Here's a proposal, and it may come from having just glanced at The Last Psychiatrist blog: this year, the HN Lenten penance will be "no postings about education." Nothing about American schools awful; nothing about American schools actually not awful; nothing about college admissions; nothing about Hd or Sd or M*T. No Michelle Rhee, no Gates Foundation.
Will it be good for your soul? Dunno, consult your local cleric. Will it be good for your mind? YMMV. It may not make you thinner, but it will make HN thinner.
Topic bans can be a godsend, especially on a site like this one with short-lived threads where it's even easier to repeat the same tiresome 'discussion' over and over.
In another community I frequented for years, the set of mostly-verboten topics grew to include stuff like cat declawing, ownership of TVs or SUVs, atheism, male circumcision, Israel / Palestine, and fiat currency.
Will it be good for your soul? Dunno, consult your local cleric. Will it be good for your mind? YMMV. It may not make you thinner, but it will make HN thinner.