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Civil lawsuits come down to just one thing in this country: MONEY. Not the law, not what is right or who has been virtuous. Just money. Or more specifically: w

by thomk 7y ago

Civil lawsuits come down to just one thing in this country: MONEY. Not the law, not what is right or who has been virtuous. Just money. Or more specifically: who has the money. If you are poor and you sue someone who is rich, they control that outcome. If you are rich and you sue someone who is poor, they (by default) control that outcome; there's nothing there. If you are both poor, a judge will often decide based who looks and sounds the less poor. If you are both rich, then (the equivalent of) actuaries decide the outcome. Criminal lawsuits are similar. I do not care how much you fuck up in this country; The amount of time you spend in jail will be inversely proportional to the amount of money you can spend to fight it.

jeremyvisser 7y ago
Considering you're commenting in an international forum, what is "this country"?
- dean177 7y ago
  Clearly the USA. What point are you trying to make?
- smnrchrds 7y ago
  It is supposed to be an international forum, but in practice it is a local group for San Francisco Bay Area. Consider how often articles about housing issues in Bay Area make it to the front page, compared to Vancouver, London, and Tokyo. HN is international in the sense that anyone can access and participate in it. But in practice, mostly SF Bay Area residents do.
  - yellowapple 7y ago
    For those downvoting this comment: this conclusion (that HN's reader base is predominantly based in the SF Bay Area) should be entirely unsurprising given that HN is itself the product of Y Combinator, an accelerator based in the SF Bay Area that (last I checked, and from what I recall back when I worked for a startup that applied) specifically requires its incubatees to relocate (if they're not already there) to the SF Bay Area during said incubation. Yes, not all of us are in the SF Bay Area, but it's pretty reasonable to assume that most readers are.
    - rs23296008n1 7y ago
      It's a fair assumption that a lot of people on HN have SF viewpoint or views at least that partially align with them. Even those of us on the other side of the planet. As for your downvoters: plenty of people believe they should downvote when they simply disagree. Others believe that downvoting without a comment is fine. These two groups make HN less interesting. I actually want to know the reason why. Too many people hide behind a downvote and contribute nothing. Meanwhile they are making interesting posts disappear for no good reason. And other comments that are blatantly rubbish are not touched at all.
      - snovv_crash 7y ago
        Not a downvoter, but I believe it is people taking exception to American exceptionism.
      - jojo2000 7y ago
        > It's a fair assumption that a lot of people on HN have SF viewpoint or views at least that partially align with them. Even those of us on the other side of the planet. Totally agree with you ! But maybe some people misunderstood what you wrote. I'd rather say that the crowd here is technically fit and policed enough to try to understand elaborate and forward-looking viewpoints, sometimes contrary to the doxa [0]. That makes comment so enjoyable to read. And it's also reassuring, that we can agree on some things on both sides of the planet . edit : and some people who like to think of themselves as independent thinkers and live in SF by design or accident, will not like to see their opinions qualified as "SF" opinions. Works equally well for any part of the world. > As for your downvoters +1. This mechanism is a rather raw moderation system, people will abuse it to disqualify competing stances. There are options to refine it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxa
        rs23296008n1 7y ago
        I kind of like the approach on lobste.rs but ironically I'm too lazy to switch. But that is slowly changing.
  - james_s_tayler 7y ago
    I see participatants from all over the world here all the time. They usually qualify things with phrases like "where I'm from" or "in [insert country here]. It's only the Americans that think they're the center of the world. I used to watch this Japanese show "Why did you come to Japan?" where a camera crew hangs out at Narita Airport and ambushes unsuspecting foreigners with that question and try to tag along on the journey of people they think are there for an interesting reason. When everyone introduces themselves they say the country they are from, except Americans who always say which state they are from and never the country. I found that particularly interesting. So, I just assume it's a deeply ingrained cultural thing to treat "America as default".
    - rs23296008n1 7y ago
      I usually cut them slack unless they're jerks about it. A lot haven't even got a passport. That's usually fine as well: The USA is a big place. Not even talking just actual size. There are a lot of people with diverse ways of living and circumstances. But the place is so physically huge you could spend your entire life exploring it and still not run out of places to find new things and people to see and meet. If it helps, think of every US state as if it was a european country. You might lazily think they are all the same but scratch the surface and there's a lot of difference. So yeah, its fine for someone to say they're from California. You already know they're from the land of High Fructose Corn Syrup so why be nasty about it?
      - snovv_crash 7y ago
        It really isn't so diverse though. Same language, same retail and restaurant chains, same cars, same TV channels, same currency, same political system, same sides in war back to 1800s (and even that is a large portion of remembered history). Compare it to Europe, where a 3 hour drive gives you different food, language, holidays, religion, festivals, type of beer, different political system, different history going back 1000+ years... and another 3 hour drive does it all over again.
        jacobush 7y ago
hermitdev 7y ago
To clarify, I think this comes down to: can you afford your lawyer. Maybe you find a lawyer willing to work on contingency? Most of the time you won't (unless its a big case like a class-action - as far as I'm aware).

