[liberationtech] Remember Aaron Swartz

[Shava Nerad]

Attitudes regarding suicide vary by culture, not just by being NT or not.
The idea that suicide is "not sane" is not consistent in cultures or
subcultures, but the idea that it is insane tends to be neurotically
dogmatic (and often inheritance of religious dogma).

For example, murder is considered altruistic by many in the context of
war.  Oddly, many of the same people don't see self-"murder" as ever being
for altruistic or honorable reasons.

I believe, having been Aaron's friend, he had a method to his "madness"
(and I expressed this on the old list shortly after his death).

A little respect, all around, for differences. And a bit less speculation
and gossip would serve us well as a community.

SN

On Mon, Nov 11, 2019, 12:07 AM Rand Strauss <Rand at peoplecount.org> wrote:

> Catherine,
>
> > "neurologically atypical," which is meant as a badge of pride
>
> It’s no more a "badge of pride" than black pride, LGBTQ pride, or the
> pride of being a successful woman in a world that, even 50 years ago, was
> predominantly built for men with rules that kept it that way. It’s the
> pride of suddenly learning that one is okay, rather than being some kind of
> slave, pariah, insane-person or second-class citizen who must be held back
> from success.
>
> I mentioned it because such people are often much less able to understand
> themselves and others and society. Probably he had more than normal tunnel
> vision about his guerrilla tactics and civil disobedience, and had
> similarly more than normal tunnel vision about the appropriateness of
> suicide.  Probably he had less than normal understanding of how society
> would react, and less than normal understanding of his own emotional
> reactions to punishment.  These are real cognitive differences that tend to
> make such people more fragile, not proud.
>
>
>
> How would SOPA or CISPA have stopped the Russians from submitting
> propaganda to Facebook and Twitter?
> -r
>
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