Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

edw519 is allowed to have an opinion, and his opinion does not, at least to me, seem unreasonable.

Not everyone is going to agree with your civil disobedience actions, or you asking for help with the consequences. That doesn't make them bad people, or wrong people, for saying they don't like your approach, think you should accept consequences, or whatever else. For example, MLK didn't hate the clergymen that disagreed with his direct action approach. He essentially told them to man up, join the movement, and accept the consequences of sitting in jail sometimes as a result. Not that edw519 is quite as eloquent, but none of edw519's comments are patronizing, they were his description of the situation as he saw it, and the outcome he thought should occur.

Characterizing this as "spitting in the face of someone asking for help" is pure hyperbole.

If everyone agreed on a course of action and outcome, you wouldn't actually need a movement. That a person died tragicallly does not mean that everyone who did not see eye to eye with that person is an egotistical patronizing dickhead who spit in their face because they did not want to help the movement. It just means they did not see eye to eye.

Acting as if it is more than that is, as others have said, a circular witchhunt. Sometimes tragic events are just that: Tragic events.

The whole "news" story is ridiculous. One can be sad and feel it a tragedy that a young man committed suicide, even if you disagree with the approach that person took.

Lastly, I'll point out that if edw519 were to meet an untimely demise, your post is exactly of the same tone and impression as his.




How do you justify the change from "this guy deserves what was coming to him" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4529484) to "OMG this is so sad" (mostly every thread since then, but also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5047846)?

It's so unapologetically hypocritical. We don't need to pretend like every tragedy affects us so deeply.


So being hypocritical is "pretense of having virtues, beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually possess"

You are assuming that edw519 does not find Cory's eulogy to bring understanding to sad and confused people.

You also claim it doesn't affect him deeply. Maybe it does because he felt he was so hard on him?

In essence, I guess I justify this change by saying I believe his post when he said he feels it will "bring understanding to sad and confused people."

Again, it's perfectly reasonable to dislike or villify someone, but be sad or confused at their passing, and find comfort in a eulogy.

Let me risk a few pitchforks and say I used to villify former senator Ted Stevens. He was an unapologetic pork barrel politician. When he died suddenly in a plane crash, that does not mean I was happy for his death, and I was definitely sad and felt bad for his loved ones. I was not at home screaming "wooh, that arrogant fucker's dead!" while dancing around the room. Had his eulogy been posted here and I noticed, I would have hoped it would bring understanding and comfort to those who loved him.

Does this make me a hypocrite? No, because it's not a pretense. I was in fact, genuinely sad. Personally, I don't think that makes me anything more than "not a sociopath".

It could be i'm just different than a lot of folks, of course. As a lawyer, it's basically beaten into our heads to be dispassionate and objective when evaluating people, emotions, and events.


>Not everyone is going to agree with your civil disobedience actions

No, but those who don't support, say, MLK Jr., deserve to be shamed for their regressive attitude.

Practically speaking, the forces of regression are always louder and stronger than the voices for progress. But if we don't denounce and shame those regressive voices, then the voices for progress end up feeling so alone and unloved.

The truth about HN is that there are a lot of selfish, money-grubbing, right-wing people here who would happily shit all over Aaron because Aaron was a left-wing activist.

It's not okay to let these regressive, conservative figures steal the spotlight. If you don't support Aaron's actions, you don't deserve civility. You are beneath contempt and deserve to be spat on, insulted, publically humiliated, like any common racist, bigot, anti-abolitionist, or Ancieme Regime blue blood. Right-wingers simply deserve shame and mockery and if progressive people would hold the conservatives in our midst to standards of human decency, then those conservatives wouldn't be winning the day and our most powerful and successful left-wing activists like Aaron would be less likely to kill themselves.

Aaron literally sacrificed himself for the sake of the species and the response from HN was "fuck Aaron. What did he ever do to help MY bottom line?"

These right-wing assholes on HN should be shamed just like we used to shame racists, sexists, eugenicists, Nazis.


This is so deranged that I can't tell if it's a parody of HN's reaction to this turn of events or a serious post.


did you confuse the words "civil disobedience" with "the civil rights movement"?

Otherwise I have no idea how you would make this jump in your mind.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: