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A tragedy that this caring young man has taken his own life. My heart goes out to his family. This feels a bit inappropriate but at the moment I hope that som

A tragedy that this caring young man has taken his own life. My heart goes out to his family. This feels a bit inappropriate but at the moment I hope that some members of the US Attorney's Office are wracked by guilt.

colmvp 14y ago
Wouldn't they just perceive this as some sort of admission of guilt?
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Disgustingly, that would not surprise me.
- pbateman 14y ago
  Probably. To be honest if I had to imagine the people at the attorney's office who decided to prosecute this I'd imagine vaguely malevolent bureaucratic dullards who derive validation from enforcing the rules in a heavy handed fashion.
puppetsock 14y ago
You're being a bit unfair. It's equally inappropriate for me to speculate about his motives, but I recall there being an undercurrent of melancholia in Aaron's writings even pre-indictment.
- pbateman 14y ago
  I'm being quite restrained. I'm calling for a feeling of guilt, not their public lynching. If I'd been involved in the prosecution I'd be feeling guilty for proceeding in too heavy-handed a fashion and I'm sure most of the people on this forum would too[1]. Frankly if someone is incapable of self-recrimination when something like this arises I don't want them in this kind of role. [1] Of course this presupposes a motivation of "doing what's best for the country/society" and not "showing this uppity young guy who's boss".
- dyno12345 14y ago
  He posted what appeared to be a suicide note on his blog five years ago, and the police were called. It's still there, but he edited it to change the name to "Alex". http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying
- madaxe 14y ago
  In which case the prosecution should have realised he was a suicide risk and acted appropriately. They seemingly did not.
  - aquateen 14y ago
    How would prosecutors go about that? Going through all his blog posts to look for depression? And that would be standard procedure for everyone they prosecute?
    - madaxe 14y ago
      Psychiatric assessment is a routine element of any criminal case. At any rate, it is in the UK.
      - foldr 14y ago
        So you're saying that in the UK they don't prosecute people who are depressed? As a Brit, that's news to me. Come on. This prosecution may be unjust for other reasons, but it's just daft to claim that they should not have prosecuted him because he was depressed.
        madaxe 14y ago
        Did I say at any point that depression should exempt someone from prosecution? No. I said their handling was inappropriate. If someone is a suicide risk you watch them, and typically ensure they're not left alone. Stick your straw man where the sun don't shine.
        foldr 14y ago
        You think Aaron would have let the DA put him on some kind of suicide watch when he wasn't even in custody? I don't think you're thinking this through. It's natural to be angry, but the DA didn't do anything wrong in relation to his depression, even if the prosecution was unjust for other reasons.
- nostrademons 14y ago
  I still remember a comment he posted on an "Ask PG & other rich folks: how has your life changed since getting FU money?" thread a few years ago (pre-indictment): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1511204 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1511204 "In the short-term, my life was much worse. I spent a lot of really painful time struggling to come to grips with my situation. "After that was over, things went pretty much back to normal. There's now a low-level fear all the time of losing all the money (something PG's written about recently) and I'm constantly worried I've invested it badly. I didn't make any dramatic life changes so people don't really treat me differently. "The biggest thing is that it provides a sort of mental backup -- when I'm feeling bad about myself or about to do something risky, I can tell myself not to worry. "My sense is that it bears out what the happiness research says: dispositional factors are much more important than situational ones. PG was an abnormally happy person before he got rich and he's still abnormally happy. I was pretty miserable before and I'm still miserable. (The reasons are more complicated but the result is I prefer my misery.)"
grego 14y ago
Reading https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget it seems he was thinking of suicide already many years ago.
datalus 14y ago
They checked their conscience at the door a long time ago. RIP Aaron, you were too soon for this world.

colmvp 14y ago

Wouldn't they just perceive this as some sort of admission of guilt?

jlgreco 14y ago
Disgustingly, that would not surprise me.
pbateman 14y ago
Probably. To be honest if I had to imagine the people at the attorney's office who decided to prosecute this I'd imagine vaguely malevolent bureaucratic dullards who derive validation from enforcing the rules in a heavy handed fashion.

puppetsock 14y ago

You're being a bit unfair. It's equally inappropriate for me to speculate about his motives, but I recall there being an undercurrent of melancholia in Aaron's writings even pre-indictment.

pbateman 14y ago
I'm being quite restrained. I'm calling for a feeling of guilt, not their public lynching. If I'd been involved in the prosecution I'd be feeling guilty for proceeding in too heavy-handed a fashion and I'm sure most of the people on this forum would too[1]. Frankly if someone is incapable of self-recrimination when something like this arises I don't want them in this kind of role. [1] Of course this presupposes a motivation of "doing what's best for the country/society" and not "showing this uppity young guy who's boss".
dyno12345 14y ago
He posted what appeared to be a suicide note on his blog five years ago, and the police were called. It's still there, but he edited it to change the name to "Alex". http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying
madaxe 14y ago
In which case the prosecution should have realised he was a suicide risk and acted appropriately. They seemingly did not.
- aquateen 14y ago
  How would prosecutors go about that? Going through all his blog posts to look for depression? And that would be standard procedure for everyone they prosecute?
  - madaxe 14y ago
    Psychiatric assessment is a routine element of any criminal case. At any rate, it is in the UK.
    - foldr 14y ago
      So you're saying that in the UK they don't prosecute people who are depressed? As a Brit, that's news to me. Come on. This prosecution may be unjust for other reasons, but it's just daft to claim that they should not have prosecuted him because he was depressed.
      - madaxe 14y ago
        Did I say at any point that depression should exempt someone from prosecution? No. I said their handling was inappropriate. If someone is a suicide risk you watch them, and typically ensure they're not left alone. Stick your straw man where the sun don't shine.
        foldr 14y ago
        You think Aaron would have let the DA put him on some kind of suicide watch when he wasn't even in custody? I don't think you're thinking this through. It's natural to be angry, but the DA didn't do anything wrong in relation to his depression, even if the prosecution was unjust for other reasons.
nostrademons 14y ago
I still remember a comment he posted on an "Ask PG & other rich folks: how has your life changed since getting FU money?" thread a few years ago (pre-indictment): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1511204 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1511204 "In the short-term, my life was much worse. I spent a lot of really painful time struggling to come to grips with my situation. "After that was over, things went pretty much back to normal. There's now a low-level fear all the time of losing all the money (something PG's written about recently) and I'm constantly worried I've invested it badly. I didn't make any dramatic life changes so people don't really treat me differently. "The biggest thing is that it provides a sort of mental backup -- when I'm feeling bad about myself or about to do something risky, I can tell myself not to worry. "My sense is that it bears out what the happiness research says: dispositional factors are much more important than situational ones. PG was an abnormally happy person before he got rich and he's still abnormally happy. I was pretty miserable before and I'm still miserable. (The reasons are more complicated but the result is I prefer my misery.)"

grego 14y ago

Reading https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget it seems he was thinking of suicide already many years ago.

datalus 14y ago

They checked their conscience at the door a long time ago. RIP Aaron, you were too soon for this world.