Aaron Swartz ( Cofounder of Reddit) commits suicide
- Thread starter Zsaleem
- Start date
Of course he did. It would make the coverup easier. I am not saying its a conspiracy. I just find the timing of all these prominent people's deaths to be suspect.
What's this one got to do with anything political? Reddit's fairly liberal, and it's not gonna stop running now that he's died.
INB4 James Yeager is found dead, an apparent suicide due to a self inflicted rifle wound to the back of his head.
They don't need to kill him they have already made him into a deranged psycho. Even so called pro 2nd amendment people have thrown him under the bus. This is the exact way the communist were dealt with in this country.
I knew him. Had some pretty deep and amazing conversations with him. Calling him brilliant, smart or even genius does him no justice. I hadn't spoken to him in a few years though, because he was getting VERY controversial with some of the things he wanted to accomplish. Not necessarily bad, but more so, fearless.
Had he been "profit" driven instead however (he would give me shit about it, because I would always try and rationalize my 'all profit all the time' mantra with him, and he'd resist nearly every single time -- so much respect for him for being genuine and sticking to his guns on that!) -- The guy would have, flat out, decimated the VC/Tech startup/business landscape. Without a shred of doubt, for fucking sure. Lucky for them, he wasn't interested in that, well, not nearly as interested in "uniting the fight for the people, by the people (the clever ones)".
It sucks, a lot, that he killed himself. I feel incredibly sorry for his parents and family too. They lost one hell of a kid. And all of his weirdness and oddities were most of the time just misunderstood.
He was smart enough to know wrong from right, but that inner drive inside him wasn't as mature as his other types of intelect that made up his weird brain. But, he was absolutely self aware. Unfortunately, when you're facing a legal and criminal battle even, you can have people around you, in the background at least, on your side, but its actually a VERY lonely, very out of your comfort zone feeling. Very dark and confusing too. I can't even imagine the stresses it caused inside of him that he likely resisted or refused to show publicly, even to his family. That kid was a walking, talking, living and breathing labryinth of misunderstandings and depth. I don't know how he ended it, or what he was thinking or feeling before he did so, but ultimately, I will chalk this one up to an unbearable amount of stress and just giving in, on his own terms. He likely felt that it was the correct solution, for that moment. And as much as I don't like thinking about it, I respect him for it. --- Not that anything I think or say matters about this, because it doesn't. And neither do any of yours. I just feel for the guy.
I kinda wish he would have matured quicker and came over to the dark side (the money making, for profit motivations) because he would have put on one hell of a show. Sad that we'll never get to see that. :/
Had he been "profit" driven instead however (he would give me shit about it, because I would always try and rationalize my 'all profit all the time' mantra with him, and he'd resist nearly every single time -- so much respect for him for being genuine and sticking to his guns on that!) -- The guy would have, flat out, decimated the VC/Tech startup/business landscape. Without a shred of doubt, for fucking sure. Lucky for them, he wasn't interested in that, well, not nearly as interested in "uniting the fight for the people, by the people (the clever ones)".
It sucks, a lot, that he killed himself. I feel incredibly sorry for his parents and family too. They lost one hell of a kid. And all of his weirdness and oddities were most of the time just misunderstood.
He was smart enough to know wrong from right, but that inner drive inside him wasn't as mature as his other types of intelect that made up his weird brain. But, he was absolutely self aware. Unfortunately, when you're facing a legal and criminal battle even, you can have people around you, in the background at least, on your side, but its actually a VERY lonely, very out of your comfort zone feeling. Very dark and confusing too. I can't even imagine the stresses it caused inside of him that he likely resisted or refused to show publicly, even to his family. That kid was a walking, talking, living and breathing labryinth of misunderstandings and depth. I don't know how he ended it, or what he was thinking or feeling before he did so, but ultimately, I will chalk this one up to an unbearable amount of stress and just giving in, on his own terms. He likely felt that it was the correct solution, for that moment. And as much as I don't like thinking about it, I respect him for it. --- Not that anything I think or say matters about this, because it doesn't. And neither do any of yours. I just feel for the guy.
I kinda wish he would have matured quicker and came over to the dark side (the money making, for profit motivations) because he would have put on one hell of a show. Sad that we'll never get to see that. :/
MIT didn't give a shit, nor did JSTOR. The FBI was after him for years.
He was facing 50+ years for downloading journal articles because of a vendetta. He'd long suffered from depression, and his money was nearly gone from multiple protracted legal battles over the good he'd done.
Aaron was a wonderful person, we were all lucky to have him as long as we did.
Make no mistake, the government killed him as surely as if they'd pulled the trigger.
Bullshit. He tried to make a deal, nothing less than a felony conviction was ever on the table. He was marked before he took the JSTOR files, they wanted him.
Its not a fucking government conspiracy. There's absolutely no place for that Alex Jones nonsense here. Zero.
Its very black and white.
Aaron wasn't just some avg no-name small time guy. He was well known, well respected, mostly liked, at least privately more so. He chose one very rocky path to focus on. He was hoping and betting on his ALLEGED actions not being noticed the way they were, and certainly not being taken incredibly seriously by the feds. He was wrong. He knew full well what the absolute, worst possible scenario could be, and bet on it not being that bad. Again, he called that wrong too.
He knew that by going this route, it would be far different than just having some friends and peers a lil pissed off or offended by his statements or actions. He was fucking with MIT and the US federal government authorities tasked with investigating the outcome. Again, he chose this route.
