Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#31

Post by superkuh » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #13

Aaron could have accomplished so much more had he not succumbed to depression. His voice would be most welcome now as tech has entered a bitter political conflict. To anyone suffering from depression at this time: You are needed. Your voice is needed. Aaron's end was a net negative, too early and robbed all of us of a brilliant and brave young soul. Improve on Aaron's accomplishments by following his lead but persist…

>succumbed to depression

Well, yeah, but he had perfectly valid external reasons to be extremely stressed and sad. He succumbed to the FBI ruining his life because they're mostly corrupt authoritarian assholes with their own agenda that has nothing to do with "justice" or even what the "wronged" in this case wanted.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#32

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#33

Post by depneed » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #13

Aaron could have accomplished so much more had he not succumbed to depression. His voice would be most welcome now as tech has entered a bitter political conflict. To anyone suffering from depression at this time: You are needed. Your voice is needed. Aaron's end was a net negative, too early and robbed all of us of a brilliant and brave young soul. Improve on Aaron's accomplishments by following his lead but persist…

> Your voice is needed.

I see that "anyone" to you is "any leftist". The internet has sent a very clear and unmistakable signal this past week that the voices of anyone else are not welcome.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#34

Post by mlok » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

boraoztunc wrote: post #19

newscracker wrote: post #9

Such a colossal loss! If you haven't watched it, I'd recommend watching "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" . [1] It's a bit difficult to watch it more than once or twice. It'll leave you sad and angry. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internet%27s_Own_Boy

+ his blog: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/

And also on Peertube : https://sepiasearch.org/search?search=the%20internet%20own%2...

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#35

Post by stefantalpalaru » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:37 PM UTC

xadhominemx wrote: post #15

cies wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hence I reflect on this as murder by the state. It happened before (like Gary Webb), and sadly I'm afraid it will happen again. They (govt) seems more interested in big corp's needs than people's needs. This democracy-thing is a big lie, a facade. RIP Aaron.

He was offered a 6 month sentence in a low security prison. He could have served that sentence before the trial was even set to begin and resumed his life as programmer and activist. He was not murdered, he suffered from severe mentally illness.

> He was offered a 6 month sentence in a low security prison. He could have served that sentence

Prison rape is part of the sentence, in that godforsaken country.

This is how aspies fare in the US prison system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_DeFriest

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#36

Post by xadhominemx » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:38 PM UTC

spijdar wrote: post #24

xadhominemx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaron already suffered from severe mental illness - law enforcement did not drive him to suicide. Prosecutors offered him a plea deal if he took a six month sentence in a low security facility, which he turned down before killing himself. 99.9% of people his age would not end up dead by their own hands in that situation.

I actually feel some sympathy for both positions here. On the one hand, it's such a "no brainer" to take such a light sentence for what is legally such a "serious crime". On the other hand, though, it feels ridiculous that Aaron would have been put in jail at all for what he did. I think it's fair to say he wasn't in a good place, but it's maybe a little tone deaf to say the grief of the trial and prosecution had no…

Of course it had a role in his suicide, but no person who was not already very mentally ill would have ended their life in that situation. The narrative that prosecutors wanted to effectively ruin his life for his criminal offenses is just wrong.