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The response to his death is creepy to me, like "His name is Robert Paulson". There's so much misinformation, and misuse of his death for ideological and social
by mei0Iesh 11y ago
The response to his death is creepy to me, like "His name is Robert Paulson". There's so much misinformation, and misuse of his death for ideological and social purposes unrelated to the actual person. The fact that someone made something called "Internet's Own Boy" only compounds this. If it were me, I'd want to come back to life just to tell you all that I'm not your puppet, and you have no clue why I died; you didn't know me, and I am not "your boy". Since I couldn't come back to life, I'd hope there'd be people who would speak against this groupthink on my behalf.
- cooper12 11y agoDid you actually watch the documentary? (It's available for free) They talk with people who were very close with him, including his father, his ex-girlfriend, and Lawrence Lessig. It also includes excerpted footage of him speaking at various events. (Not to mention his blog is still present) If these people (like the author) and excerpts don't actually know Aaron Swartz, then I don't know who could. (I'm also of the personal opinion that documentaries are not meant to tell the truth, but rather solidify a living memory of the person) One can't deny that Aaron was opposed to institutional corruption (such as his work with PACER) and wanted to see the freedom of information (see his "Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto" for a precursor to that). Of course as in Fight Club, the original intent of a movement or a person's identity can get twisted and morphed, but it would help if you actually bought up these inaccuracies. The most insulting thing we could do is forget what Aaron fought for and let all that he stood for go for nought out of some misguided respect for his memory.