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Comment by accrual | Hacker News Reader

Just offering another perspective because I see those missing comments too. The author decided they didn't want to participate in public discourse anymore and their comment is gone. So be it. I don't search archives or use tools to undermine their effort. I move onto the next thing.

I read "it's maddening because ... they decided to use their autonomy and..." and I stop there. So be it.

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People use their autonomy to maddening ends—how does the fact that it is of their own volition offer you any comfort? I ask genuinely. Is it something along the lines of recognizing the things you can't change?

Thanks for the question. It's a couple days later but:

> how does the fact that it is of their own volition offer you any comfort? I ask genuinely. Is it something along the lines of recognizing the things you can't change?

Yes, pretty much exactly this. It's like living a giant pot full of autonomous beings. Sometimes, others do unexpected or undesirable things. I can't control what they do, but I can control how I respond and what I do about it (if anything), and so I try to focus there.

In this case - recognition of an attempt at doing something. Downplaying that is similar to Downplaying protests for not achieving anything. At the very least it might have brought attention to the topic of contention for more people which can be a spark for change. If you have apathy and disdain for attempts at change - it might be worth evaluating what the consequences might be of that at a societal level when that apathy is the norm for harder to change things (like politics, big corp practices etc.)

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