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Comment by nxc18 | Hacker News Reader

I definitely agree people deserve second chances and make mistakes. Especially people who are young and have more money than they are accustomed to having.

At the same time, it is really, really hard to look upon this charitably when he was screwing with something with such high stakes. I get that 24-year-old kids don't take much seriously, but for goodness sake don't use your money for political purposes without thinking it through.

Heck, having millions of dollars makes me dislike him kind of like how people don't like Hillary for being successful and having millions. At least Hillary took her position seriously and attempted to look like she was trying to do the right thing, vs Palmer's 'shitpost 4 days, memes r life' bullshit.

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> I get that 24-year-old kids don't take much seriously, but for goodness sake don't use your money for political purposes without thinking it through.

Hmmm. Let's look at a slightly different statistic:

> In the U.S. army, something like 75%-80% of newly-commissioned Second Lieutenants are promoted to First Lieutenant (around age 25)

-- http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/7812/why-have-off...

What does a 2nd Lt do?

> Typically the entry-level rank for most Commissioned Officers. Leads platoon-size elements consisting of the platoon SGT and two or more squads (16 to 44 Soldiers).

And shortly will be promoted to 1st Lt...

> A seasoned lieutenant with 18 to 24 months service. Leads more specialized weapons platoons and indirect fire computation centers. As a senior Lieutenant, they are often selected to be the Executive Officer of a company-sized unit (110 to 140 personnel).

Oh. Leads 16-44 soldiers into combat, and shortly will be commanding 110-140 soldiers...

I would like to submit that letting a 24-year old off on account of immaturity is wrong and ignores their clear agency and capability.

I believe becoming a commissioned US Army officer involves passing a selection process.

You would think having $2 billion dropped on one's head by Facebook would too.

It's a selection process for technology, patents, and marketing, not for the person.

The choices a 2LT needs to make -- while having life and death consequences -- are also pretty limited and they've generally spent 3 years at West Point (or 1 year at Sandhurst, etc) being extensively taught how to make those decisions.

Oh yes, quite so.

But the cold truth is that a 2LT is an adult, given adult choices, and adult consequences.

Mr. Luckey is identical in this regard, and if, by the time you're 23, you're not capable of sober decisions- then that is what courts call incompetent to stand trial.

Many examples from contemporary and historical sources could be cited to support my argument: I selected the most sobering difference.

As I remarked above to the grandparent poster, Mr. Luckey should not be exculpated based on age alone - if at all. He was working towards setting up a propaganda group to serve extremist interests.

Palmer did nothing wrong. Nothing at all. He's totally free, in the United States, to hate on whatever candidate he wants and fund political cartoons against them.

> it is really, really hard to look upon this charitably when he was screwing with something with such high stakes

Putting up a childish billboard of questionable strategic value promoting a candidate for president is "screwing with something with such high stakes?" Hyperbole?

2016 revealed just how thin skinned, conspiratorial and fatalistic the tech community is. Hence the drop in participation around here.

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