To play devil's advocate, in an arena where all comments are ordered by votes, the unpopular opinion would simply be downvoted to oblivion and not seen anyway. Why would someone with a contentious opinion go to the bother?

Many (not the majority but still many) people scroll straight to the bottom to see what happens to be there after reading the top comments and also quick-read the comments in the middle (as there actually are many valuable comments on HN).

Anyway, hesitating to say something is not always the best idea, maybe it ought to be said aloud while everybody hesitates.

Indeed. I had the same thoughts in mind.

> And there is no problem in expressing an unpopular opinion on HN as you can sign-up anonymously at any time and just share whatever thoughts you want.

People are social creatures, programmed to respond to approval and disapproval from others. This includes replies as well as votes. It's irrational, but that's who we are.

Now, try registering an alternative account on HN and write political comments, polite, articulated, and reasonable, from a conservative point of view. What do you think the response will be like? Will you feel encouraged to proceed, or will you feel (emphasis on "feel", as these things are emotional and not rational) that you'd rather not continue with your point of view?

Nothing wrong until Google fires you for it.