I hear you, but it takes time for these threads to play out.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46479679 is the fourth-highest subthread now, and (not sure whether they meet your criteria but) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476455 is the second-highest, and yours is the fifth-highest but would be higher except that we downweight the meta aspect [1].

One thing to keep in mind is that reflexive comments always show up first, because they're the quickest responses to feel, to write, and to post. Reflective and thoughtful comments—such as ones that express concern for people, as you were wanting to see—are slower to arise, take more time to write, and therefore are slower to show up in threads [2].

[1] not because of the content but because meta always draws excessive attention - see https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... and https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... for explanations if curious

[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

With some charity, you can assume that people have default concern for Venezuelans.

The politics are baffling. There hasn't even been a case made that one could disagree with. Why are we killing Venezuelans and kidnapping their president? If this is for the greater good, where is that argument?

My political reaction comes from the following chain of thought:

* My country just did something I think is wrong.

* My country is led by people elected by a process that I generally trust but believe is under stress.

* The process or the people have failed and I want to stop this from happening by fixing the process so the people are replaced.

And, now I am stuck on how to do this. There a other actions I can take to help the people of Venezuela, but from a civics perspective, I believe it is my responsibility to partake in a discussion about the systemic failure that lead to this.

I think it is common for Americans to do this because we have a history of at least trying to fix our government because we usually believe we can.

My concern for Venezuelans is precisely what makes me believe "removing Maduro good" even though things are more nuanced and complex than those three words.

I'm more concerned for Greenland and Canada than for Venezuela.

Crazy amount of comments - We need a tool that maps narrative angles and reply/conversational interation mapping. Ratio of comments herein to other stories is wild. Lot of lurkers on this site that seem very informed when things like this come up.

Unless the said comments you want to read don't discuss how US imperialism has been benefitting corporations for over a 100 years, I wouldn't expect much honest introspection.

There is none to be found. The people need to play the zombie apocalypse - arm and survive.

The main players: - current government - local army - invading army - chinese and Russian proxies - multiple smaller groups - opposition

And probably more will play the power struggle in the foreseeable future. Unaffiliated people will somehow need to find a way to navigate this mess

To be blunt, I simply don't have much more than the default respect for Venezuela as a country and fellow human beings. I have no special sentiment to provide in that regard. This is destructive, I hate that more innocent lives are lost over this, etc. I can't speak intimately to its culture, norms, attitudes, nor economics. So I won't talk on ignorant grounds.

Meanwhile, I hold disdain for my country's actions and have some minimal pull to at least protest and complain to my reps about it. So the focus of my discussion will be around those actions.

Its 2026, why does this surprise you?

It's a great point. Maduro won't be missed by anyone. But the top posted comment here perfectly captured my feelings. There's the wider picture to look at. I personally would love it if America did that to Iran, Russia, Cuba etc, but i feel there should be more of a process and i'm allowed to be suspicious of the motives.

If Venezuela actually becomes a functioning country again and drugs, gangs and illegal immigrants stop flooding America then i personally would applaud the operation. Still, you really shouldn't just kidnap other countries presidents just like that as a general rule.

Agreed

I have concerns about my own country because it has a big border with Venezuela.

Why does it matter? Illegal actions are illegal. On the 1 in a million chance this results in things getting better for Venezuela the outcome does not forgive the action.

I think 2026 will be the year when we move way past that threshold. When conflicts and casualties are rare, each one gets highlighted and garners significant attention. But once you pass a certain point, it becomes just another conflict, just more people suffering. A tragic event affecting millions of people becomes another line item on a list.

I think you're greatly exaggerating here. I'm seeing pretty nuanced discussion from everyone.

It's a political event between two countries. So people are discussing two things: What it means for Venezuela that Maduro is gone, and what it means that Trump can completely sidestep Congress to start a war. Both seem relevant. But you're trying to reduce it to something narrower. Most of us are aware that feelings in the first 24 hours of something like this are completely irrelevant. Time will tell if this is a net positive.

Care for others is an increasingly condemnable trait in public opinion nowadays, a social suicide, ironically. As history taught us it will not end well.

Americans are too culturally isolated from other countries and cultures to build empathy. I think Americans have main character syndrome at scale, and these comments are obvious when read through this lens.

This may surprise folks who don't live in the U.S., because Americans describe their country as a nation of immigrants and say things like "I'm Italian" and "I'm Irish" when describing their identity. Yet these same folks haven't set foot in Italy or Ireland, don't speak the language or have awareness of present-day concerns from those countries.