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Henry Kissinger Has Died

nytimes.com

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Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#351

Post by jakobnissen »

627467 wrote: post #128
anigbrowl wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly, but lots of terrible people are also interesting. Kissinger strikes me as a prime example of Lord Acton's dictum at how power corrupts; by any reasonable standard he committed absolutely egregious acts, but because they inured to the USA's strategic benefit, there has never been any political will to hold him accountable. It's like how the US promotes the idea of a 'rules based international order' but hab…

Because "rules based international order" can only really be enforced by a hegemon, and obviously the hegemon can't really "be it" and "be in it" simultaneously

Of course they can. The police can't just arbitrarily kill people, either.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#352

Post by nyc_data_geek1 »

imgabe wrote: post #196
breput wrote: post #6

Do yourself a favor and listen to at least one of the six part series that Behind The Bastards podcast[0] did on Kissinger. It will give you a background, with sources, on the "controversial" statesman that you'll read eulogies about over the next few days. [0] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-one-kissinger [1] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-two-kissinger [2] https://omny.fm/shows/behind…

Reading through the descriptions of the episodes of this podcast it seems a lot like they start with a conclusion and then confirmation bias themselves (and everyone else who already agrees with them). Maybe not the most objective source.

You're judging a book by its cover, more or less.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#353

Post by redder23 »

redder23 wrote: post #222

[flagged]

Ah and OF COURSE I get downvoted. I know it. This fucking site is filled with braindead morons, almost as bad as Reddit. But also some people with brains who point out who he really was. A disgusting war criminal and nothing less.

But you gonna honor a war criminal because the MSMBS media brainwashed you into praising him as a good man and great advisor or whatever the fuck they tell you to believe. He was the personification of evil foreign policy, typical elitist with no empathy and only one goal to expand the US empire by all brutal means possible. Seeing millions of lives just to be sacrificed for his great chess game.

https://www.corbettreport.com/kissinger/

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#354

Post by tempestn »

dnsco wrote: post #340
whatshisface wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That last sentence is a massive step beyond common knowledge, if it's true... and I don't think it is, what can doctors do?

> The gap in life expectancy between the richest 1% and poorest 1% of individuals was 14.6 years (95% CI, 14.4 to 14.8 years) for men and 10.1 years (95% CI, 9.9 to 10.3 years) for women. Second, inequality in life expectancy increased over time. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866586/#:~:tex... .

That's a very interesting study. I'm surprised the relationship is so linear through all the way through the income percentiles, aside from the very bottom few. I would have expected a relative plateau in the middle.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#355

Post by anigbrowl »

627467 wrote: post #128
anigbrowl wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly, but lots of terrible people are also interesting. Kissinger strikes me as a prime example of Lord Acton's dictum at how power corrupts; by any reasonable standard he committed absolutely egregious acts, but because they inured to the USA's strategic benefit, there has never been any political will to hold him accountable. It's like how the US promotes the idea of a 'rules based international order' but hab…

Because "rules based international order" can only really be enforced by a hegemon, and obviously the hegemon can't really "be it" and "be in it" simultaneously

No offense, but I'm getting a lot of 'trust me bro' vibes from this post.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#356

Post by __loam »

pyuser583 wrote: post #347

It’s really inappropriate how many people are glad he’s dead. Now is not the time or place to have a hate fest. He’s dead. He had family. He’s a real person who died today. I don’t know what this has to do with Hacker News ethos. And using someone’s death as occasion to talk ill about them just isn’t appropriate.

He was partially responsible for the deaths of thousands of people around the world, and was responsible for some of the darkest chapters of us foreign policy during the 20th century. When do you think is an appropriate time to have these conversations? He's dead. Criticizing his impact on the world can hardly affect him now. The people in Cambodia he helped murder had families too. Are hackers not supposed to care about ethics or humanity? Why wouldn't Kissinger's death be an inappropriate time to discuss his legacy?

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#357

Post by imgabe »

nyc_data_geek1 wrote: post #352
imgabe wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading through the descriptions of the episodes of this podcast it seems a lot like they start with a conclusion and then confirmation bias themselves (and everyone else who already agrees with them). Maybe not the most objective source.

You're judging a book by its cover, more or less.

That’s why they put all those pictures and descriptions on book covers.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#358

Post by rtuulik »

pyuser583 wrote: post #347

It’s really inappropriate how many people are glad he’s dead. Now is not the time or place to have a hate fest. He’s dead. He had family. He’s a real person who died today. I don’t know what this has to do with Hacker News ethos. And using someone’s death as occasion to talk ill about them just isn’t appropriate.

Kissinger is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands people. They had families. They were real people who died. Death doesn´t absolve someone from committing crimes against humanity. To claim that people should only talk about the good things person did is a serious case of decorum poisoning. Nobody celebrates serial killers.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#359

Post by aniforprez »

kyrra wrote: post #335
breput wrote: post #6

Do yourself a favor and listen to at least one of the six part series that Behind The Bastards podcast[0] did on Kissinger. It will give you a background, with sources, on the "controversial" statesman that you'll read eulogies about over the next few days. [0] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-one-kissinger [1] https://omny.fm/shows/behind-the-bastards/part-two-kissinger [2] https://omny.fm/shows/behind…

For some counter programming, here is an obituary written by someone more pro Kissinger: https://www.wsj.com/articles/henry-kissingers-century-01a1a9... It was written by a man who already wrote the book: "Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist."

I'm sorry but not every person needs "counter programming". Kissinger was a war criminal and we don't need a "balanced take" of a monster

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#360

Post by bhk »

dnsco wrote: post #340
whatshisface wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That last sentence is a massive step beyond common knowledge, if it's true... and I don't think it is, what can doctors do?

> The gap in life expectancy between the richest 1% and poorest 1% of individuals was 14.6 years (95% CI, 14.4 to 14.8 years) for men and 10.1 years (95% CI, 9.9 to 10.3 years) for women. Second, inequality in life expectancy increased over time. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866586/#:~:tex... .

But from the same paper:

> One such theory is that health and longevity are related to differences in medical care. The present analysis provides limited support for this theory. Life expectancy for low income individuals was not significantly correlated with measures of the quantity and quality of medical care provided, such as the fraction insured and measures of preventive care. The lack of a change in the mortality rates of individuals in the lowest income quartile (Figure 1) when they become eligible for Medicare coverage at the age of 65 years further supports the conclusion that a lack of access to care is not the primary reason that low-income individuals have shorter life expectancies.

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