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Two things: It's a but late for this. Second, I don't think the world works that way. We like to think that public pleas for individuals to abstain from volunt

Two things: It's a but late for this. Second, I don't think the world works that way. We like to think that public pleas for individuals to abstain from voluntary action are effective, but it doesn't seem likely. Consider that the number of people reading the web is in the millions to billions. Even if that message made it to all of them, there is very little chance that it will do much to deter the 50 or so people who choose to write something up and the several thousand who upvote those write-ups. The spread is too wide and there are enough people who are likely to consider the issues around his suicide more important than something as diffuse and hypothetical as copycats. TL;DR 6 billion people don't act like a village.

gph 14y ago
>TL;DR 6 billion people don't act like a village. FYI, We're up to 7 billion these days by most estimates. This village just keeps growing :D
cookiecaper 14y ago
It's not that people shouldn't talk about the issues around it, really, it's just that they shouldn't make him a martyr. Every post is about the righteousness of Swartz and the big mean bullies who made him kill himself. Very few place any culpability or responsibility on him. He's getting a treatment normally reserved for victims of aberrant crimes, what with the law getting his name on it and everything. Talking about Aaron Swartz and how and why he died is fine. Doing it sanctimoniously and refusing to recognize any personal responsibility Swartz may rightly hold, which is the vibe of most articles I've seen, is effectively idolizing Swartz as a martyr, and that kind of religious exercise isn't productive for this case imo. It communicates to others that if they have a minor platform and are well-liked, they can be martyred too. Also, I don't seriously expect people to stop writing about it because of this. Just a thing that's been bothering me, and thought it may provoke some interesting discussion.
- largesse 14y ago
  It's human nature. People have done this for millennia and I think that they always will. That's why I don't get upset about it. I don't expect anything different from human beings. This is the way we act in aggregate. Fight the battles you can win.

gph 14y ago

>TL;DR 6 billion people don't act like a village. FYI, We're up to 7 billion these days by most estimates. This village just keeps growing :D

cookiecaper 14y ago

It's not that people shouldn't talk about the issues around it, really, it's just that they shouldn't make him a martyr. Every post is about the righteousness of Swartz and the big mean bullies who made him kill himself. Very few place any culpability or responsibility on him. He's getting a treatment normally reserved for victims of aberrant crimes, what with the law getting his name on it and everything. Talking about Aaron Swartz and how and why he died is fine. Doing it sanctimoniously and refusing to recognize any personal responsibility Swartz may rightly hold, which is the vibe of most articles I've seen, is effectively idolizing Swartz as a martyr, and that kind of religious exercise isn't productive for this case imo. It communicates to others that if they have a minor platform and are well-liked, they can be martyred too. Also, I don't seriously expect people to stop writing about it because of this. Just a thing that's been bothering me, and thought it may provoke some interesting discussion.

largesse 14y ago
It's human nature. People have done this for millennia and I think that they always will. That's why I don't get upset about it. I don't expect anything different from human beings. This is the way we act in aggregate. Fight the battles you can win.