Hacker News Reader

Comment by zajd | Hacker News Reader

> I really wish his possible leave of absence wasn't spun as a result of the investigation done by Holder

Why not?

> I would imagine him taking a leave of absence may be much more due to his parents boating accident where his mother died and his father was seriously injured

Based on what?

View on HN

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14539226 and marked it off-topic.

How is it off topic to question these sorts of "well obviously it's so" sort of comments?

It isn't in principle, but context is a huge deal. If we define the flame quotient of a post like this:

  flammability of topic
  ---------------------
  substantiveness of post

then it was much too high in this case.

Based on the fact he's a fucking human being.

In the process of hating someone (and there is a lot to dislike about Kalanick) people commonly and unfortunately loose sight of that fact. You can hate how someone runs their business (which I do, somewhat) and still have compassion for a loss like what he went through, which I had not heard of until today and which sounds quite heartbreaking.

I think because a lot of people don't know Travis personally (including myself) it's easier to not empathize with what's happened, especially if you've never felt the same loss, because he's essentially reduced to this ephemeral figure rather than an alive person. I don't know if I could be friends with Travis based on the news I've read, and I wouldn't choose to work for his company, but I still feel for him on a base level.

I think you can still empathize with Travis, but have doubts about how much his leave is related to the loss of his mother. It appears that the Holder investigation recommended the departure of Emil Michael. A number of other executives have also left recently. Based on all available evidence there is something happening with Uber's leadership and the board is trying to address it. Travis very well may not be in a position to do that due to his grief, but the (potential) timing of his leave coinciding with the release of the investigation's findings seems to indicate that is the primary cause.

Exactly. Have some empathy.

It seems many people aren't doing that because Uber has a history of not having much empathy for people they or their drivers have wronged. There appears to be very little empathy for their employees who have been victims of sexual harassment, and if getting the private medical records of a rape victim doesn't display an astounding lack of empathy, then what does?

In other words, you reap what you sow.

You can be outraged at the lack of empathy surrounding the events that you describe and still give empathy to someone who is suffering a loss. It's not zero-sum.

You're absolutely right; I can. But there's less impetus to do so given his demonstrated lack of empathy toward others. I don't actively wish him or his family ill will or harm, but I am also less willing to give that sympathy or empathy toward him given his past actions where he doesn't give that to others.

You act like every CEO takes a leave of absence when they experience a personal tragedy. If that were the case I wouldn't doubt it.

Not every "personal tragedy" is the same, and losing someone close to you like a parent is a pretty major one.

That's fair, I guess you just don't see this that often. Granted, it could be more public because of Uber's situation. I've just never heard of something like that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com