Hacker News Reader

Comment by unalone | Hacker News Reader

Both of you, stop it. There is a place for both government and the free market in society. An unchecked free market is insanely unstable; an unchecked government is controlling and corrupt. To suggest that entrepreneurs are largely wasting money is as wrong as suggesting that politicians are leeches.

spking: Implying that Ted Kennedy didn't fight hard every day of his life in politics is as cruel and stupid as suggesting that a man can't grow up after a reckless youth is as cruel and stupid as a reaction to a man's death being "Good riddance." While I find the bickering on both sides to be tasteless, akd isn't being a douche the same way you are.

View on HN

unalone: Having a strong opinion about something (or someone, in this case) doesn't make me tasteless or a douche. And frankly, the issue isn't whether or not Ted Kennedy fought "hard every day of his life in politics". Pirates fight very hard every day in their lives of theft. I'd say get off your high horse, but I think instead that you should enjoy your false sense of superiority. Clearly, it gives you great pleasure.

Yeah, superiority on a web site. Not everybody online with a sense of propriety has it to look good. Some of us might hope that people learn from what they read online.

The issue I'm talking about isn't whether Ted Kennedy is good or bad. The issue is that he was a man who spent a lifetime doing what he thought was right, and that it takes a fool or a sociopath to look at a lifetime and spit at it. There's a difference between being critical and being destructive. Your attitude is the latter.

If you're going to attempt to put me down, can you at least attempt to be clever with it? The only thing worse than negativity is bluster.

Actually, unalone, I think your quip is correct... I think entrepreneurs are largely wasting money, and politicians are mostly leeches. But it's the exceptions that make the whole enterprise worthwhile -- one Google makes up for the money wasted by literally 10,000 startups. And one Ted Kennedy makes up for several hundred leech politicians. It's why both professions, if you intend to do them well, are among the most important in our society.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com