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Comment by raverbashing | Hacker News Reader

> a teenager lost their hand to a stun granade in protests near Paris

Yes, because he was dumb enough to pick it up with his hand

There are not a lot of situations where you are legally allowed to throw explosives at someone, then say everything is fine because they would have been fine if they just hadn't picked them up

For the life of me I can't get their comment out of my head. It's just so ridiculous that I can't figure out what their point even is.

I think their point is that one should never pick up a flash bang grenade. Especially one that has been fired at you and is about to explode.

I think it’s a pretty good life lesson to follow. Both not to be someone in a position to fire them and to not be throwing them back.

Seems like one of many “don’t do stupid high risk things” rules like avoiding base jumping or Johannesburg at night.

I think you, also, are misunderstanding why their comment is such a ridiculous thing to say.

I certainly may be. It doesn't seem ridiculous to me. I've read through all the follow on comments and aside from people saying it's ridiculous, I don't get why others think it so.

So you're just that much of a badass?

Remind me to not be anywhere near you in a crowd. It'd piss me off to no end if the last thing I saw and had to waste my last seconds of life thinking about was "They're just going to stare until it blows u....."

If you have something that looks like it explodes land next to you in a crowd, and you do nothing simply because you think you deserve it (not talking about freezing up or just ignorant to what it is), you're a morally bankrupt coward that also deserves a share of the blame for harm done to anyone around you.

I certainly wouldn't stare at it until it exploded. I would run away as fast as I could.

It's odd that you think the exclusive options are 1) do nothing; 2) pick up and throw away

Of course, it's extremely unlikely I'd be in any crowd with you. Because we are likely very far apart geographically. And I work to avoid any crowds that may involve flash bang grenades thrown into them. So far, I have an excellent success ratio and expect it to stay steady.

I think kids are seeing videos of people throwing these and, of course, only the successful videos make it to their feeds. As the unsuccessful ones are bloody enough to get filtered out.

Your comment seems a bit hostile and ill willed as there are many who become shell shocked in these situations and freeze up. This doesn't make it "morally bankrupt." It just makes them human.

Good luck with your moral high horse and being so superior. I hope you retain all your digits.

"I think kids are seeing videos of people throwing these and, of course, only the successful videos make it to their feeds."

What makes you think this? This is such a fucking absurd thing to say.

protip: don't do things that make people want to throw grenades at you

There is one though: when you're throwing it as part of an organisation which has the official monopoly on violence - the police - in the context of controlling others who are violating that monopoly. Police are allowed to use violent means to suppress riots and that includes the use of flashbangs, stun grenades, tear gas and other similarly dangerous items. The boy who picked up the flashbang/grenade (unclear which one it was) was part of a group of rioters and as such had put himself in a position where he could expect to be exposed to police violence. Had he not been rioting he'd still have his hand but alas, he was, he did pick it up and his hand is gone.

If you have children tell them not to participate in these riots - which seem to be either organised by or used by both Melenchon's communist party as well as several islamic groups to achieve their goals - and, if he ever gets embroiled in one, make his way out as quickly as he can. Tell them not to be like Lenin's useful idiots, henchmen for the revolution who are discarded as soon as the goal is achieved. To those who think this means they should just accept any and all governmental abuse and neglect, think again. There are many ways to act against such abuse and neglect without feeding the communist/islamofascist/${extremist} beasts.

Yes, teenagers tend to be pretty stupid but... do you think if a grenade was thrown at you that you'd react rationally?

Yes, I think I would react pretty rationally- run away or duck and cover. Zero chance I pick it up. And I was a super stupid and irrational teen. (And am still rather stupid and irrational)

When I was 14 I used to think I could shoot a kamehameha if I tried hard enough. Even then I would have made fun of people thinking they'd know what to do when a fucking grenade was thrown at them.

Are you still 14? When I was 14 there were situations where tear gas grenades were thrown in the city where I went to school (Amsterdam) in the context of squatter riots. I did my best to avoid these, never felt the need to play edge lord and join the mob, don a keffiyeh and shout inane phrases. I did do plenty of 'stupid' things but picking up live grenades was just too damn stupid. The Darwin Award was still decades away but had I known the term I'd have applied it to those who do such things whether they're 14 or 41. If you really need to get rid of the thing you at most kick it away - also risky - but best just to move away from it until it detonates. I knew that at 14 and I still know it. Didn't you? Don't you?

This conversation isn't about tear gas grenades.

The conversation is about rioters and those who confront them. Whether it is tear gas grenades, flashbangs, smoke grenades, stun grenades or any other non-lethal weapon is besides the point. It is about suffering the consequences when you pick up a live piece of ordnance.

and on top of that, this is what a rational reaction gets them

https://bsky.app/profile/thenewarab.bsky.social/post/3myb2ze...

While it is generally not the brightest move, they might have been thinking it was a tear gas grenade, which are not uncommonly picked up and thrown back at the cops (using thick gloves or a rag). This is because tear gas canisters get hot instead of exploding. I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference in under a second and maybe the tear gas reaction was just slow-starting on that one.

> because he was dumb enough to pick it up with his hand

Indeed. And what? People do dumb things, that's a given.

And this: teach your children to be diligent in what dumb things they do. Picking up live grenades is not just dumb but out of the gene pool dumb.

Smokey Bear said don't play with matches, I hope Daddy Williamdclt will/did tell his children not to play with live grenades.

Call of Duty lied to him.

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