I want to pose this question to the community at large: What should dictate what goes in the Latrine?
We already have the Flush Button allowing authors to flush responses that they consider to be unproductive. But what rules should govern where we take an entire topic and flush it to the Latrine?
- Flush topics that are emotionally charged and polarizing
- Come up with a specific list of topics that are hot button issues
- Use the metric “is it productive, is it actionable?”
- Free speech is a higher priority than offending people
I asked ChatGPT what are 10 hotbutton issues on the left, and it gave me the following:
- Climate Change & Environmental Policy – Advocating for renewable energy, stricter emissions regulations, and the Green New Deal.
- Healthcare Reform – Expanding Medicare, implementing universal healthcare, and lowering drug prices.
- Reproductive Rights – Protecting abortion access and reproductive healthcare services.
- Gun Control – Implementing stricter gun laws, background checks, and assault weapons bans.
- Income Inequality & Workers’ Rights – Raising the minimum wage, supporting unions, and wealth redistribution.
- Racial Justice & Police Reform – Addressing systemic racism, advocating for police reform, and supporting BLM initiatives.
- LGBTQ+ Rights – Expanding protections for transgender individuals, same-sex marriage rights, and gender-affirming care.
- Voting Rights & Election Integrity – Fighting voter suppression and expanding voting access.
- Immigration Policy – Pathways to citizenship, DACA protections, and opposing border enforcement policies like family separation.
- Education & Student Debt – Expanding public education funding, canceling student debt, and making college more affordable.
I think the answer for the right is very similar, but reversed, and more recently we could add masks, vaccines, Covid, Ukraine, and Gaza/Israel to the list.
So that’s an example of what a list of “taboo” topics might look like.
One of the success metrics of this forum / publication in my view would be how much of our time we spend productively vs. unproductively. I don’t think that becoming hysterical about issues that are outside of our sphere of influence is very productive. But these things do need to be talked about, and shouldn’t be censored. And that’s where private groups and the Latrine come in. Posts in the Latrine won’t appear in the print copy, and won’t send out email notifications to people unless they choose to be in those conversations.
Anyway, just trying to add some context here without swaying the vote in any particular direction.