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Comment by infecto | Hacker News Reader

Interesting to see how quick people jump to conclusions. Would it not be just as reasonable that this individual was struggling with mental health issues?

I would think a whistleblower regardless of the legitimacy of claims, would be under extra stress and perhaps even likelier that folks with preexisting mental health conditions would be more inclined to go down this route. Higher chance of suicide seems more plausible than companies whacking people. It should certainly be investigated still.

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Why would you say: people with preexisting mental health conditions are more likely to be whistleblowers? That's a very prejudiced statement if I'm correct in what you mean.

I'd rather say these people are more sensitive and aware of the consequences of their actions which is why they chose the path of a whistleblower, which is very different from saying they had mental health issues from the beginning.

Other way around, I did a poor job of phrasing it. There are many many whistleblowers annually . We hear about one or two of the high profile ones and of those there may be a suicide. I find suicide less surprising statistically than a company whacking the person. Especially in this case, they whacked him because he is going to tell the world they trained on copyright material? The simpler explanation is the position he was in probably led to a mental health crisis. I imagine a lot of his coworkers were friends, gone, company gone. Lots of potential stress for a younger person.

> they whacked him because he is going to tell the world they trained on copyright material?

"Smithers, have this young man killed immediately before he talks to the press!"

"But sir, he's already gone public."

"Oh no, our secret is out!"

"No sir, the thing he revealed was already widely known."

"Then we must get rid of him to stop any civil suit."

"No sir, killing him actually won't stop any civil suit at this point."

"Then get to it post haste! Find me the first-available hit man on X. And keep this quiet."

Plenty of mental health conditions make a person more likely to have a stronger reaction to a situation, to take risks, or to act without consideration of consequences. Following up a whistleblower act with suicide because it didn’t go as hoped is also not surprising.

Perhaps you’ve never been around bipolar folks.

Calling it “prejudiced” is silly.

That's not what I read from infecto's post, they say that people with preexisting mental health issues are more likley to commit suicide.

I think many people underestimate the mental anguish caused by being ostracized by your former coworkers, and by the realization that, even after a lifetime of working hard, your career prospects are now in tatters.

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