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

I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 246 posts

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#181

Post by crispyambulance »

grizzles wrote: post #62

This dude just grassed on all the people who bent the rules to be nice to him. With pictures. For a moment of blog fame. Very uncool.

It appears that this adventure happened ~6-7 years ago. Folks bent the rules for him, but its not like their bosses haven't ALSO done the exact same thing (and probably more so) throughout their careers. I seriously doubt anyone is getting "in trouble".

Bribing and twisting rules is "a thing" in some places that is part of the normal functioning of society. Is anyone _REALLY_ going to be shocked in Khazakhstan?

The article is a nice contrast to his dehumanizing police experience in SF.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#182

Post by Kurtz79 »

coldtea wrote: post #153
exabrial wrote: post #128

I don't know even what to make of this... The preamble suggests that Kazakhstan justice was superior to American justice, but after reading the whole story I'm like... dude, grow a sense of self-responsibility. It's not like your visa expiring was a surprise... you knew exactly when it was going to happen, and YOU CHOSE to violate it without giving yourself any wiggle room. Then you willingly participated in a corrup…

I find this response, and the suggestions, exemplifying why Kazakhstan justice (as expressed in the story, I don't know how it's in general) is superior to American justice. It's the ability to take the law and regulations lightly, when they're not that serious, and be humane about it. I mean writing: "YOU CHOSE to violate it", with added emphasis, as if having a visa expiring on the same day you leave a place (and l…

"It's the ability to take the law and regulations lightly, when they're not that serious, and be humane about it."

I agree that laws should be tempered by common sense, and each case judged taking into account context, but in a country with a serious state of law, those that are not serious or unfair should be changed, not "taken lightly".

The moment you assume laws are not rules but "suggestions", and open to subjective interpretation, it's very easy for some people to find justifications for everything (classic example: taxes are not fair, so I'll just evade them).

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#183

Post by glogla »

turar wrote: post #96
grizzles wrote: post #62

This dude just grassed on all the people who bent the rules to be nice to him. With pictures. For a moment of blog fame. Very uncool.

The guy sounds like an asshole. His bemused depictions of friendly border guards reek of self-superiority and total lack of empathy.

He does sound like a monster.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#184

Post by crispyambulance »

coldtea wrote: post #153
exabrial wrote: post #128

I don't know even what to make of this... The preamble suggests that Kazakhstan justice was superior to American justice, but after reading the whole story I'm like... dude, grow a sense of self-responsibility. It's not like your visa expiring was a surprise... you knew exactly when it was going to happen, and YOU CHOSE to violate it without giving yourself any wiggle room. Then you willingly participated in a corrup…

I find this response, and the suggestions, exemplifying why Kazakhstan justice (as expressed in the story, I don't know how it's in general) is superior to American justice. It's the ability to take the law and regulations lightly, when they're not that serious, and be humane about it. I mean writing: "YOU CHOSE to violate it", with added emphasis, as if having a visa expiring on the same day you leave a place (and l…

Yep. Exactly. There's something to be said for a little wiggle room outside of "the rules".

And for what it worth, he was "detained" (in a way) and had to pay a steep fine of $500, and had to face some significant stressful (and interesting) uncertainty. It was perhaps not as punitive as rules-oriented folks might like, but I think its safe to say that this guy is now careful to have his paperwork in order on foreign trips. What more can one expect?

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#185

Post by maho »

grizzles wrote: post #62

This dude just grassed on all the people who bent the rules to be nice to him. With pictures. For a moment of blog fame. Very uncool.

At least he deleted the pictures of the girl. To share her story (edit: I removed some details here) along with her (hopefully fake!) name can already put her in danger, considering the extremely conservative environment she is likely still in. But to include pictures of her - I am at a loss for words at this level of insensitivity.

Here's hoping the pictures won't show up in archived versions of the article.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#186

Post by lunchTime42 »

creshal wrote: post #173
gravypod wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From many stories of family and friends who live there, this is not only Kazakhstan. This is every Eastern European country.

Kazakhstan isn't even in Europe.

Europe is where the debt is. Khazastan is not in europe.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#187

Post by skewart »

RangerScience wrote: post #138
skewart wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then he wouldn't have had a cool story to post on Medium. He wouldn't have gotten all this attention. Alternatively, one could argue that he took one for the team - he did something risky and stupid so he could find out what would happen, see if he could get out of it, and share the experience with those of us too responsible and sane to try it ourselves. Either way though your point stands. He clearly chose to p…

> He clearly chose to put himself in the situation he was in. The thing that always bothers me about that attitude is that it removes any and all responsibility from the people who make the situation within which the choice is made. It actually reminds me of basic Bayesian considerations: just as you can't know what a test means without knowing the false positive rate (and false negative, and true positive and negati…

That's a good point. We certainly don't know everything there is to know about the situation. There could very well have been circumstances beyond his control, or, circumstances that otherwise made the decision to push the limits much more reasonable.

That said, he doesn't explain any extenuating circumstances. He came across more like, 'And then my visa was about to expire that night. Crazy how visas expire all of a sudden, am I right?' If he didn't have much agency in the situation it doesn't seem to have bothered him enough to make a big deal about it.

Of course, he might have just felt rationalizing the situation wouldn't have added a whole lot to the essay, which it probably wouldn't have. Then again, who knows how much of the story is true and how much is entirely made up?

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#188

Post by iamdave »

elliottcarlson wrote: post #108
grizzles wrote: post #62

This dude just grassed on all the people who bent the rules to be nice to him. With pictures. For a moment of blog fame. Very uncool.

> Irlan (left) wouldn’t let me take pictures when I was in custody, but over eclairs he let me sneak one in.

That line was edited, it did not read this way yesterday.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#190

Post by pessimizer »

coldtea wrote: post #171
zeroer wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His visa expired the day before he left "the place". That his train would make it across the border in the wee hours of the morning is not legally relevant.

The whole point of this thread is that what's "legally relevant" is not always what's morally or humanely relevant. That's a millennia old distinction people have made. It's difficult for the puritan mindset to parse, of course. Sodomy (and being gay) was not that far ago persecuted (still is in the books in some states). Blacks where not allowed in the same establishment as whites. Slavery was the law once. I wouldn…

It'd be better if sodomy and slavery were legal for people who could pay the bribe, but prosecuted in the cases of poor people and racial/religious/political minorities (aka people the official doesn't like and can't do anything for them)? It's a legitimate point of view to be an advocate for kleptocracy, but it's honestly rare to see one in the wild. I consider selective enforcement and latitude in sentencing the constant lurking enemy of Black people in the US; I think you've already got what you want there.
Post reply on HN