1/13 noon at MIT: Protest wrongful prosecution of Aaron Swartz

I was about to post something along the lines of, "And to all those people about to post something about how useless this is, STFU." It's not useless, and it will make a difference. Aaron's memory is important, and acknowledging the gross injustice that lead to his death is important. A protest will send a clear signal that we are aware of the governments tendency to overreach, and that we, the people, will stand for it.

So STFU.

Re: 1/13 noon at MIT: Protest wrongful prosecution of Aaron Swartz

#7

Post by arcatek » Sun, Jan 13, 2013, 6:27 AM UTC

javajosh wrote: post #6

adamnemecek wrote: post #3

How ironic that this did not happen when it could have made a difference.

I was about to post something along the lines of, "And to all those people about to post something about how useless this is, STFU." It's not useless, and it will make a difference. Aaron's memory is important, and acknowledging the gross injustice that lead to his death is important. A protest will send a clear signal that we are aware of the governments tendency to overreach, and that we, the people, will stand for…

He is not saying that it is useless.

He is just saying that it would have probably been far more useful to do it while he was still alive, which is sadly true.

Being said, I agree that's it's a nice move.

Re: 1/13 noon at MIT: Protest wrongful prosecution of Aaron Swartz

#8

Post by adamnemecek » Sun, Jan 13, 2013, 6:33 AM UTC

arcatek wrote: post #7

javajosh wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to post something along the lines of, "And to all those people about to post something about how useless this is, STFU." It's not useless, and it will make a difference. Aaron's memory is important, and acknowledging the gross injustice that lead to his death is important. A protest will send a clear signal that we are aware of the governments tendency to overreach, and that we, the people, will stand for…

He is not saying that it is useless. He is just saying that it would have probably been far more useful to do it while he was still alive, which is sadly true. Being said, I agree that's it's a nice move.

Yeah, that is what I was trying to say. Nice gesture, sure. At the same time, I can't help but feel that it is a bit reactionary. As if it was only Aaron's suicide that made people realize that it was a gross injustice and had he not killed himself, no one would have cared.

Re: 1/13 noon at MIT: Protest wrongful prosecution of Aaron Swartz

#9

Post by nerdfiles » Sun, Jan 13, 2013, 6:37 AM UTC

I don't understand. I've downloaded articles from JSTOR, Project Muse, books on top of books, and am publicly re-hosting them through my own Dropbox, which I publicly link to on my own Website.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Was he made an example? Is this the fundamental nature of the protest and the outrage, that we perceive that he was made an example of, that we are aware, and that it is unfair, in some essential way, for them to target leaders who are no less perpetrators than the rest of us?

Because we do that to them when BoingBoing or Anons cry to bring down or apply heat to CNN or pundits. I'm not playing devil's advocate, but I'm trying to understand the nature of the protest. I believe these questions can be fairly asked about [the protest] without counting as some sort of insincerity toward Mr. Schwartz.

Re: 1/13 noon at MIT: Protest wrongful prosecution of Aaron Swartz

#10

Post by ck2 » Sun, Jan 13, 2013, 6:41 AM UTC

We cannot see into Aaron's thoughts of course but if I had to guess, maybe he thought he was going to be Bradley Manning-inged which might drive anyone over the edge.

Stripped naked and thrown into a cell 23-hours a day "for his protection" (he got a whopping 100 days off his 30 years to life sentence for that abuse btw, so that will teach the people that did that right?)

Perhaps we should use this energy to help the living Bradley Manning in protest as it does little to help Aaron or his loved ones now.