So you're posting this here just in case hackers don't read newspapers?
Shall I post here when a long-serving New Zealand politician dies?
Ahh but you aren't going to get the upvotes to get it onto the HN front page. HN membership is dominated by Americans. No harm in that really except for stuff like this.
As an Indian, I don't particularly care to have US politics / news of the demise of sundry USA politicians on the HN front page either, but the "intellectually interesting" filter is wide enough to allow this kind of thing to happen occasionally. I think of it as static on an otherwise clear channel, and wait for it to pass.
As long as there are enough people to upvote these stories, I don't think there is anything anyone can do about it. Just wait for it to drop off the front page.
But otoh, perhaps the non USA contingent on HN should vote up the news of the death of some non US politician and keep it on the front page? Maybe one of the communist bosses of China when he goes to the big Party Office in The Sky.
I am sure many people are flagging this article.
That said, I'd be very surprised if this story got killed. I think the "get enough flags and the story gets automatically killed" feature is overridden for stories with a large number of upvotes and needs moderator approval.
I suspect this is one of those cases where the majority of American HN users can't see why this submission is not significant and worthy of HN attention and the majority of non Americans are wondering why it is.
As a thought experiment, if the majority of HN users were, say, Russians, I doubt this story would be on the front page or the top news item. But then the occasional Russian political news would leak through the "intellectually interesting" lens and the non Russians would be complaining!
It was on the radio as I woke up this morning, it was on the TV as I headed out the door. It's in the NYT. It already is and will be everywhere. Thus even for Americans, what's the point of ALSO having it on HN?
The discussion? But how can any discussion on this topic be anything other then politics?
The influence of America on the rest of the world, particularly insignificant antipodean islands like yours and mine, is massive and the death of Democratic Senator #60 (I'm counting the two independents where they caucus) has potentially large consequences for the power struggle in Washington.
That's it's Teddy Kennedy, long-time driver of Health Care reform at a time when that's either the #1 or 2 issue in the States, makes it even more so. You don't think efficiencies for Big Pharma in the US would affect our health care?
Admittedly, I'm a bit of an amerophile, particularly US politics. The US Electoral College? Possibly the greatest social hack of the 18th Century.
Are you kidding?
And if people do care, the story will get a bunch of upvotes. Let the voting and flagging systems work their magic.
[edit] I don't like the flag feature because it prevents people from disagreeing with me, maybe explaining why they think the article is interesting.
I'd be interested in any discussion about the impact this may have on more relevant areas of ours lives - areas that unite us under the HN brand, that probably won't be discussed in newspapers.
How might this impact the Health Care debate, with the subsequent impact on start-ups hiring staff or freelancers / solo businesses for whom illness might sicken them but kill their business aspirations?
Kennedy's death also minimises the possibility of Cloture in the Senate, since short-term Democrat thinking in the Mass. congress means their Senate seats can only be filled by special election, not appointment. If the Washington Democrats were to push for legislation that would support tech development, broadband access, or small business, might it be blocked by filibuster techniques?
Perhaps even a broader debate on hacker perception of the role of politicians, using Kennedy's legacy as a focal point, or the role of power in an age of information far removed from when Jackie, Bobby and Teddy sought politics as the only way to influence national policy?