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I think you are being a little obtuse or don't know the case. Aaron was protesting the fact that publicly funded research papers were behind an administrative p
by youngerdryas 14y ago
I think you are being a little obtuse or don't know the case. Aaron was protesting the fact that publicly funded research papers were behind an administrative paywall even though they are ostensibly free.
- rayiner 14y agoActions that are arguably justified in the specific case can still be wrong in the general case. In general, it's wrong to keep using a network after the administrator tries to get you to stop. It's wrong to download millions of documents for distribution when the scope of your access implied accessing a limited number for research. Activists break the law and they get punished for it. That's part and parcel of civil disobedience. The injustice here is not that Aaron was facing punishment--it's the magnitude of the punishment he was facing.
- youngerdryas 14y agoI am arguing that he was behaving like a reasonable person because he was protesting an injustice. You may disagree but I think you are wrong.
- rayiner 14y ago"Reasonable" is in reference to ordinary people. Was he behaving how an ordinary person would? No. He was an activist. Activists are almost by definition unreasonable.
- mpyne 14y ago"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man" - George Bernard Shaw
- youngerdryas 14y agoWell there are a lot of unreasonable men, but most aren't as reasonable as Aaron.