over a decade.
The fever is breaking, though, and such people are being revealed for what they actually are: a tiny group of rather unhinged extremists. The rest of us normies are relieved to just be getting back to regular life again.
Like I said in the article: a high-signal indicator that someone knows their views are extreme and unpopular is when they use this sort of rhetoric. There's a reason you're sort of gesturing vaguely at "DHH's opinions" rather than just plainly stating what you mean.
No, this is completely wrong. The DHH article that people are referring to here is straight up white nationalist propaganda. It's not even being coy or beating around the bush about it. White nationalism has always been a fringe belief, and is clearly not a "normal middle-of-the-road" opinion.
It's funny to me that those who tend to jump to calling out "information bubbles" seem to be the ones most ensconced in them. It's not just you; for example, the most recent DHH blog ("We've all had enough of this nonsense") ranting about how people are trying to "cancel me from Rails" contains a sentence full of links calling the outpouring of support overwhelming, and every single link is a link to a Twitter post. It's equivalent to a pro-LGBT candidate boasting that they have overwhelming public support because they polled everyone at the Pride parade.
I'm actually convinced that many people who claim "that normal middle-of-the-road opinions are becoming normalized once again" believe this _solely_ because of the overwhelmingly hard-rightward shift of political beliefs on Twitter. These people don't seem to understand that Twitter is not real life.
> DHH’s politics are not normal. Maybe they used to be, I don’t know, but as of right now the dude is way the fuck outside of what most people would consider moral or acceptable.
Is being vaguely anti-immigrant actually that far outside of what people people consider moral or acceptable these days? Like, I am shocked how much gets said on HN when H1B's are brought up.
I don't agree with with any of the points in DHH's linked article. But like, DHH acknowledging Tommy Robinson's march existed probably shouldn't subject him to every criticism of Tommy Robinson.
A large portion of DHH's article is dedicated to Tommy Robinson and the march. It's almost a common thread that ties it together, weaving in callbacks throughout. He is romanticising TR and the march. It's beyond merely acknowledging its existence. There's definitely an air of admiration.
As for Tommy, if you are not familiar with it's worth looking at his Wikipedia entry. He is a violent thug and career criminal. He has been convicted of: fraud, possession intent to supply drugs, assaulting a police officer (whom he kicked in the head while on the floor), entering the US on a false passport, stalking and harassing journalists, contempt of court on multiple occasions (one of which he seriously jeopardised the court trial of some paedophiles) This is not an exhaustive list. And without getting into his foul politics. Lending any credence whatsoever to this man is very telling
DHH was specifically romanticising and defending the marches. (Although he did reference a tweet from TR as a source - that's a worse look.)
Listen - you don't have to sell me on not liking Robinson. But plenty of people participate in political moments without fulling endorsing their progenitors (plenty of iconic activists have problematic pasts), so it seems fair to at least give DHH the benefit of the doubt when it comes to associations. Lest we all be judged by the same standard.
Author here — I mentioned this in the article but if someone waxes poetic about a march while conveniently omitting the fact that seemingly every speech there was insane and bigoted, [1] they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
[1] https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/09/13/britains-biggest-far-r...
> they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
I really implore you to reconsider this position. Our world is wrapped up in injustice and political violence because everyone is jumping to extremist positions. And the last thing we need is declaring people guilty merely by association or poor attempts at empathy.
From a good faith reading of DHH's article, it's pretty clear he is expressing empathy for the feelings of the marchers (and even TR) without much care to the particulars (it doesn't sound like he himself marched or was personally witness to them). In the same way we allow for people to feel empathy for Luigi Mangione's motives without accusing them of also being homicidal.
You would be better off digging into DHH's actual problematic idea that he is trying to put forward: that the UK, or more specifically London, should fetishize and emulate the policy of anti-immigration countries. His actual thesis is bad enough and easily debunked without trying to pick apart "dog-whistles" and subtexts.
DHH is expressing a terrible idea, but in good faith. To maybe prove his point for him in an ironic way - Denmark can have actual harmful, racist, anti-immigrant legislation - but because no one cared about the rhetoric that was used they got it done.
He is the one who chose to use the march as an example, and he's the one who chose to lie by omission about what actually went down there. I'm not declaring him guilty by association, I just refuse to give the benefit of the doubt to someone who's clearly playing in my face.
Yes of course you don't need to fully endorse someone's politics in these situations. Though _not fully endorsing_ usually implies a disagreement on a minority of points. But here, for any reasonable person, it would be quite the opposite - you have to entirely ignore TR's storied violent criminal past, because you're fond of a march.
And as the article linked points out, the speakers at this march were quite extreme. So it's not as if the march is even defensible in isolation. I think DHH is too smart to be ignorant to any of this.
(I will say I don't condemn everyone who attended the march, I imagine many went with good intentions)
> being vaguely anti-immigrant
He is not vague about it.
> DHH acknowledging Tommy Robinson's march existed
He did more than just acknowledge it.
Specifically, DHH posted https://world.hey.com/dhh/as-i-remember-london-e7d38e64 where he wrote
> London is no longer the city I was infatuated with in the late '90s and early 2000s. Chiefly because it's no longer full of native Brits.
and linked to the Wikipedia page on ethnic groups in London showing that there aren't as many white people in London as there used to be.
About Tommy Robinson's march, he wrote Tommy Robinson's march
> That frustration [with mass immigration] was on wide display in Tommy Robinson's march yesterday. British and English flags flying high and proud
Tommy Robinson is devoutly anti-Islam and founded the English Defence League.
And that's saying something, because I've known for at least 10 years that DHH was bad.
Reminder that Cloudflare is sponsoring DHH’s work.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45332860
774 points | 496 comments | 10 days ago
So this is actually true: https://drewdevault.com/2025/09/24/2025-09-24-Cloudflare-and...
Thanks for posting this!