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Mobs derive power from their ability to lynch people they don't like. If a billionaire follows along behind the mob, cutting people down from trees and resusci
by cperciva 4y ago
Mobs derive power from their ability to lynch people they don't like.
If a billionaire follows along behind the mob, cutting people down from trees and resuscitating them, it severely diminishes the power of the mob.
Whether you think this is a good thing or not probably depends on whether you're part of the lynch mob, but it's hard to imagine being neutral about this.
- tptacek 4y agoWhat are you talking about? Nobody is being lynched. This is the kind of weird discussion we don't have to have if we just wait to see if any of this matters before trying to parse it as an important story.
- cperciva 4y ago1. A group of people decided that Sabatini is a Bad Person. 2. As a result, they want to end his career. 3. A billionaire came along and undermined those efforts, by providing Sabatini with independent funding. 4. The people who decided that Sabatini's career should be ended are upset by this. Sure, nobody is being literally lynched; but the fundamental story -- people being upset that their ability to exercise extrajudicial punishment is being undermined -- is the same.
- tptacek 4y agoI don't care. Why do I care? Why does any of this matter? He got fired from his previous job. Now a billionaire is funding his lab startup. It will probably come to nothing, just like every other investment does. You apparently care enough to equate what's happened with a torture-murder. The conversation here seems unhinged. This is all very low-stakes right now. If you ask people to be upset about things, they will oblige you. Here, it seems like you're more or less begging for it.
- groffee 4y agoYou're the one commenting here.
- version_five 4y agoLooks like you got modded down but that was my first thought browsing this now. It's odd to see someone who doesn't care so much that they'll fight you tooth and nail to show you how much they don't care. This raises a beige alert for me.
- unethical_ban 4y agoThere is one side saying "omg look at this horrible person who didn't get punished enough for being horrible". And there is one side saying "omg this guy is a good researcher and the mob is out to get him". And there is tptaceck saying "none of this matters and you are both obnoxious". That's my interpretation of it - I do not endorse any particular statement.
- LarryMullins 4y agoMy interpretation is that tptacek got confused by a mirror.
- sam_lowry_ 4y agoIt's tptacek arguing with cperciva. The essence of HN.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- eecc 4y agoanalogy /əˈnalədʒi/ noun a comparison between one thing and another, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification. a correspondence or partial similarity. a thing which is comparable to something else in significant respects.
- tptacek 4y agoBeing fired from your job is in no way comparable to a lynching.
- cperciva 4y agoHe wasn't merely fired, though; he was fired and has a mob actively trying to prevent him from ever getting another job.
- tptacek 4y agoSo does David Shor. Unsuccessfully, obviously, in both cases! Neither have been lynched. Words mean things.
- cperciva 4y agoWords mean things, but meanings change over time. In the 21st century in the Western world, the noun "witch hunt" and the verb "to lynch" are generally understood to be metaphorical in usage. Similarly, if a journalist talks about a "political earthquake" or a "horse race" they don't mean that the earth is literally moving or that politicians are literally equine.
- tptacek 4y agoI think you're going to find people are less and less tolerant of semantic drift with the term "lynch". "Witch hunt" is a better term to use. For my part, I don't concede that there was anything like a witch hunt here. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion, or to evaluate your own opinion. I did some reading, read the complaint in the guy's lawsuit, and none of this is clear to me. All I know is that I mentioned the guy's name near some biotech people and got "no mercy for anybody who Photoshops their western blots". I don't know what that means, so take it for what it's worth.