Hacker News Reader

Comment by jimkleiber | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why some people celebrate strength with fear of knowledge. Maybe they're just equally as afraid of knowledge and don't want to look weak and puff out their chests to pretend to be strong. As an American, it really frustrates me to see such bravado celebrated as bravery.

View on HN

> afraid of knowledge and don't want to look weak

I've come to the conclusion this is basically it, aside from corruption.

Intellectual weakness and cowardice, avoiding what you can't actually do or don't understand.

In the case of anything space related though, I'd look to corruption, trying to cut public resources to reduce competition with private equivalents, shifting money from something publicly owned to something privately profited from.

For those in power, those that point out the problem, become the problem.

Only if those in power don't actually feel powerful but just want to look powerful.

you're assuming this is because of perception of weakness, and not an explicit, decade-long aggressive effort by foreign money + US billionaires to dismantle the US government.

just happens that oil barons & Putin happen to have views that are aligned, and that Trump + his cronies are willing to play ball with the fellow travelers.

i think a decades-long aggressive effort to dismantle the US government might also be from such a place of fear of knowledge or at least, fear of others having control over their right to make profit. I guess I'm just tired of us celebrating the ones who appear strong but really are just acting out of deep fear and wish they (and us) had the courage to see it as fear and express it as such.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com