21–30 of 49 posts
There is this movie called 'Falling Down', when I heard about what happened to Ian I immediately associated it with the patterns in that movie. Very sad and it is a real pity that we lose these wonderful people to momentary lapses of judgment or a cascade of misery starting with some innocent little thing. There isn't a day that I get by without using software influenced by Ian and his role in all this is hard to ove…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It wasn't that simple or clear cut.
To make sure everyone is aware, the original post (before it was flagged) said "fuck the police" and then linked Ian's twitter history and some LiveLeak video I didn't watch. To put it in context, Ian said he was abused by the police for knocking on his neighbor's door, and then threatened to commit suicide. He later retracted the statement, but then actually followed through and hung himself until he was dead. I sup…
What the heck actually happened to Ian? He's going to be my own personal "Elvis/Tupac is alive" brand of conspiracy theorising (not really, but I expect we'll never really know what actually happened). At any rate, happy exclusive Debian user here for the past 15 years. Thank you, Ian, gone too soon. Your name lives on in half the name of my most belovèd OS.
Is it really that big of a mystery? He had some kind of untreated mental health problems, had a run-in with the police, and then committed suicide. I mean I guess you might wonder what exactly was running through his mind at the moment, but that seems a little morbid and super personal to me. It's enough to me at a high level that he had personal mental health issues he was dealing with, never got the right help, and…
Maybe it's not mental illness if the cops are actually out to get people?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It wasn't that simple or clear cut.
To make sure everyone is aware, the original post (before it was flagged) said "fuck the police" and then linked Ian's twitter history and some LiveLeak video I didn't watch. To put it in context, Ian said he was abused by the police for knocking on his neighbor's door, and then threatened to commit suicide. He later retracted the statement, but then actually followed through and hung himself until he was dead. I sup…
Much of his (online) social circle completely dropped away from him due to what they perceived as his use of bigoted racist language, not because they perceived him as having a temporary lapse in judgement or breakdown. They (the 'twitterverse') did judge him.
I wish a better archive was available of the replies to his ramblings; he was being actively chastised for his use of language by the vast majority of his social circle while a very slim few were asking him to seek professional help.
My point in saying this : if anyone has a friend or loved one that suddenly acts out of character, how about saving the moral and ethical rhetoric and judgement until after you're fully aware that they're not undergoing some sort of crisis and speaking out-of-turn, please?
I witnessed this whole happening in real-time, and knowing the outcome now and thinking back at the community response towards him at the time really disgusts me.
This event made me spend a lot of time meditating on the impact of social media towards those of us who have a hard time discerning reality from fiction, even temporarily. I had thought about it before; but witnessing an event like this from start to 'finish' really drove certain points home for me, and I certainly hope to never experience it again -- even as a spectator.
Let's remember how he suddenly became persona non-grata for not respecting the unwritten rules of linguistic segregation.
Let's remember how his attempts to delay his suicide by reaching out on HN and Reddit were met with censorship by the "dang"s of this brave new world.
What the heck actually happened to Ian? He's going to be my own personal "Elvis/Tupac is alive" brand of conspiracy theorising (not really, but I expect we'll never really know what actually happened). At any rate, happy exclusive Debian user here for the past 15 years. Thank you, Ian, gone too soon. Your name lives on in half the name of my most belovèd OS.
My recollection of events were essentially Ian gets drunk, knocks on neighbors door and makes noise. Police come to "Deal with him"
If his twitter rant was honest then the police beat him possibly causing a concussion.
Whether you want to say that's his fault for being belligerent is up to your personal principles.
He gets concussion and starts strange rant. AFAIK Ian never had a history of this kind of behavior. Maybe his family stated differently. Maybe if they stated he had a history it was of alcohol abuse and not the kind of schizophrenic behavior he was portraying on Twitter.
I take it everyone didn't really look into it much further because lack of options. "Police report says they had a drunk belligerent man come in and then they released him."
Personally, given modern videos of police behavior I believe it is possible he was "acting foolish maybe even violent" at the station due to intoxication and one or more cops decided to shut him up.
Then it kind of ends up being like an Aaron Swartz situation. They weren't murdered but I think they were both victims of improper justice.
Maybe I get down-voted for being a bit brash here or ignorant of more facts with the story but I think people kind of takes on this attitude of "Well, I'm alive... moving on".
His tweet about spending the rest of his life fighting injustice is the kind of chilling reality of this mentality.
No-one really cares until they or their family have suffered injustice, prejudice, or unfair bias.
Or maybe he really was an Ahole (behind closed doors) if his tweets were an honest realization of his inner self and that's why no-one cares to defend a racist.
So, I think you're right. I think we will never know and I think maybe people don't talk about it because there's a certain kind of professionalism expected of people.
As John Stewart said, you can have great respect for police and simultaneously hold them to a higher standard.
Or maybe we should be talking about alcoholism. I don't know but like you I also feel uncomfortable with people saying "Dedicated to this guy" because it feels phony on some level.
If he had a history of mental illness; as much as I wish his family peace I think society is better if we know the full story.
Recently read the Wiki page on Jim Carey giving his ex-girlfriend (who comitted suicide after he broke up with her) S.T.D. allegedly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Carrey#Relationships
As much as I want to ignore reality like everyone else, I think we have a huge problem with phoniness that just makes things harder to cope with.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It wasn't that simple or clear cut.
To make sure everyone is aware, the original post (before it was flagged) said "fuck the police" and then linked Ian's twitter history and some LiveLeak video I didn't watch. To put it in context, Ian said he was abused by the police for knocking on his neighbor's door, and then threatened to commit suicide. He later retracted the statement, but then actually followed through and hung himself until he was dead. I sup…
Why didn't they call the release "Ian" then?