Whereas the latest NSA disclosure, facebook privacy setting etc etc leads to a rational though provoking discussion that stays on topic and within its own thread?

I think NSA discussions now are penalized too.

It's fairly hard to produce hate speech towards the NSA. It's much more likely to happen when the topic of sexism is brought about.

If they get more comments than upvotes in a window of time (IANpg but last I heard, it was the first 30-45 minutes after submission), they'll suffer the same fate as submissions about sexism in tech.