4 ms·

Isn't it also self-centered to feel entitled to curtail another person's freedom because of your limited sensibilities?

by sinker 6y ago

ardy42 6y ago
> Isn't it also self-centered to feel entitled to curtail another person's freedom because of your limited sensibilities? It's far more self-centered to stupidly get yourself into a dangerous situation that others will be obligated to rescue you from. And it's even more self-centered (to the point of arrogance) to dismiss that as the result of "limited sensibilities."
- sinker 6y ago
  Isn't it far more self centered to criticize a person's own personal choices from a time period of over two decades ago when they were in their early twenties, had almost no money, friends, or place to call home, escaping an abusive household, and decided that their intention in life was not to rob, beg, or harm anyone, but to escape into the wilderness, and not just any place, but into the most remote place in the US where he would bear the total cost of the consequences of his actions.
EdwardDiego 6y ago
How many dead bodies have you personally dealt with, out of curiosity? Because your rather glib dismissal would indicate not many, if any.
- sinker 6y ago
  He went out there, blindly, but with every intention to live. He also survived for over three months before succumbing to poisonous berries. Some of these comments would suggest that he intentionally went into the wild just to die. For your question, none of your business.
  - EdwardDiego 6y ago
    > For your question, none of your business. Was just trying to ascertain why your sensibilities were so limitless.
catalogia 6y ago
Criticism of McCandless does not constitute curtailment of personal freedoms. You're free to go out into the Alaskan wilderness unprepared, just like he did. What you don't have is a "freedom to not be criticized for it".
- sinker 6y ago
  No one said you can't criticize him. I wouldn't go out there alone without a sure way out. But the smug, self-righteous predictable knee jerk condemnation from many people I would suspect barely venture outside is, as always predictable, and distasteful.
  - catalogia 6y ago
    'Smug self-righteous predictable knee-jerk condemnation' is also very far from 'feel[ing] entitled to curtail another person's freedom' Incidentally, you're wrong in your assumptions. Go to Alaska and ask people up there what they think of the guy. You'll not find more people critical of him in any other state. Virtually none of them are looking to curtail anybody's liberties, not least because more often than not they enjoy these same liberties. I think a lot of people in this thread have confused criticism with calls for regulation. To be frank I think this confusion betrays an authoritarian mindset.
    - sinker 6y ago
      I'm not talking about the people in Alaska. I'm talking about commentators on HN. Scroll down a bit further and you'll find no end of it.
      - catalogia 6y ago
        The root of this conversation, which you replied directly to, is a quote from an Alaskan park ranger criticizing McCandless in quite strong terms. I read the full linked essay that quote comes from, and the park ranger definitely isn't calling for government regulation. On the contrary, he say > "As a park ranger both at Denali National Park, very near where McCandless died, and now at Gates of the Arctic National Park, even more remote and wild than Denali, I am exposed continually to what I will call the “McCandless Phenomenon.” People, nearly always young men, come to Alaska to challenge themselves against an unforgiving wilderness landscape where convenience of access and possibility of rescue are practically no nexistent. I know the personality type because I was one of those young men." You responded to this man's informed perspective with a rant about smug people not minding their own business. You and a few other commenters then somehow judo-threw the conversation into a matter of when government regulations / curtailments of liberties are or aren't warranted.
mcguire 6y ago
Motorcycle helmets. Seat belts. Insurance. This argument has been made many times in my lifetime.

Isn't it also self-centered to feel entitled to curtail another person's freedom because of your limited sensibilities?

by sinker 6y ago

Isn't it also self-centered to feel entitled to curtail another person's freedom because of your limited sensibilities?

> Isn't it also self-centered to feel entitled to curtail another person's freedom because of your limited sensibilities? It's far more self-centered to stupidly get yourself into a dangerous situation that others will be obligated to rescue you from. And it's even more self-centered (to the point of arrogance) to dismiss that as the result of "limited sensibilities."

sinker 6y ago
Isn't it far more self centered to criticize a person's own personal choices from a time period of over two decades ago when they were in their early twenties, had almost no money, friends, or place to call home, escaping an abusive household, and decided that their intention in life was not to rob, beg, or harm anyone, but to escape into the wilderness, and not just any place, but into the most remote place in the US where he would bear the total cost of the consequences of his actions.

EdwardDiego 6y ago

How many dead bodies have you personally dealt with, out of curiosity? Because your rather glib dismissal would indicate not many, if any.

sinker 6y ago
He went out there, blindly, but with every intention to live. He also survived for over three months before succumbing to poisonous berries. Some of these comments would suggest that he intentionally went into the wild just to die. For your question, none of your business.
- EdwardDiego 6y ago
  > For your question, none of your business. Was just trying to ascertain why your sensibilities were so limitless.

catalogia 6y ago

Criticism of McCandless does not constitute curtailment of personal freedoms. You're free to go out into the Alaskan wilderness unprepared, just like he did. What you don't have is a "freedom to not be criticized for it".

sinker 6y ago
No one said you can't criticize him. I wouldn't go out there alone without a sure way out. But the smug, self-righteous predictable knee jerk condemnation from many people I would suspect barely venture outside is, as always predictable, and distasteful.
- catalogia 6y ago
  'Smug self-righteous predictable knee-jerk condemnation' is also very far from 'feel[ing] entitled to curtail another person's freedom' Incidentally, you're wrong in your assumptions. Go to Alaska and ask people up there what they think of the guy. You'll not find more people critical of him in any other state. Virtually none of them are looking to curtail anybody's liberties, not least because more often than not they enjoy these same liberties. I think a lot of people in this thread have confused criticism with calls for regulation. To be frank I think this confusion betrays an authoritarian mindset.
  - sinker 6y ago
    I'm not talking about the people in Alaska. I'm talking about commentators on HN. Scroll down a bit further and you'll find no end of it.
    - catalogia 6y ago
      The root of this conversation, which you replied directly to, is a quote from an Alaskan park ranger criticizing McCandless in quite strong terms. I read the full linked essay that quote comes from, and the park ranger definitely isn't calling for government regulation. On the contrary, he say > "As a park ranger both at Denali National Park, very near where McCandless died, and now at Gates of the Arctic National Park, even more remote and wild than Denali, I am exposed continually to what I will call the “McCandless Phenomenon.” People, nearly always young men, come to Alaska to challenge themselves against an unforgiving wilderness landscape where convenience of access and possibility of rescue are practically no nexistent. I know the personality type because I was one of those young men." You responded to this man's informed perspective with a rant about smug people not minding their own business. You and a few other commenters then somehow judo-threw the conversation into a matter of when government regulations / curtailments of liberties are or aren't warranted.

mcguire 6y ago

Motorcycle helmets. Seat belts. Insurance. This argument has been made many times in my lifetime.