alt Hacker NewsIn 2026 hoping that software could be (more) apolitical is a very brave stance. I look at the software world and I can see core political statements in almost every popular software. From privacy invasion, supporting shady industries (e.g., marketing) even at the expense of people (a reverse-welfare, in a sense), environmental destruction (e.g., complete lack of care for resource usage) and many more.
If anything, we need much more politics in software, ideally exercised by those who write that software instead of "apolitical" software writers who end up executing the political software of those who pay them.
If you meant to scope your statement only to FOSS, then this still applies (in fact, FOSS is inherently political), plus I suppose some people who invest their time to write software want to also use the same effort for political activism and there is nothing wrong with that. This can be expressing their political views via that software (e.g., vim and the support to children in Uganda) or can be using a license that only allows co-ops to run their software, or many other ways.
The idea that software even could be apolitical stems from the idea that technology can be neutral, which again, in 2026 is really a tough idea to support.
Okay, lets go with your reasoning - software should not be apolitical/should be more political.
Where's the bar where you shut down discussion? I mean, even politics is contextual, right?
You entering a campaign about the plight of Myanmar and getting annoyed at people who don't want to hear your message about Gaza puts the blame for any conflict arising on that purely on ... YOU!
IOW, Even within political discussion, you can still be off-topic!
> If you meant to scope your statement only to FOSS, then this still applies (in fact, FOSS is inherently political)
Entering a GNU project (which has the political context of Copyleft and IP reform), and attempting to use it to spread a message about ICE behaviour still makes that asshole behaviour.
Only the most extremist true-believers feel that every platform is for their benefit. Trust me, it's not.