Did you see the HN front page when Aaron Swartz killed himself? The NSA stories are a drop in the ocean compared to the endless Aaron Swartz posts. It looked like this[0].
I see non-Swartz posts. There were 2 non-NSA posts the day it blew up. I actually told myself "Ah, HN is obsessing with something today, looks like it's privacy this time".
Only 28 and 29 didn't have to do with Aaron. I missed HN the day the news broke. Perhaps it was just as bad. Either way, I disagree that we should stop taking about it. Silencing something is not a good way to address it.
[0] http://i.imgur.com/QgJo6CU.png