A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People • Hacker News Board

Re: A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People

#11

Post by acdha » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 12:14 AM UTC

billy99k wrote: post #6

It's a bit of a stretch to say he 'killed 14 million people' with absolutely no proof besides hit pieces on the now defunded NPR. Many of these people that claim to have been affected by the cuts live in war-torn countries. Shouldn't this fall on the shoulders of their government? Why are they poor and destitute with no medical care to begin with?

“No proof” is an interesting way to say “lots of proof I am unwilling to engage with intellectually”. I note that you were unable to find any fault with the NPR pieces and instead tried to distract by talking about political attacks on their funding, apparently hoping that readers weren’t going to know that NPR was simply reporting on a serious article in a top journal:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

As for other governments, yes, the failed ones deserve criticism but the Trump administration broke legal commitments in their rush to prevent aid from reaching people. If your neighbor leaves their home due to an abusive spouse, you don’t get to shift blame to the original abuser when you kick them out in the middle of the night – it just means the victims have been failed again.

Re: A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People

#12

Post by rsynnott » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 9:33 AM UTC

rhelz wrote: post #4

jslezak wrote: post #2

What is the moral weight of responsibility for the men who carried out DOGE’s work?

What is scary to me is that at his age, given the opportunity, I would have done the same thing. I was active in the Purdue Libertarians, a student group. The moral calculus is very simple: taxation is theft, the ends do not justify the means, so it doesn't matter how many people would die. The theft must stop. Cf. with abortion: Abortion is murder, so it must stop. The ends do not justify the means, so it doesn't ma…

Always been particularly baffled by the concept of _anti-abortion libertarians_. I mean, they do seem to exist, but it feels like it takes a particularly messy series of mental gymnastics to get there.

Re: A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People

#13

Post by Zigurd » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 11:55 AM UTC

PolygonSheep wrote: post #8

Why are Americans required to feed millions of people in other countries???

We chose to do it in part because soft power works better and is cheaper than hard power.

Re: A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People

#14

Post by PolygonSheep » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 10:54 PM UTC

Zigurd wrote: post #13

PolygonSheep wrote: post #8

Why are Americans required to feed millions of people in other countries???

We chose to do it in part because soft power works better and is cheaper than hard power.

Who's "We"? I don't recall seeing this on a ballot ever.

Re: A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People

#15

Post by Zigurd » Fri, Aug 01, 2025, 11:20 PM UTC

PolygonSheep wrote: post #14

Zigurd wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We chose to do it in part because soft power works better and is cheaper than hard power.

Who's "We"? I don't recall seeing this on a ballot ever.

We are everyone who isn't ham-fistedly destroying American soft power. Up until recently, there was a non-partisan consensus about diplomacy and soft power. But hey, nothing matters anymore, so have at it. Enjoy watching it all burn.

Re: A Boy Genius Who Killed 14M Poor People

#16

Post by RajT88 » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 7:04 AM UTC

acdha wrote: post #10

PolygonSheep wrote: post #8

Why are Americans required to feed millions of people in other countries???

Nobody said we were, but when you promise to do something you will rightly be blamed for breaking your promise, especially if you do so suddenly with no time for a graceful transition. It’s also a mistake to think of this as a cost. The United States quite willing spent money to influence other countries because anyone who thinks further ahead than the next quarterly report recognizes that even from a strictly utilit…

Nailed it. And after our relationship with China sours, we are going to need cheap manufacturing. Paraphrasing an article I read the day the funding got cut, "Until today, America was a blessing on the lips of every person in Africa".

It is unfortunate, because sure, we sent a lot of money to Africa without much to show other than influence. Tomorrow, we would industrialize Africa to bolster our economy. Win-Win for all involved.

ETA: pretty good read with an outside perspective:

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/8/3/the-real-reason-...