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Comment by acqq | Hacker News Reader

If you are interested in possible bias and the background of the author, he worked for USAID from 2004 to 2010 first in Venezuela then in Uganda, before he was a humanitarian relief worker with World Vision and Food for the Hungry:

http://www.cfr.org/staff/b16446

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He's also a Fellow of the George W. Bush Presidential Center: http://www.bushcenter.org/people/joel-hirst.html

He tweeted a link to this blog post, blaming Venezuela's collapse on "commies": https://twitter.com/joelhirst/status/723921894479675392

He also wrote an op-ed for Fox News Latino blaming Chavez's death on Cuban doctors: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/opinion/2013/02/28/cuban-me...

Is the fact he has political opinions supposed to invalidate the decade of experience / work?

Am I supposed to mindlessly parrot 'oh, he's related to the GWB center, baaaaaaaaaad'?

I'm not sure what your point is. Well, I do see what you're trying to do, but it's not honest or relevant.

Pointing out a likely bias does bring objectivity into question.

Hirst is a flack. He's paid to promote an idea.

When Chevron pays Barbour, Griffith & Rogers $80,000 to tell everyone that global warming doesn't matter, (https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=D000021679) you don't cry about bias.

If Hirst says communism is bad, it's because he's being paid to say so.

Well, the Cuban doctors thing might have some grounds (is like a widespread rumor type of thing) . He decide to treat himself there instead of in Venezuela, so none really knows what went down in Cuba in his final days.

He can only be described as a conservative neoliberal (wow what a strange moniker that is). Go and check. He cites Ayn Rand and Peggy Noonan. He's a fellow at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

If you want to understand how and why USAID works, read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by former Ashland Oil CEO John Perkins.

Actually, reading his other posts, he sounds much more like a libertarian (lower-case L specifically).

I upvoted you because I both agree and disagree. Perhaps we can agree he leans libertarian (neoliberal).

Interesting that you would think working for humanitarian relief organizations in struggling countries would somehow make his viewpoint less valid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Transition_Initiativ...

Beats me...

While USAID does a lot of good things, it is still a front for US government interests and one of USAID stated goals are regime changes in unfriendly countries.

They do a lot of good things too though.

Understanding USAID's direct involvement in the destabilization of Venezuela's government (during the years the author worked there) is pretty critical information in understanding his viewpoint. See: https://www.rt.com/news/wikileaks-venezuela-us-chavez-358/

i would be careful with using RT as a source of information. Its pretty much a Russian government propaganda organ

Name one way on which it's _solely_ a propaganda organ?

I guess this would be a DH1 response.. http://paulgraham.com/disagree.html

No. I'm not "attacking" the author in any way (read again my post!), instead, I'm merely pointing to his background, since it's valid to know the context of the article, he even writes explicitly in it:

"I helped Uganda recover after a 25 year civil war" "I helped return democracy to Mali."

So it's reasonable to discuss what's behind these claims, which sound quite "big" at the first, and a little differently once the background is known.

Shouldn't both the claims and his background be allowed to be discussed?

Shouldn't both the claims and his background be allowed to be discussed?

Sure, but it's still a DH1 level response.

Personally, I read 'acqq' as showing that Hirst's credentials do match his claims, and that instead of being a typical armchair pundit, he is someone who could be considered intimately familiar with the situation in Venezuela.

In retrospect, I suppose it could have been intended to be just a neutral statement of fact, but it doesn't look at all to me like an 'ad hominem' attack. Unless you have outside knowledge of 'acqq' and are interpreting this in a context not visible to others, I think you are projecting a prejudice that does not exist.

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