Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

bits.debian.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 46 posts

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#11

Post by pen2l »

seibelj wrote: post #9
jarcane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

What was up with all the racist stuff? Totally bizarre

It wasn't racist. As others have pointed out, Ian was making a statement about certain demographics being ignored when they speak about police brutality. It's very clear for those who have known Ian personally over the years what he meant (I agree it sounds weird for those who may not have known Ian very well, I guess that happened because he was in a very panicked state of mind and didn't really think how things could be taken)

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#12

Post by dpeck »

seibelj wrote: post #9
jarcane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

What was up with all the racist stuff? Totally bizarre

I didn't read it as him being racist. The wording may have been harsh, but I read it as saying that police brutality isn't something that only happens to black people.

I would think any racist feelings he had would have come to light long before now.

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#13

Post by ianremsen »

seibelj wrote: post #9
jarcane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

What was up with all the racist stuff? Totally bizarre

I'm sure he used said language in a provocative and mocking manner, not because he was actually racist or racially insensitive. I'm sure the stress and pain of the situation didn't help him choose his words thoughtfully.

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#15

Post by bjackman »

seibelj wrote: post #9
jarcane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

What was up with all the racist stuff? Totally bizarre

I think he's not being racist, rather intending to highlight the racism of others: "They don't care when the victim of brutality is black, maybe they'll care when it's a wealthy white man"

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#16

Post by bitL »

seibelj wrote: post #9
jarcane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

What was up with all the racist stuff? Totally bizarre

Could be a major head injury that is later fatal if untreated - that can cause immediate personality changes. I don't think Ian was used to be beaten regularly to withstand that...

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#17

Post by hkmurakami »

jarcane wrote: post #5
sarciszewski wrote: post #4

Very few people know the cause of death right now, but the speculation is pretty convincing to me that it was suicide after allegedly being a victim of police brutality and rape by police officer. Of course, this isn't confirmed. But if it is, oh the anger. Even if it isn't, this is a damned shame.

Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

Thanks. That was difficult to read and frankly distressing (it has certainly affected my own mental state at the moment), but I am glad I got to read it so that I can have this inform my perspective regarding the abuse of power by police in the ongoing future (Admittedly I had been on the blase side on the matter, and like Ian himself wrote, "i'm hoping coming from a successful white guy it will help everyone").

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#18

Post by cubano »

> 5:27pm: Maybe my suicide at this, you now, a successful business man, not a [edit], will finally bring some attention to this very serious issue.

Huh??

Ian was obviously fighting with some very serious demons.

My heart goes out to his loved ones who survive him, and I pray he finds peace where he took himself.

From personal experience, this can be a very lonely and painful time of year.

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#19

Post by [deleted] »

Nrsolis wrote: post #6
sarciszewski wrote: post #4

Very few people know the cause of death right now, but the speculation is pretty convincing to me that it was suicide after allegedly being a victim of police brutality and rape by police officer. Of course, this isn't confirmed. But if it is, oh the anger. Even if it isn't, this is a damned shame.

I don't think he was actually raped. Sounds more like he resisted a body-search upon intake processing for jail.

[deleted]

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#20

Post by eropple »

cubano wrote: post #18

> 5:27pm: Maybe my suicide at this, you now, a successful business man, not a [edit], will finally bring some attention to this very serious issue. Huh?? Ian was obviously fighting with some very serious demons. My heart goes out to his loved ones who survive him, and I pray he finds peace where he took himself. From personal experience, this can be a very lonely and painful time of year.

Sounds pretty straightforward (if profoundly sad) to me. Police violence--in the political sense as well as the physical, though I should caveat that without further information I don't know what violence, if any, occurred here--is not new, but predominantly happens to the underprivileged. Which is to say, the use of the slur sounds like it's projecting upon the people who tend to exert this violence very disproportionately upon people of African descent (who, historically as well as today, have much less political power to wield and to have wielded on their behalf).
Post reply on HN