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Comment by woeirua | Hacker News Reader

I see Bob Murray is personifying the old tycoon motto: socialism for me, rugged capitalism for thee.

Why is this being downvoted? Murray is scum. For decades he tried to discredit black lung as a valid disease. His claim for black lung disease benefits should be denied on principle, for all the pain and suffering he has caused to date.

He may not justly deserve the benefits. But do you want to act on the same level as him? Or do you want to be better?

Better is for saints and prophets. I’m human, so I’ll settle for getting even and creating a strong deterrent to dissuade others like him.

You call him scum. And you'll settle for getting even, rather than being better. Sure you don't want to re-think that?

Oh please, save your sanctimony. We have laws for good reason. If I really wanted to get even, he’d be dead (capital punishment). He deserves it. He fought hard against the well-being of his employees just save some money and boost his own compensation.

Now I’m against capital punishment, so I don’t want him dead, nor do I want treatment withheld for the disease he’s suffering, even if he did the same for many others. But I’ll be damned if I see him get a penny of that money before he spends his own first. That’s justice enough, and I think that’s downright generous, far more generous than he deserves. And that, my friend, is what makes me the better man.

We also live in a time where people people get fired for saying the wrong thing due to public outrage on twitter. He can say what he wants. We can be outraged as we want.

it's not lowering ourselves to the same level, it's simply fairness. have him exhaust his personal wealth first, as happens to the rest of us, and then he can go on the public dole and get help if need be. why should he get special treatment?

So, should we release all the kidnappers from jail because we want to be better than them?

I want the best for society, not some moral high ground, so I definitely would deny the benefits and if he does want to obtain them, he should at least do some public apologies.

Well said. Seems to me that he's going to set a precedent that will screw over workers' attempts to even file a claim by muddying the water.

I don’t buy it.

He had paid taxes all his life, all he is asking for is to get something out of these taxes back.

Is he a bad person? Does he not deserve his share? I don’t know. If he does not, then our legal system is broken - he paid for a service he is denied. If he gets his share, then what about the workers he denied their share to? But his denial was enabled by the law, what are we going to do about this?

And if his pledge is denied, I am going to see this as a petty retaliation against a sick old guy.

If you want to fix something, fix the system that enabled him to fight the regulations in first place. Don’t fight his cruelty with your own just because you think he deserves it and he cannot punch back anymore.

(throwaway because I am afraid of expressing my views due to socialist culture prevailing. Call it self-censorship if you like)

old? seems to be the case with current tycoons, too!

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