Hacker News Reader

Comment by jchonphoenix | Hacker News Reader

Ilya and Aaron's situations are very different.

Aaron was harassed and harangued by an overzealous attorney. His suicide is, in a sense, a direct consequence of another's actions. The actions that led to his trial also are laced with strong moral beliefs that seem to conflict with the law, leading me to believe that perhaps he knew his actions would cause him to become a martyr.

Ilya on the other hand, is a textbook suicide case. That's not to diminish the significance of his death, but to point to the fact that there are two factors at play here. One is the tragedy of young aspiring minds who take their own lives. The other, of an uncalibrated and overreaching legal system.

I believe Aaron would wish his legacy and his death to help impact and reform the latter.

View on HN

This kind of post pisses me off because of how obvious it that you're talking out of your ass.

Aaron was depressed for a considerably long time, as pointed out by his lawyer. His previous coworkers had sent the police to his house six years ago after a suicide scare[1].

I don't understand how you've come to the conclusion that he's a martyr for his cause because he killed himself. I understand emotions are fresh in everyone's mind, but it's bizarre that he's being portrayed as an 'American Hero'. I suppose after things have calmed down, then we'll finally be able to have a rational discussion about all this instead of an emotionally-charged one.

[1]http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying (Note: He edited the name to Alex from Aaron after the event).

What about the post today where it was revealed that the US Attorney chided Aaron on the day of his death? In the memorandum, it stated that they were ready to take his laptop and peripheral devices.

She said "The e-mail that Defendant Swartz's supplemental memorandum (pdf) cites as paramount to his fifth motion to suppress [evidence against him] is relevant, but not nearly as important as he tries to make it out to be".

If the US gov't bullied Aaron to death, I doubt it was because of that statement. Surely, harsher words have been spoken to defendants.

I don't even understand how that thread reached the front-page of HN considering how devoid of substance it is.

tubbo, you appear to be hellbanned. Here's tubbo's dead post:

> If you read Aaron's posts, you'd know that he also dealt with some heavy depression. Typically, depression gets worse as stress increases (like in a matter of you having to go to court, I know mine did when I had to at one point). Also, a lot of people with depression develop thoughts of suicide and the notion that it may be the only escape from the pain. So I wouldn't call Aaron's case "textbook suicide". One might reason that had he not been subject to such stress by our justice system his suicide would be delayed if not prevented, but I wouldn't go as far as saying he died knowing he would be a "martyr". The chemical imbalances in both of these young, energetic minds' heads simply cannot be ignored.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com