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> This is well-known now. Please avoid this. Let me preface this by saying that I have no idea who Epstein is except that he's some rich, white guy that got c

> This is well-known now. Please avoid this. Let me preface this by saying that I have no idea who Epstein is except that he's some rich, white guy that got caught up in some kind of sex scandal, was arrested and is now dead. I'm not belittling his acts nor ignoring his accusers, I'm saying that I did not know. Now let me explain why. Over the past couple of years, there have been non-stop stories of one powerful white man after another being revealed doing heinous sexual things to women. The reports are non-stop and it has come to the point that I have tuned them out. A good number of us here are in the tech industry, we're busy enough as it is. Whatever free time we have is focused on things that are more immediate. A large number of people in my immediate bubble have no idea who Epstein is. I'm not even sure if his first name is Jeff or James, except that it starts with J. I'm likely not the only one. So according to the HN guidelines, please assume good faith when people ask why.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
aarongreenblatt 7y ago
> he's some rich, white guy Please avoid this. He's some rich, Jewish guy that got caught up in some kind of sex scandal, was arrested and is now dead.
Udik 7y ago
> some rich, white guy > non-stop stories of one powerful white man after another I didn't know that Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, Aziz Ansari, to name a few, are white. Nor I did know that Asia Argento, Frankie Shaw, or Allison Mack are men. We could even discuss the "powerful", as it's pretty obvious that the stories that reach the news are only about those famous people. And finally, if we really have to make it a matter of race, Epstein wasn't exactly white, he was Jewish.
topspin 7y ago
> A good number of us here are in the tech industry, we're busy enough as it is. Might want to tune back in a bit; the demise of Epstein is one of the most kelptocratic things that's ever happened in the US. It doesn't even matter exactly how he died; there is no 'fact pattern' you can subscribe to that isn't a consequence of in-your-face public corruption.
- ljm 7y ago
  To be fair, remember also that this happened in the US, and there are plenty of people who are tuned into what is going on closer to home. We're not all Americans here. Although if I was going to comment on something very specific to the US and wasn't quite sure what it was about, I'd probably do some fact-finding beforehand.
  - sverige 7y ago
    There are some international implications in the Epstein case. Prince Andrew is not American either, for example. And apparently the British media had some inkling, or he likely wouldn't have had the nickname 'Randy Andy' when he was younger.
rubatuga 7y ago
Saying "This is well-known now" is fine, because he/she is indicating that it is well known by people following the Epstein case. On a side note, everybody should keep the minimum level of effort to stay up to date on politics and news, especially when it is the case of high level corruption. Saying "we're busy", is not a good enough excuse, and we have more responsibilities working in tech than to take care of stuff that is simply immediate to us.
colechristensen 7y ago
How can we expect the republic to survive if some of the most capable people try so actively to not pay attention to what's going on outside their bubble?
- paganel 7y ago
  Because they’re too busy counting their money. We’re the lackeys of the mighty and powerful and when the “common people” sometime try to react to the visible power imbalances some of us feel the need to obey and defend our masters. Source: me, a desilusioned programmer approaching my 40s
  - Amygaz 7y ago
    I am there with you. Part of me worries about overreactions, but the other part is glad this is happening, because, at one point, people have to figure out that those narcissistic douche bag are the bane of humanity, and that we should avoid them and socially isolate them, and that there are consequences to enabling them.
  - rmrfrmrf 7y ago
    > too busy counting their money. Or lack of money. The current economy, even for those in the professional class (given the absurd costs of living in tech cities), is designed to maximize precarity and force people into such a hustle mentality that they can barely pay attention to the world around them. It is truly the billionaire class vs the rest of us. We're all in this together.
    - paganel 7y ago
      You would think so from the outside but given the current level of technological development today's billionaires would be nothing without us, IT people (I include here everything from devops, to programmers to QA etc etc), without some lawyers and some medical professionals. Even the billionaires' goons are almost nothing without the technological-heavy guns they employ to potentially carry out their goon-related stuff, and said technology depends, like I said, on us, IT people.
dang 7y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20908317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20908317.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

aarongreenblatt 7y ago

> he's some rich, white guy Please avoid this. He's some rich, Jewish guy that got caught up in some kind of sex scandal, was arrested and is now dead.

Udik 7y ago

> some rich, white guy > non-stop stories of one powerful white man after another I didn't know that Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, Aziz Ansari, to name a few, are white. Nor I did know that Asia Argento, Frankie Shaw, or Allison Mack are men. We could even discuss the "powerful", as it's pretty obvious that the stories that reach the news are only about those famous people. And finally, if we really have to make it a matter of race, Epstein wasn't exactly white, he was Jewish.

topspin 7y ago

> A good number of us here are in the tech industry, we're busy enough as it is. Might want to tune back in a bit; the demise of Epstein is one of the most kelptocratic things that's ever happened in the US. It doesn't even matter exactly how he died; there is no 'fact pattern' you can subscribe to that isn't a consequence of in-your-face public corruption.

ljm 7y ago
To be fair, remember also that this happened in the US, and there are plenty of people who are tuned into what is going on closer to home. We're not all Americans here. Although if I was going to comment on something very specific to the US and wasn't quite sure what it was about, I'd probably do some fact-finding beforehand.
- sverige 7y ago
  There are some international implications in the Epstein case. Prince Andrew is not American either, for example. And apparently the British media had some inkling, or he likely wouldn't have had the nickname 'Randy Andy' when he was younger.

rubatuga 7y ago

Saying "This is well-known now" is fine, because he/she is indicating that it is well known by people following the Epstein case. On a side note, everybody should keep the minimum level of effort to stay up to date on politics and news, especially when it is the case of high level corruption. Saying "we're busy", is not a good enough excuse, and we have more responsibilities working in tech than to take care of stuff that is simply immediate to us.

colechristensen 7y ago

How can we expect the republic to survive if some of the most capable people try so actively to not pay attention to what's going on outside their bubble?

paganel 7y ago
Because they’re too busy counting their money. We’re the lackeys of the mighty and powerful and when the “common people” sometime try to react to the visible power imbalances some of us feel the need to obey and defend our masters. Source: me, a desilusioned programmer approaching my 40s
- Amygaz 7y ago
  I am there with you. Part of me worries about overreactions, but the other part is glad this is happening, because, at one point, people have to figure out that those narcissistic douche bag are the bane of humanity, and that we should avoid them and socially isolate them, and that there are consequences to enabling them.
- rmrfrmrf 7y ago
  > too busy counting their money. Or lack of money. The current economy, even for those in the professional class (given the absurd costs of living in tech cities), is designed to maximize precarity and force people into such a hustle mentality that they can barely pay attention to the world around them. It is truly the billionaire class vs the rest of us. We're all in this together.
  - paganel 7y ago
    You would think so from the outside but given the current level of technological development today's billionaires would be nothing without us, IT people (I include here everything from devops, to programmers to QA etc etc), without some lawyers and some medical professionals. Even the billionaires' goons are almost nothing without the technological-heavy guns they employ to potentially carry out their goon-related stuff, and said technology depends, like I said, on us, IT people.

dang 7y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20908317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20908317.