6 ms·
A few years ago, I saw a documentary that broke my heart. A woman in China had an unnecessary, experimental operation done at a hospital, without her consent.
by reitzensteinm 14y ago
A few years ago, I saw a documentary that broke my heart.
A woman in China had an unnecessary, experimental operation done at a hospital, without her consent. It caused kidney failure, and she needed a transplant.
There was a match with a family member, but the hospital refused to pay for it, even though it could have been sued into bankruptcy in the US. For the want of $7,000 USD, she was dying.
Watching her sit with her young children on her lap, deathly sick with her husband by her side, the expression of finality and despair on their faces - I'm not ashamed to admit that it made me tear up.
Now that, to me, is god damn heartbreaking. I don't disagree with the direction of your sentiment, just the magnitude of the word you are using. It's close to the strongest feelings you can have on a subject. Did you really feel a pang in your heart when you read the article?
Because to me, those two stories aren't even on the same planet.
- rhizome 14y agoNow that is hyperbole..
- glhaynes 14y agoI totally agree with you, logically; but I also don't really have any problem with the earlier poster saying it was "heartbreaking", either. Certainly to the people involved at Zynga, the situation is heartbreaking — and our sympathy/empathy responses are based on our ability to "feel" (in some way) a similar experience to that which we imagine others are feeling.
- tylermenezes 14y agoYour comment is one of those which I so very much hate about HN, because you already know it's wrong, you're just writing it because you like to argue and insult others. By this stupid logic, you can never be happy, because there's always someone with more reasons to be happy, while the victims of a serial killer probably had it better off than a child who dies of starvation in Africa. (Of course, you're a smart person, so I'm sure you're aware of how stupid this line of arguing is.) You seem to be pretty strongly in support of someone who by all means cheated his employees. If that's the case, I certainly hope future employees have the foresight to do some research on who you are before agreeing to work for you.
- ma2rten 14y agoI don't think there is anything wrong with that comment nor do I think it is insulting in any way. EDIT: Maybe I should add I am currently in Asia. Many people here probably work harder then the people at Zygna and receive less compensation.
- stfu 14y agohttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AppealToWorseProblems http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AppealToWorseProb... Couldn't find some more official name for the "The "Children Are Starving In Africa!" argument. Anyone willing to help out?
- geoffschmidt 14y agoYou're misrepresenting reitzensteinm's position, which he put clearly: "I don't disagree with the direction of your sentiment, just the magnitude of the word you are using." His comment certainly seems to have been made in good faith even if you disagree with it. Your tone on other hand is combative and patronizing. The HN guidelines say "When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names," and "Be civil." I tend to agree with reitzensteinm that we in Silicon Valley should remember how good we have it compared to the rest of the world. Our fortune comes not only from hard work and talent, but from being born in the right decade in a prosperous country.
- intended 14y agoI was going to comment on reitz' original statement because something was off in the way it was put. I didn't because every time I went over it and sliced it, there was too much scope to misunderstand what was said. But there were 2 aspects that I knew were triggers - 1) His underlying assumption that the employees were there for playing the "startup lottery". Firstly this ascribes knowledge of the mind set of the emps. Secondly this ignores the fact that Zynga also was a "safer" firm given its history and at the time, certain prospects. The employees for that firm which are hurting today aren't necessarily the same as your first batch or second batch hires in an untested startup. (this is why I didn't comment - there are many ways to slice and dice this further, and suffer from badly drawn edges and subsets) 2) His description of it as startup lottery. The underlying philosophy here on HN, and in most places which discuss startups is strongly merit oriented. His statement carried the implication that all the discussions so far were eye wash - it was a lottery and people lost, bad luck. His later clarifications were pretty crucial to explain his context, but I can completely see where he ticked people off.
- samstave 14y agoThis is why i support private gun ownership. In such a situation, I think a little lead coercion is necessary.
- jayliew 14y agoFeelings are not negotiable. Poor people feel poor-people problem pains, rich people feel rich-people problem pains. The problems may be different, but the intensity of the pain felt by them can be of the same magnitude. If you're in America, have $0, can't pay rent, can't buy food for your kids; the fact that kids in Africa are dying from some non-1st world disease is completely irrelevant to the pains you're having. It's a completely different thing for an impartial third party to say person X's pain is more than person Y's pans (that's relative to the observer).
- readymade 14y agoWhile I genuinely believe that documentary saddened you, you're basically saying that skilled workers in the first world don't deserve words connoting sympathy or outrage when they're fucked over by their employer. You don't think Elvis was taking his economic privilege into account when he wrote "Heartbreak Hotel"? Maybe he should have called it "Momentary Romantic Setback Hotel". Or maybe the word "heartbreaking" should be reserved for citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where, all things considered, things are considerably more dire. "The National Adjective Council must regrettably inform you that your first world documentary viewing experience was merely 'disheartening'."
- Uchikoma 14y agoHow have they been "fucked over"? They've bet on equity and it did not turn out the way they hoped. That the CEO cashed out before has nothing to do with that fact. And with "Pincus has a track record now of big IPO train wrecks. He founded Support.com and took it public for $14 a share during the first Internet bubble in 2000. The stock zoomed up by 133% in its first day of trading. It changed hands for more than $30 per share before tanking below $5 in 2001." they might have should known what was comming.
- kamaal 14y ago>>How have they been... Yes they make a mistake. That mistake is to bet on an unethical business man. The point is not that, the point is the CEO set different conditions for him and different for others. While the senior execs were allowed to cash out, guys down the ladder weren't.
- Uchikoma 14y agoWhich does not mean they have been "fucked over", or in which way have they? How does the fact that senior execs cashed out relate to the fact that they don't get rich b/c their company has no sustainable business model and the stock crashed?
- 14y ago
- psweber 14y agoIf you debate semantics on Hacker News, you're gonna have a bad time.
- pyre 14y agoPersonally, I would use heart-wrenching for your documentary, rather than heartbreaking.
- randomfool 14y agoI'm going to be cold-hearted here for a moment. We put far too much emphasis on prolonging life and not enough on quality of life. I have no clue who this lady was or what her background was, but $7k goes a long ways in China. Imagine if she could have instead guaranteed a solid education for every one of her children. We spend a ton of money on end of life care that could do much more good spent elsewhere. Which would you rather have- $50k in end of life care or a free college education? Kidney failure and a transplant, chances that the transplant doesn't work, complications following it, issues remaining for the rest of her life, etc. It's not all roses and medicine isn't as magic as it is in the movies.
- GFischer 14y agoWhenever I read about these documentaries, I ask myself what the guys doing the documentary did about the case. I hope they did get the woman the U$ 7.000. Sadly, there are stories much like that, or worse, every single day. My SO works for the state child care agency here in Uruguay, now that's a thankless job if there is one. She gets to see the worst of human beings (child rape, uncaring mothers, a mother putting her 12 year old girl into prostitution), fortunately balanced by a little of the best too (kindhearted adoptive mothers for example, and lots of supportive people).
- mratzloff 14y agoI've always wondered if they give them the money after shutting off the cameras, since it's such a small amount. More likely, they shut off the cameras, thank the people, and then fly away, shaking their heads that such a tragedy could occur.
- bduerst 14y agoYou aren't contributing here.
- peterhost 14y agoWhen you think of it, those two stories are the consequence of one huge problem. Globalization, and financial empires don't give a fuck about human beings. This poor mother in China is dying because a whole chain of power/money holders don't give a dman about what could be an insect for all they care. Same for Zinga : no respect for the human beings whose income depends on what decisions the leaders make. Only, yes, i agree with you, nobody died at Zinga yet. That chinese mother did die.