I have no doubt he came to regret a few of the things he had done, but that didn't matter, and if anything, it fired him up even more so because he was ultimately pot committed to keep going, and keep doing what he knew in his gut was morally just. But he also knew, that current laws in our land, both on the state and the national/federal level were not in his favor.... But he chose to proceed anyway, and the louder, bigger and badder he went about doing it, the bigger impact he was going to make. He knew, he HAD to be that loud and brash about it, because sometimes things like this lead to real change in the laws, and that was his goal. Unfortunately, he had neither the stomach, nor the willpower to fight the longterm battle against him if things weren't loud and fast changing as he was hoping for. Sure enough, it did not have the immediate impact he was intending for, and that's what started the other side's turn of what they came to battle with.
I have a feeling, that if he were able to see what people were saying now, and how people online and offline alike, related or not, how they are trying to process and digest and research Aaron's work, and what led to his ultimate death and demise, he would feel proud. Because he just got a whole bunch of people that didn't really want to give a shit about his fight, to take real genuine time out of their silly little lives, and look into and appreciate what he stood for, what kind of person he was, and that we'd all maybe feel a bit guilty for not giving more of a shit a little sooner.
But he's gone now. And that's where this ends.
PS- You are a massive fucking asshole if you are going to post here crying of speculation about this being a conspiracy or that the US government -- Remember, PEOPLE make up and run the government, its not a mindless robot, its people, lots of them, together running around and governing even more people. Its unlikely their goal was for him to kill himself or for anyone else to kill him, but they unfortunately fought fairly on this one. They came to this fight knowing full well how to destroy him, when he picked the fight and first move without fully realizing the firepower that would be used on him from the other side. But that's war. Once that first shot is fired, its all a clusterfuck from that point on, with more losers than winners, on both sides of the battle.
Its very black and white.
Aaron wasn't just some avg no-name small time guy. He was well known, well respected, mostly liked, at least privately more so. He chose one very rocky path to focus on. He was hoping and betting on his ALLEGED actions not being noticed the way they were, and certainly not being taken incredibly seriously by the feds. He was wrong. He knew full well what the absolute, worst possible scenario could be, and bet on it not being that bad. Again, he called that wrong too.
He knew that by going this route, it would be far different than just having some friends and peers a lil pissed off or offended by his statements or actions. He was fucking with MIT and the US federal government authorities tasked with investigating the outcome. Again, he chose this route.
I have no doubt he came to regret a few of the things he had done, but that didn't matter, and if anything, it fired him up even more so because he was ultimately pot committed to keep going, and keep doing what he knew in his gut was morally just. But he also knew, that current laws in our land, both on the state and the national/federal level were not in his favor.... But he chose to proceed anyway, and the louder, bigger and badder he went about doing it, the bigger impact he was going to make. He knew, he HAD to be that loud and brash about it, because sometimes things like this lead to real change in the laws, and that was his goal. Unfortunately, he had neither the stomach, nor the willpower to fight the longterm battle against him if things weren't loud and fast changing as he was hoping for. Sure enough, it did not have the immediate impact he was intending for, and that's what started the other side's turn of what they came to battle with.
I have a feeling, that if he were able to see what people were saying now, and how people online and offline alike, related or not, how they are trying to process and digest and research Aaron's work, and what led to his ultimate death and demise, he would feel proud. Because he just got a whole bunch of people that didn't really want to give a shit about his fight, to take real genuine time out of their silly little lives, and look into and appreciate what he stood for, what kind of person he was, and that we'd all maybe feel a bit guilty for not giving more of a shit a little sooner.
But he's gone now. And that's where this ends.
PS- You are a massive fucking asshole if you are going to post here crying of speculation about this being a conspiracy or that the US government -- Remember, PEOPLE make up and run the government, its not a mindless robot, its people, lots of them, together running around and governing even more people. Its unlikely their goal was for him to kill himself or for anyone else to kill him, but they unfortunately fought fairly on this one. They came to this fight knowing full well how to destroy him, when he picked the fight and first move without fully realizing the firepower that would be used on him from the other side. But that's war. Once that first shot is fired, its all a clusterfuck from that point on, with more losers than winners, on both sides of the battle.
Of course they wanted a felony conviction, they almost always do because it gives them leverage over you for the rest of your life. The entire criminal justice system runs on plea bargains, 90-95% of cases never go to trial.
If you read his writings from the last few years, you'll see he was pretty heavily depressed for a long time. That will wear a person down, and when faced with something really heavy (like his felony stuff), they will often make much more rash decisions than someone who isn't under the spectre of a mood disorder for years.
Always sad to lose influential young people. I turn 26 in a few months, shit like this always leads to weird existential problems.
Always sad to lose influential young people. I turn 26 in a few months, shit like this always leads to weird existential problems.
This sucks. I knew him a long long time ago on Hotline, and he was one of the first people that really blew me away with passion and accomplishments. He was literally just a kid then but so young and so driven. Never seen anyone like that since.
A nice story he shared on his blog was how when they were first building Reddit, there were 4 of them living/working in a 3 bedroom apartment. Since there was no room for him, he would sleep in the kitchen cabinets.
Ever since then, that has been my filter for taking on a big project: am I driven enough to sleep in a fucking kitchen cabinet to get this thing done?
RIP.
A nice story he shared on his blog was how when they were first building Reddit, there were 4 of them living/working in a 3 bedroom apartment. Since there was no room for him, he would sleep in the kitchen cabinets.
Ever since then, that has been my filter for taking on a big project: am I driven enough to sleep in a fucking kitchen cabinet to get this thing done?
RIP.