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The author, Shaka Senghor, is slightly famous and has been involved with e.g. the MIT Media Lab, so for some background on his original trial, imprisonment and

The author, Shaka Senghor, is slightly famous and has been involved with e.g. the MIT Media Lab, so for some background on his original trial, imprisonment and release that the linked article doesn’t provide, refer to his Wikipedia article [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_Senghor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka_Senghor

Udik 6y ago
It's a great story of redemption. But I can't help noticing that a convicted murderer can redeem himself and be honoured with prestigious appointments; while vague allegations of remote and relatively minor misbehaviour are considered enough to demand someone's removal from any prominent position. Isn't that absurd?
- rubatuga 6y ago
  Pretty ironic indeed
- xenadu02 6y ago
  You don't see a difference between the state removing your literal freedom vs not being allowed to be on a committee or a board? It seems like any reasonable person should understand that, making such arguments deliberately disingenuous. I would also note that redemption requires real reflection, penance, and so forth. Paying some kind of price. Crying that you're being unfairly persecuted isn't the same thing. I think the discussion you want to have might belong to different posts than this one.
  - pc86 6y ago
    > You don't see a difference between the state removing your literal freedom vs not being allowed to be on a committee or a board? This is an interesting question and comparison, but not at all the one to which you're replying.
- MikeTheGreat 6y ago
  I think the key difference is the journey of redemption that the murderer went through. What we admire is the person's ability to change who they are, to literally reinvent themselves, not at a superficial / public level but at the deep level of them making substantially different decisions day to day. Going from "Yeah, I'll kill someone" to "I recognize why I did that wrong thing and have taken effective steps to never do that again" is pretty huge.
- dang 6y ago
  "Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html The generic tangent thing is particularly important [1]. The hottest few sensational topics are like black holes that suck in every passing spaceship [2]. This turns every discussion the same, when what we actually want are diffs [3]. Curiosity withers under repetition [4]. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=generic%20discussion%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20black%20hole&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=diffs%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [4] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20repetition%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...

Udik 6y ago

It's a great story of redemption. But I can't help noticing that a convicted murderer can redeem himself and be honoured with prestigious appointments; while vague allegations of remote and relatively minor misbehaviour are considered enough to demand someone's removal from any prominent position. Isn't that absurd?

rubatuga 6y ago
Pretty ironic indeed
xenadu02 6y ago
You don't see a difference between the state removing your literal freedom vs not being allowed to be on a committee or a board? It seems like any reasonable person should understand that, making such arguments deliberately disingenuous. I would also note that redemption requires real reflection, penance, and so forth. Paying some kind of price. Crying that you're being unfairly persecuted isn't the same thing. I think the discussion you want to have might belong to different posts than this one.
- pc86 6y ago
  > You don't see a difference between the state removing your literal freedom vs not being allowed to be on a committee or a board? This is an interesting question and comparison, but not at all the one to which you're replying.
MikeTheGreat 6y ago
I think the key difference is the journey of redemption that the murderer went through. What we admire is the person's ability to change who they are, to literally reinvent themselves, not at a superficial / public level but at the deep level of them making substantially different decisions day to day. Going from "Yeah, I'll kill someone" to "I recognize why I did that wrong thing and have taken effective steps to never do that again" is pretty huge.
dang 6y ago
"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html The generic tangent thing is particularly important [1]. The hottest few sensational topics are like black holes that suck in every passing spaceship [2]. This turns every discussion the same, when what we actually want are diffs [3]. Curiosity withers under repetition [4]. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=generic%20discussion%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20black%20hole&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=diffs%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... [4] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20repetition%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...