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Comment by Overtonwindow | Hacker News Reader

Does it really matter? Gawker needed to be brought down a peg. It was the poster child for bad so-called journalistic behavior. Max Reed contributed to that bad behavior. Gawker fell because society said enough, is enough, you cannot violate someone's privacy and call it news just because you also call yourself a journalist.

Reed, Denton, and everyone at Gawker should stop blaming others, or trying to make excuses for their bad behavior, admit their culpability and promise to do better.

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In isolation, Gawker's dismantling for their wrongdoing is to be lauded.

But the problem is that there are many such organizations that do bad stuff like this, but they only get "brought down a peg" when their work pisses off a billionaire[1]. That's not how it's supposed to work.

[1] For those who don't know the background, Peter Thiel had a vendetta against them for their past stories that outed him, and later heavily bankrolled the Hogan lawsuit that eventually shut them down.

"But there are many such organizations that do bad stuff like this..." The worst possible way to construct an argument. Just that there are many other assholes who can't be brought to justice doesn't mean you leave everyone. Thiel, in my opinion, had every right to have his privacy about his orientation. If he doesn't want anyone to know about it, absolutely up to him. Gawker crossed limits on so many levels with both Thiel and Hogan. About time they got what they deserved. About pissing off a billionaire... Would you prefer Gawker pissing off a homeless person on Manhattan subway? Such an outrage it would have caused!

I wasn't defending Gawker, I was criticizing the legal system's inability to mete out justice against everyone who does this.

Society didn't really do it. When you mess with people with power often enough, eventually they will find a way to take you down.

Perhaps this is because society couldn't afford to?

Well Society here would be the Jury that slapped their hand.

You mean 12 Floridians?

I don't have any sympathy for gawker, but I also don't have any sympathy for the guy who slept with bubba the love sponge's wife or the guy who is clearly a vampire and consumes blood for longevity. Everyone involved seem like terrible humans. If I have to fall on any side in this it would be the side of free speech. Hogan denied sleeping with bubba the love sponge's wife and gawker had proof that he did. The only way for gawker to prove that they were telling the truth was to publish the video. It is largely the same as the slick willy affair. If he hadn't denied it that would have been that. If Hulk Hogan had not denied it and then gawker published the video that would have been uncalled for, but hogan did deny it. What do you do if someone is calling you a liar and you are sitting on proof?

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