Of the four dead comments I see, two are content-free trolling and one is a completely unrelated discussion about Jim Jordan. The fourth is a bit more borderline, but I think a reasonable person could conclude that the commenter is more interested in getting people riled up than having a discussion.
The vast majority of comments on political/social topics fit your description. If you're thinking of the one I'm thinking of (not mine, if it matters), I can't think of any reasonable test that would conclude "this should be dead, but all those others can stay."
I agree that the vast majority of comments people would like to make on political/social topics violate the HN rules. Having seen political threads on Reddit, where any genuine insight is buried under a flood of namecalling and polemics, I think that's for the best.
> the vast majority of comments people would like to make on political/social topics violate the HN rules
Correction: delete the "would like to"
Also, comparing this to Reddit is sort of Godwin's Rule transposed to a different domain. "Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick" is pretty much what you're saying.
