Let's assume you're right. The principle of charity is then doubly applicable: it would prevent the needle from getting stuck in that low-quality groove.
When you're using terms which are very heavily politically and emotionally loaded to label people who disagree with you, you're going to get that sort of response back.
You can't be deliberately uncharitable to people and then say, "But you should be charitable when you respond!"
"Charity" as in the Principle of Charity has a specialized meaning. It isn't about being nice (though we should do that too). It's about keeping discussions substantive. Since that is the raison d'etre of Hacker News threads, I do indeed think we can expect HN commenters to be charitable in this sense.
(1) You objected to the term "anti-immigration". If that phrase could be changed to something else that roughly means "oppose immigration" what phrase would you have used?
(2) If a phrase that you suggest is used, would this allow you to focus on the substance of the argument?
