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Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

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Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#31
post #20
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 disproporti…

I've quite unfortunately been arrested more time then I care to admit...its always a brutal, scary, and shocking event.

I've seen things that I shouldn't even describe as I feel like people would just think I'm making the shit up.

Nothing in civil society even come close to what happens to you during the first 6 hours in most US county jails.

From reading his tweets, it sounds like he was simply going thru the typical steps that all people who get arrested go thru. The process is as brutal as it is uncaring.

I am heartbroken that they guy chose to end his life, but I can hardly believe that this was the only issue he was battling when he chose that path.

I am not speculating BTW...I'm relating his actions to my own life and my own feelings and thoughts related to being alone during this time of year.

[edits]

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#32
post #6

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.

I am saddened by this loss. Everyone should know that even if you think you are being wronged that you must listen to and obey every instruction a police officer gives you. If they did something wrong you can bring it up to your lawyer afterward. Resisting will pretty much always make the situation worse.

Police use force. This can be surprising. Sometimes they use it when you may not think it's warranted. You might have thought you presented no threat. When police start to raise their voice and use force the last thing you should do is get upset. You just need to do whatever you can to listen to their instructions and do what they tell you. They may continue to use physical force like pushing, punching, twisting and causing you pain even if you are listening to everything they are saying and trying your best.

The hard truth is you just have to deal with it. Resisting will only make it worse, and even puts your life at risk.

If you can, it's best to avoid police whenever possible. If police show up just leave. If they stop you on the road stay calm, don't argue, do what they say and try to share as little information as possible.

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#33
Sad to hear this.

I wish that someone who felt so desperate would not be in a manic state, and use their considerable funds (if he made 1.4 million last year alone) in a campaign against police brutality. A life like a Christian monk from the medieval era or a Buddhist of freedom. As far as his "career being over" as he said, someone of his stature would have been gladly supported by generous benefactors as he spent a life crusading against injustices even if he spent every dime he had.

He likely had other demons going on, but this is reaction is something that someone very justice minded, someone who would demand libre software like Debian would do. That said, Debian is the most respected distro in the world. Hearing Ubuntu mentioned so much next to Debian is like nails on a chalkboard to me, but as an extension Mint has an Ubuntu base and straight Debian base available, and even SteamOS is based off Debian. So almost everything noteworthy, quite a legacy.

An injustice in the software that governs our lives is bad enough, but injustices outside are hard to swallow. RIP Ian.

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#37
post #32
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I am saddened by this loss. Everyone should know that even if you think you are being wronged that you must listen to and obey every instruction a police officer gives you. If they did something wrong you can bring it up to your lawyer afterward. Resisting will pretty much always make the situation worse. Police use force. This can be surprising. Sometimes they use it when you may not think it's warranted. You might…

[deleted]

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#38

From the Pastebin doc of his tweets: >5:27pm: Maybe my suicide at this, you now, a successful business man, not a NIGGER, will finally bring some attention to this very serious issue. http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5 Nice intersectionalism there. /s

I believe the statement was meant to sound more like, "since Americans seem to overlook police violence against black people, now that it has occurred to a rich white male maybe someone will care."

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#39
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.

I'd really like to discuss the mod downs my comment recieved.

I did not just randomingly pick this twitter post for shock value...I picked it for a specific reason.

Like I've said..I've spent more time then I care to admit in both county jails and prison. The one absolute thing that a white person never says in those environments is the N-word that Ian used in his tweet.

It is literately the third-rail of vocabulary where perhaps 75% of your fellow detainees are of color,and for that reason is why it stood out so much to me, in reflection of MY personal experience.

I just thought a bit a deeper explanation may be in order.

Re: Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

#40

Some archived tweets here, last link for some context: https://archive.is/9HF4c https://archive.is/DcVrY https://web.archive.org/web/20151230193102/https://twitter.c...

Prior to his death, Ian was briefly harassed by this character here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXguqJGWMAEYM0B.jpg:large

@jackstormwriter has since deleted those tweets and disabled his account. He also deleted jackstormwriter.wordpress.com.

I saved a copy of his about page for those interested here: http://www.filedropper.com/archive_77

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