4 ms·
> to Russians I don't understand why they say "to Russians" or "to the Russians" instead of "to Russian intelligence". It's like being Russian is the crime its
by SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
> to Russians
I don't understand why they say "to Russians" or "to the Russians" instead of "to Russian intelligence". It's like being Russian is the crime itself. They wouldn't write "tried to sell the computer to Jews".
- IgorPartola 6y agoBecause it's a Reuters headline and they don't use "the" if they don't need to.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoIn this case, the accusation is that she literally wanted to sell the laptop to some Russian acquaintances, with the assumption that they would handle the secondary sale to the Russian government.
- godelski 6y ago> They wouldn't write "tried to sell the computer to Jews". No, because they'd say "tried to sell the computer to Israelis." Jews are a race and Russians/Israelis are citizens of a country.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- type0 6y agoThere is a distinction https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossiyane https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossiyane
- godelski 6y agoWell TIL that there is a Russian ethnicity. But I will add that colloquially no one says that.
- SpaceRaccoon 6y agoIgnorance is not an excuse. In mainstream American discourse being Russian is a crime.
- godelski 6y ago> Ignorance is not an excuse. Taking it that you aren't trolling (which I'm not certain you aren't) ignorance is an excuse. It is not a good excuse when knowledge is common but it is a great excuse when knowledge is uncommon (as is the case here, at least to Americans). Unless you expect everyone to be omniscient then this is exceedingly disingenuous and will just lead to people thinking you're being a jerk. The other part I need to add is that this is also how we typically talk. "The British...", "The Irish...", "Americans...", etc. I'll admit that we could have more nuance and better communication by being more specific but what is stated here follows the Cooperative Principle[0][1]. It is implied in all these examples that what is meant is the government of the country and not the people of the country. Typically we'd say interpreting it as the latter would be in bad faith. Not that people don't do this (and that this isn't becoming more common) but that this is how people typically use language. But if you're trying to just get people to yell at one another and feel angry (i.e. trolling) I'd ask that you please take your comments elsewhere because that's not the environment we are trying to create at Hacker News. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principle [1] https://youtu.be/IJEaMtNN_dM?t=137 https://youtu.be/IJEaMtNN_dM?t=137
- Dma54rhs 6y agoIt's pretty well known, ignorance is not an excuse really.
- stonogo 6y agoTheir national affiliation is the salient point, and there's no way in hell she'd successfully make contact directly with a Russian intelligence agent. They work through civilian operatives, so your replacement would be incorrectly specific. Your example doesn't apply, because "Jews" is an ethnicity and "Russians" is a nationality.
- type0 6y agoThey're both, heck you can even be a russian jew and a citizen of some other country that is not Russia. The English doesn't make a difference. Here's one kind of Russian peoples that are not ethnically russians but the majority are citizens of Russia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars
- ABeeSea 6y agoProbably because your suggested update is incorrect.
- mrbungie 6y agoSelling a stolen computer device tied to a high-ranking government official to any foreign country is a crime, it's what a spy would do.
- naturalpb 6y agoThe wonderful comedic film "Burn After Reading" immediately comes to mind.
- coughupalung 6y agoYes! I thought the same thing. Such a great film.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoWe Russians are go-to Hollywood villains because no Russian is ever offended by this portrayal of Russians in media. Also, we are simply always up to no good. I've been influencing the US presidential elections for a few years, with mixed results.
- ABeeSea 6y agoIt might be because the country is run by a dictator who is intent on crippling the US’s diplomatic and economic power.
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoYou are a propaganda victim. He never intended to cripple the US, he simply lacks enough power to do it. Why would he want it, anyway? It's a county where his children will likely live (like children of most Soviet leaders since Stalin), his assets are stored in US currency, too. I guess he is quite happy with people like you believing in his overinflated image of a powerful adversary to the US, but in reality he's just a crook who is profiteering while he can. Everything else is just a sideshow.
- ABeeSea 6y agoThat’s why the Russian government hacked into a vast amount of US computer networks. No ill intentions there.
- SpaceRaccoon 6y agoWhat do you think the NSA and CIA do on a daily basis if not hack computer networks around the world, friends and adversaries alike?
- ABeeSea 6y agoI’d say that’s whataboutism and irrelevant to the discussion on whether Russia is an adversary to the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- type0 6y ago> They wouldn't write "tried to sell the computer to Jews". From the article - “intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service" Maybe that friend weren't ethnically russian, no one cares, the point is that it sounds more villainous.