by thomk 7y ago

jeremyvisser 7y ago

Considering you're commenting in an international forum, what is "this country"?

dean177 7y ago
Clearly the USA. What point are you trying to make?
smnrchrds 7y ago
It is supposed to be an international forum, but in practice it is a local group for San Francisco Bay Area. Consider how often articles about housing issues in Bay Area make it to the front page, compared to Vancouver, London, and Tokyo. HN is international in the sense that anyone can access and participate in it. But in practice, mostly SF Bay Area residents do.
- yellowapple 7y ago
  For those downvoting this comment: this conclusion (that HN's reader base is predominantly based in the SF Bay Area) should be entirely unsurprising given that HN is itself the product of Y Combinator, an accelerator based in the SF Bay Area that (last I checked, and from what I recall back when I worked for a startup that applied) specifically requires its incubatees to relocate (if they're not already there) to the SF Bay Area during said incubation. Yes, not all of us are in the SF Bay Area, but it's pretty reasonable to assume that most readers are.
  - rs23296008n1 7y ago
    It's a fair assumption that a lot of people on HN have SF viewpoint or views at least that partially align with them. Even those of us on the other side of the planet. As for your downvoters: plenty of people believe they should downvote when they simply disagree. Others believe that downvoting without a comment is fine. These two groups make HN less interesting. I actually want to know the reason why. Too many people hide behind a downvote and contribute nothing. Meanwhile they are making interesting posts disappear for no good reason. And other comments that are blatantly rubbish are not touched at all.
    - snovv_crash 7y ago
      Not a downvoter, but I believe it is people taking exception to American exceptionism.
    - jojo2000 7y ago
      > It's a fair assumption that a lot of people on HN have SF viewpoint or views at least that partially align with them. Even those of us on the other side of the planet. Totally agree with you ! But maybe some people misunderstood what you wrote. I'd rather say that the crowd here is technically fit and policed enough to try to understand elaborate and forward-looking viewpoints, sometimes contrary to the doxa [0]. That makes comment so enjoyable to read. And it's also reassuring, that we can agree on some things on both sides of the planet . edit : and some people who like to think of themselves as independent thinkers and live in SF by design or accident, will not like to see their opinions qualified as "SF" opinions. Works equally well for any part of the world. > As for your downvoters +1. This mechanism is a rather raw moderation system, people will abuse it to disqualify competing stances. There are options to refine it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxa
      - rs23296008n1 7y ago
        I kind of like the approach on lobste.rs but ironically I'm too lazy to switch. But that is slowly changing.
- james_s_tayler 7y ago
  I see participatants from all over the world here all the time. They usually qualify things with phrases like "where I'm from" or "in [insert country here]. It's only the Americans that think they're the center of the world. I used to watch this Japanese show "Why did you come to Japan?" where a camera crew hangs out at Narita Airport and ambushes unsuspecting foreigners with that question and try to tag along on the journey of people they think are there for an interesting reason. When everyone introduces themselves they say the country they are from, except Americans who always say which state they are from and never the country. I found that particularly interesting. So, I just assume it's a deeply ingrained cultural thing to treat "America as default".
  - rs23296008n1 7y ago
    I usually cut them slack unless they're jerks about it. A lot haven't even got a passport. That's usually fine as well: The USA is a big place. Not even talking just actual size. There are a lot of people with diverse ways of living and circumstances. But the place is so physically huge you could spend your entire life exploring it and still not run out of places to find new things and people to see and meet. If it helps, think of every US state as if it was a european country. You might lazily think they are all the same but scratch the surface and there's a lot of difference. So yeah, its fine for someone to say they're from California. You already know they're from the land of High Fructose Corn Syrup so why be nasty about it?
    - snovv_crash 7y ago
      It really isn't so diverse though. Same language, same retail and restaurant chains, same cars, same TV channels, same currency, same political system, same sides in war back to 1800s (and even that is a large portion of remembered history). Compare it to Europe, where a 3 hour drive gives you different food, language, holidays, religion, festivals, type of beer, different political system, different history going back 1000+ years... and another 3 hour drive does it all over again.
      - jacobush 7y ago

hermitdev 7y ago

To clarify, I think this comes down to: can you afford your lawyer. Maybe you find a lawyer willing to work on contingency? Most of the time you won't (unless its a big case like a class-action - as far as I'm aware).