Its a difficult distinction to make. I don't think it unreasonable to expect some nuance on the part of moderators. My personal suggestion would be to remove subjective comments more readily in threads related to highly technical topics where there is MUCH to discuss related to the science or engineering of the piece but show some discretion in threads regarding topics which are inherently political or more subjective. So, here, I would actually say moderation is warranted. But if this were a piece on Edward Snowden, perhaps less demand for utter tact.

"Only in an irrational and unknown direction can we come to wisdom again."

The HN moderation staff has a difficult job which they do exceedingly well, and in a thoroughly nuanced fashion. Were this otherwise, discourse here would differ little in quality from what, for example, Reddit provides in such abundance.

I appreciate you feel strongly that you can tell HN's moderators how to do their jobs even better. Consider the possibility that this may not be the case.

The thing about thoughtful people is that they dislike being told what to think.

One might expect they also recognize the difference between being told what to think, and not being told what to think.

I'm lost.

I kind of am too. I mean, it sounded as though you were likening someone saying "please don't be rude" to someone telling someone else what to think, but that doesn't even make sense, so...