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James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

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Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#61

Post by cantrip »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #60
cantrip wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything can be funny given the right person saying it at the appropriate time in the right context Seeing a suicide joke from a person I don't know in the Hacker News thread about the death an individual I respect an hour after it's been released is not my idea of funny.

Why did you immediately assume the post was a joke about suicide, rather than a clever and witty remark about the dangers of following your passions/ideals in the face of enormous opposition and psychological torment?

Because the post was a joke about suicide.

Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#62

Post by davrosthedalek »

hkmurakami wrote: post #41
cantrip wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything can be funny given the right person saying it at the appropriate time in the right context Seeing a suicide joke from a person I don't know in the Hacker News thread about the death an individual I respect an hour after it's been released is not my idea of funny.

I see it as a word of caution for the bright eyed. Fighting for your ideals wears on you, and some are more resilient to its demands than others.

I wonder if the personal trait to see problems and act is because the problems seem bigger or because the "activation threshold" of that person is lower. If the former, I could see that the same trait also makes it more likely that the problems feel overwhelming.

Ignorance is bliss.

Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#63

Post by dbingham »

CiPHPerCoder wrote: post #37
dbingham wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthy suspicion is not baseless speculation. Often conspiracies are only unmasked when someone starts from a position of intuitive suspicion otherwise unsupported by evidence and starts digging. It is only in the digging that evidence is unearthed. The fact that both Aaron Swartz and James Dolan committed suicide does, indeed, smell. In the past, our government has shown itself capable of [grabbing people off the s…

> The fact that both Aaron Swartz and James Dolan committed suicide does, indeed, smell. In the past, our government has shown itself capable of [grabbing people off the street for mind control experiments]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra ). Or maybe it's that there's a high incidence of mental illness among particularly intelligent humans, and even more particularly cryptography/privacy engineers? htt…

The timing is suspect? When we're suspicious a friend or relative was murdered, do not most people bring it up right away with the police? Are murder investigations not routinely started before the body is even moved?

Mourning is important, and I'm sorry if you and others knew James personally. I did not. But I maintain suspicion here is warranted, and personally, I think we do James and Aaron and any other front line activists in the current battle for our civil liberties a great disservice if we do not heed our suspicions in the events of their deaths.

As to the issues with mental health, yes, that is, indeed, a real issue and another possible explanation.

[As an aside, your choice of Alan Turing as an example of mental health issues is an extremely poor one. Turing was driven to suicide after being hounded by the government for decades -- and even forcibly sterilized against his will -- for his sexuality. In his case it wasn't conspiracy so much as open persecution. Although, he was deeply involved in a what was highly classified work at the time and it's possible there are events in his life that have yet to be declassified.]

Right now, we do not have much evidence to work from either way. So mental illness and conspiracy are equally possibilities. A combination of the two is also a possibility.

So it makes sense to keep an open mind and remain suspicious. If you need time to mourn, then take it. But do not denigrate those who would honor those fighting for all of us by making sure that there isn't more to the story.

Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#64

Post by chrisper »

Blinks- wrote: post #13

This one really got to me, my confidence is shot when I see people I really respect struggling and succumbing to the same despair I feel sometimes. On an even darker note, anyone hear anything suspicious about this... ?

I think the worst part of any depressive phase is that it makes you feel you are the only one deep down this hole. Everyone around you has a perfect life. Every stranger on the bus seems to be happy.

But the truth is you are not looking hard enough. There is more depression (medical or not) than we think and like to admit. Most likely all the people around you have a reason to be depressed one way or the other. You are not the only one who fell into a hole. Some people have financial trouble, others have sick parents. Look hard enough and you will see you are not the only one.

But you might still think that all these people look happy! You need to remember that you only see another person but you can't feel their feelings and read their thoughts. If you met yourself would you really be able to tell that you are depressed? I doubt it. We learned to cover it up.

So my tip to you and everyone is to understand that being in a hole is ok and you are not as alone as you might think.

Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#65

Post by tptacek »

dbingham wrote: post #63
CiPHPerCoder wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that both Aaron Swartz and James Dolan committed suicide does, indeed, smell. In the past, our government has shown itself capable of [grabbing people off the street for mind control experiments]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra ). Or maybe it's that there's a high incidence of mental illness among particularly intelligent humans, and even more particularly cryptography/privacy engineers? htt…

The timing is suspect? When we're suspicious a friend or relative was murdered, do not most people bring it up right away with the police? Are murder investigations not routinely started before the body is even moved? Mourning is important, and I'm sorry if you and others knew James personally. I did not. But I maintain suspicion here is warranted, and personally, I think we do James and Aaron and any other front lin…

You aren't honoring them. You're using them to create an exciting narrative to break up the monotony of your day. The fact that you don't have enough information to distinguish between possibilities doesn't mean the family doesn't. You aren't entitled to that information and may never get it.

Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#66

Post by CiPHPerCoder »

dbingham wrote: post #63
CiPHPerCoder wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that both Aaron Swartz and James Dolan committed suicide does, indeed, smell. In the past, our government has shown itself capable of [grabbing people off the street for mind control experiments]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra ). Or maybe it's that there's a high incidence of mental illness among particularly intelligent humans, and even more particularly cryptography/privacy engineers? htt…

The timing is suspect? When we're suspicious a friend or relative was murdered, do not most people bring it up right away with the police? Are murder investigations not routinely started before the body is even moved? Mourning is important, and I'm sorry if you and others knew James personally. I did not. But I maintain suspicion here is warranted, and personally, I think we do James and Aaron and any other front lin…

> If you need time to mourn, then take it. But do not denigrate those who would honor those fighting for all of us by making sure that there isn't more to the story.

I would think people who care so much about online privacy would be capable of shutting their mouths for a short bit of time to give the friends and family of the deceased a chance to mourn. But what do I know?

Re: James Dolan, co-creator of SecureDrop, has died

#69

Post by alvil »

averagewall wrote: post #68

It turns out he helped to invade Iraq. Why doesn't American and global society shun people who cause such devastating destruction? That needlessly led to the deaths of 100's of thousands of people, but nobody blames the perpetrators.

thank you for your comment
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